Category Archives: Music & Meaning

Sterling Plumpp: Survival Blues

Posted on September 23, 2013 by Richard Guzman

Born in rural Mississippi in 1940, Sterling Plumpp has for thirty years taught at the University of Illinois, Chicago, and produced a body of poetry giving him considerable claim to be one of the country’s most distinguished blues-jazz poets. Somber … Continue reading →

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Father Mike Pfleger and Other Gospel Extravaganza Memories

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Richard Guzman

Saturday, January 26, 2013, North Central College:  the 25th Anniversary concert of the Gospel Extravaganza, an event I helped start that many years ago.  My cell phone went in and out of my pocket all evening, partly because my wife … Continue reading →

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Sterling Plumpp salutes Von Freeman

Posted on August 15, 2012 by Richard Guzman

Von Freeman, one of Chicago’s titanic tenors, passed away this August, and his passing brought to mind the most beautiful lines ever written about him: “Be-Bop is precise clumsiness.       Awkward lyricism       under a feather’s control. A world in a crack. … Continue reading →

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