A collaboration between Ray Manzarek and Michael McClure, this live performance, recorded at an old church, features both new and older poems, with McClure’s words and Manzarek’s jazz piano.

On a cold, foggy night in San Francisco after a great Japanese meal, Manzarek and I stepped onto the stage and there were sparks of consciousness – the stage was on fire with poems and piano Improvisations. The symbiosis and the synergy made lights. Then Larry Kassin stepped up to join us with his jazz flute and Lou Judson was recording.

This is a live album with its heart still beating – no tricks, gimmicks, or second takes. We are bringing together my poetry and Ray’s improvisations that shape my word-sounds into richer meanings: Piano Poems.

There’s no way to be without a politics or an antipolitics, no way to be without art, without anger and generosity, without laughter and kindness.

That’s the edge we’re whetting on this album.

— Michael McClure

The Piano Poems: Live From San Francisco was released on Tuesday, August 14, 2012. It’s available both as a CD and as an MP3 download. See below for a link to listen to tracks.