Canadian writer Bill Arnott brought a new dimension to Stereo Stories when he started sending in some jazz poems in mid-2020 . He sent YouTube clips of himself narrating the poems. While driving the empty streets of Vancouver in lockdown…

…headlights splay across a country roadway/ single lane both ways in groovy groovin’ grooves/ to the smooth, smooth sound of billie holiday…(Groove)

…day one and two Zep II, day three and four Zep IV, four sticks/ the ciggie slim-jims keeping company with Bonham fills of tom-tom… (Going to California)

…flashback to the sixties, people living in the cities you got beatniks crossed with hippies sporting horizontal stripes and small goatees play a jazzy, minor chord, learn to smoke, renounce the lord…(..And The Bassman Plays)

These gems are delightful, playful spoken-word-jazz-riffing-poem/songs that dance and smile from the first word to the last beat.

And they are just a fraction, a tiny fraction, of Bill’s writing output. Lately he’s been flat out with his Gone Viking travel books. Witty, whimsical, knowledgeable. Award-winning.

As well as his jazz poems, Bill brings a very enthusiastic support to Stereo Stories, by retweeting, commenting, sharing, encouraging. Indeed, he finds time to promote many  writers*, especially Canadian, via his Artist Showcase interviews.

Generous and keen as mustard, Bill Arnott loves words and music. I don’t know how he came across Stereo Stories but I’m very grateful he did.

Thank you, Bill.

 

You can read lots more about Bill via this recent Q & A in The Miramichi Reader.

Bill’s website

Bill’s jazz poems here at Stereo Stories

*Disclosure. Disclaimer. Yes, Bill kindly profiled Stereo Stories’ Vin M in one of his Artist Showcase interviews. Wheels within wheels and all that!

 

Discover more from Stereo Stories

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Bill Arnott is a songwriter, poet, and bestselling author of the Gone Viking travelogues. His column Bill Arnott’s Beat runs in several magazines, and for his travels he’s received a Fellowship at London’s Royal Geographical Society. When not trekking with a small pack and journal, Bill can be found on Canada’s west coast, making music and friends.