The final Jazz Poetry performance of 2025, and the second in collaboration with the Bridges Creative Summit at City of Asylum, goes out with a bang, welcoming back a legendary headliner and the first initiate of City of Asylum’s sanctuary program. Each Jazz Poetry program begins with a full set by the band, followed by a collaborative performance with each poet. In these collaborations, poets share their work alongside the musicians, the two art forms melding to create that signature Jazz Poetry improvisational style that offers something exciting, new, and unique with each individual performance.

Celebrated saxophonist James Brandon Lewis takes to the stage for his fifth year as festival headliner. His performance gives audiences a sneak peek of his next project: a suite of songs in tribute to American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and bandleader Eric Dolphy. This program will feature poetry collaborations with residents from visiting European ICORN cities, including Eritrean poet Haile Bizan; Poet Laureate of Allegheny County (2022–2024) Doralee Brooks; and City of Asylum’s first-ever Writer-in-Residence, Huang Xiang, who was the inspiration and original poet for our (now annual) Jazz Poetry Month Festival. In contemporary Chinese literature, Huang Xiang is one of the earliest and most prolific liberal poets and writers in the “underground literature” scene.

Featured Musicians:

James Brandon Lewis: saxophone

Kirk Knuffke: cornet

Patricia Brennan: vibraphone

Chris Lightcap: bass

Chad Taylor: drums