Bio

Born 1933 - Died 2003, Ennismore, Ontario

Canadian-born "jazz poet" Paul Haines is best known to jazz fans for his work as a lyricist with composer Carla Bley , specifically the hugely ambitious concept album Escalator Over the Hill (1971) and its follow-up, Tropic Appetites (1973). Haines' librettos for those works reflected his penchant for surrealism and clever wordplay. Prior to those engagements, Haines had spent some time on the Greenwich Village scene during the '60s, where he made connections on the jazz circuit and occasionally penned liner notes or captured informal recordings on home equipment. After his success with Bley , he occasionally resurfaced in the jazz world as a lyrical collaborator, most notably in the '90s with the band Curlew (1993's A Beautiful Western Saddle ) and its leader George Cartwright (1994's Dot ). Also in 1994, Kip Hanrahan 's American Clave label released the double-disc Darn It! Poems by Paul Haines, Musics by Many , a tribute of sorts featuring musicians of all stripes interpreting Haines' texts. Some of the bigger names on the project included Paul Bley , Evan Parker , prog rocker Robert Wyatt , Derek Bailey , Cream 's Jack Bruce , Big Star frontman Alex Chilton , Roswell Rudd , Don Pullen , and Henry Threadgill . In addition to writing poetry and lyrics, Haines was also a filmmaker and world traveler, and his daughter Emily -- born during a sojourn in India -- later co-founded the indie pop group Metric . Haines passed away at his Ennismore, Ontario, home on January 21, 2003, the victim of heart failure. ~ Steve Huey, All Music Guide

Discography

Content

•  Escalator Over the Hill, Carla Bley
•  Tropic Appetites, Carla Bley
•  A Beautiful Western Saddle, Curlew
•  The Memphis Years, Curlew
•  Darn It, various
•  Trace, Roof
•  Which Side Are You On, 4Walls

Content

Bibliography

Content

•  Third World Two
•  *SUB ROSA* [Peterborough, Ontario, Canada], vol. 5 No. 1, Spring 1995 issue devoted entirely to "Paul Haines: Poetry/ Video/ Jazz", by Tom Sekowski, Stuart Broomer, Roswell Rudd and Michel Contat.
•  "Paul Haines" by Andrew Jones, *JAZZIZ*, November 1995
•  "Paul Haines / Now Can You Tell Me: An Article by Stuart Bloomer: Words and Music: A Beautiful Western Saddle", *CODA MAGAZINE*, July/Aug 1995
•  "Paul Haines - The Musical Psychic", by Tom Sekowski. *EXCLAIM!* [Canada], March 1995
•  "Paul Haines - Man with a Future Vision", by Tom Sekowski, THE NEWSPAPER [Toronto, Canada], 11/23/94an."
  
  

Content

Videography

• JUBILEE (1992 21 mins)
  "Using as a shooting script an article on sound I wrote for Musicwroks, [The Canadian Journal of Sound Exploration), JUBILEE features a visual chorus to the Carol Taylor narrative and spoken or played contributions of Robert Wyatt, Evan Parker, and Derek Bailey."

• OUR RUDD'S GOLDEN CURTAIN (1992 19 mins)
  "Shot at Sharon Temple, Ontario and Woodstock, New York, the composition, trombone, voice, feet and wardrobe of legendary trombonist Roswell Rudd are featured."
  
• LEARNING TO COPE WITH HOPE (1992 3 mins)
  "From the Sri Cud novel."

• AN ALL-ETHNIC ELECTRIC PROGRAM (1992 transfer from 1966 16mm., 25 mins)
  "Perhaps the first 'absolute' sound film. A curious but very beautiful work." -- David Curtis, Experimental Film "Those who stayed to the end liked it." -- Michael Snow

• CURLEW: Paul Haines Set to Music (1989 44 mins)
  New Music America Festival, with Amy Denio vocals, The Knitting Factory, New York City "A cycle of songs as a setting for the oblique, witty poems of Paul Haines. CURLEW performs at its peak -- which is phenomenally high." -- The Nation

• RICE SCENTED IN OUR ABSCENCE (1983 33 mins)
  "Premiere performance of the agfa maria. (This instrument's appearance of capacities is conceived in part as respectful parody of Harry Partch's chromelodeon. Physically resembling a glass harmonica, its three rows of authentically-wired bottles creates (1) conventional musical notes, (2) prepared sounds, and (3) prepared visuals.) A music for more than ears. Improvisation is deregulated."

• THIRD WORLD TWO (1981 50mins)
  "50 poems (French and English) read or sung by an all-star cast, with original music by Carla Bley, Derek Bailey, Steve Swallow and Sheila Jordan."

• UNDERSTANDING AN INTERRUPTION; 16 MUSICS (1981 60 mins)
  "20 years of collaborations, opening on the scoreboard of the Olympia Stadium, Montreal. Paul Bley, Rudd-Lacy, Albert Ayler, Mike Mantler, Gary Burton, Evan Parker, Derek Bailey, Larry Dubin-CCMC, Carla Bley, Monica Zetterland, Stuart Broomer, and Kip Hanrahan."

Stuff

New York Times Letter:

PENGUIN GUIDE TO JAZZ; The Poet Responds

Published: February 4, 2001

To the Editor:

Stephen Metcalf [''A Primer on Jazz (in 1,638 Pages),'' Jan. 21], who is dependent on books to know what to listen to in jazz and on the reviews of others to justify (sort of) what he hears, writes about this poor poet who is nowhere good enough to be as little read as he is, and creates a sentence of great usefulness that reads in its entirety: ''Paul Haines?''

From whom it may concern . . .

PAUL HAINES
Ennismore, Ontario