Mose Allison, Donald Hall, David Amram, Bob Dorough and others to perform in Portsmouth

Jazzmouth, Portsmouth’s unique festival of poetry and jazz, celebrates its fifth anniversary this week. From Thursday, April 23, through Sunday, April 26, the festival will feature its most prominent lineup of performers to date, with headliners like jazz and blues legend Mose Allison, past U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall, jazz vocalist and pianist Bob Dorough and the festival’s resident guru, poet and multi-instrumentalist David Amram.

Spoken word poetry and improvised music will blossom in a variety of locations around the city, from Breaking New Grounds to RiveRun Bookstore, from The Press Room to The Music Hall. There will be a film showcase, poetry readings, jazz music and the main event at The Music Hall on Saturday, featuring Allison, Hall and Amram, as well as selected local poets performing their readings to the accompaniment of Larry Simon’s Groove Bacteria.

Unlike other jazz festivals, Jazzmouth focuses on the spontaneous nature of the music through the collaboration of music and poetry or spoken word.

“Although there was already a good jazz festival in the Tom Gallant/Seacoast Jazz Festival that was happening in the summer, I felt there was a need for a broader event that tapped into the wealth of creative musicians in the Seacoast area,” said guitarist Larry Simon, founder and artistic director of Jazzmouth. “I also felt that with the large and talented pool of creative writers in the area, that a collaborative setting would be a unique way to showcase this creativity.”

After consulting with Richard Smith and Bruce Pingree, Simon organized a committee and launched the first Jazzmouth festival in 2005. Pingree is still an active organizer for the event, lending his deep knowledge of American music and poetry to help ensure the festival’s continued growth and artistic success.

The collaboration of poetry and jazz has been a peripheral part of the music dating back to the 1950s beat period, notably with poet Jack Kerouac and David Amram joining forces in the Village area of New York City. In the ’60s and early ’70s, poets such as Amiri Baraka, the Last Poets and Gil-Scott Heron would combine their poetry with various jazz styles, emphasizing their roots in African-American culture.

There are also certain singer-songwriters whose lyrics could stand separately as poetry, such as Bob Dylan or Joni Mitchell, as well as jazz artists like Dave Frishberg, Mose Allison and Bob Dorough. The songwriting approach of Allison and Dorough inspired Simon to approach them about performing at the festival.

“Jazzmouth is a jazz and poetry festival that features each discipline on its own as well as in various groupings,” Simon said, “so I felt that these two outstanding artists were particularly suited to the Jazzmouth mystique. They’re both unique vocal stylists, first-rate pianists and, more importantly, brilliant wordsmiths in the world of jazz.”

A native of Mississippi, Mose Allison’s music bridges jazz and blues in a very refreshing way. Allison counts Louis Armstrong, Nat Cole, Tampa Red and Sonny Boy Williams among his early influences. Though piano was his first instrument, he began his career as a trumpet player, but stopped playing when his horn was stolen from a nightclub. He then began focusing on piano, adding his distinctive singing style. His approach to the piano straddles the area between mainstream swing and bebop. Many of his enduring tunes have been covered by musicians like Van Morrison, The Who, Eric Clapton and Elvis Costello.

Allison’s songs have a New Orleans tinge with subtle references to various dance styles found throughout the Gulf Coast region. The composer of numerous classics, such as “Your Mind Is on Vacation,” “Middle Class White Boy,” “Back Down South” and “Let It Come Down,” Allison’s lyrics have a story-like quality. But he doesn’t see them that way.

“I don’t really view my songs as being stories,” Allison said in a recent interview. “I view the tunes as being more of a comment or an expression of temperament to various situations I’ve encountered or experienced. So many of my tunes come from a variety of sources and inspirations.”

Allison also does not view himself as a poet in any sense. He said poetry “really is not an influence for me,” adding that he doesn’t “know if there is a big difference between lyric writing and poetry.”

Few have explored those connections in as unique a way as Bob Dorough, one of the primary composers for the “Schoolhouse Rock” series. Born in Arkansas, Dorough grew up in Texas where he developed his skills as a jazz pianist and singer, attending North Texas State University to study composition and piano. One of Dorough’s early gigs was as the music director for Sugar Ray Robinson, who briefly gave up on his boxing career to put together and perform in a song and dance revue. Dorough later had gigs with jazz singer Blossom Dearie and comedian Lenny Bruce before settling in New York to focus on his piano and songwriting abilities.

In 1962, Columbia Records tapped Miles Davis to be part of a group of various artists to record a collection of jazz interpretations of Christmas tunes. Davis, in turn, tapped Dorough’s writing and singing abilities for the original tune “Blue Christmas,” a song that sounds more melancholy than the usual joyous music heard during the holiday season. Shortly thereafter, Dorough found success in a songwriting collaboration with Ben Tucker on a tune called “Comin’ Home Baby,” a song that Dorough said was inspired by Ray Charles and has been covered by a wide variety of artists in jazz, folk and pop music, including singer Mel Torme, who earned two Grammy nominations with the song.

It was in the early 1970s that Dorough became involved with “Schoolhouse Rock,” a series of animated short films for children. “Ben Tucker gave my name to an advertiser named David McCall,” Dorough said. McCall asked Dorough to “set the multiplication tables to music.” The result was the tune “Three Is a Magic Number,” the first song in the educational series that would run from 1973 to 1985 on ABC. In 2008, Dorough was invited to be involved with a new version of “Schoolhouse Rock,” which he enthusiastically accepted.

When asked about his approach to songwriting, Dorough said, “Some of my songs are drawn from various personal experiences I’ve had, while others are drawn more from fantasy.” Like Allison, Dorough likes to mix standards with originals in his show. “I look for songs that have a certain level of sincerity in them,” he said. Dorough has also been known to incorporate tunes by likeminded songwriters such as Dave Frishberg.

Regarding the pacing of his shows, Dorough said, “I like to keep a balance between the piano and singing so as not to overdo one or the other.”

Also like Allison, Dorough doesn’t necessarily view his lyrics as poetry, though he did collaborate with poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti on his early recording “Canto”—another example of the two arts coming together. Dorough will perform with his trio on Friday evening at The Press Room Jazz Night, which will also feature Larry Simon’s Groove Bacteria with the Seacoast All-Stars performing tunes from the ’60s Latin-Boogaloo era. Also performing at the event will be the PMAC Student Jazz Ensemble, directed by saxophonist Matt Langley.

In addition to the performances by Allison and Dorough, there is a sub-theme to this year’s Jazzmouth festival. That theme is the influence of Latin culture, specifically music, on American culture. On Thursday evening, The Music Hall will host a screening of “Cachao: Uno Mas,” a film produced and directed by actor Andy Garcia that portrays the life and music of the great Cuban bassist/composer Cachao López and his influence on American music. Preceding the film, local artists will read work by Latin poets to music performed by David Amram. Amram is making his fifth appearance at Jazzmouth, and his broad, open approach to music and its interaction with poetry is always a welcome part of the event.

The Latin theme will continue on Friday night at The Press Room. Latin influences have helped shape American music since the late 19th century, when immigrants from Cuba, South America and Mexico began to seep into American culture. Early jazz great Jelly Roll Morton once commented on the “Latin Tinge” that could be found in the music of early 20th century America. The rise of Argentinian Tango, Brazilian Bossa Nova, Cuban Son and Mambo and the Salsa style that developed in New York City in the ’60s and ’70s have all had a direct impact on all styles of American music. The Latin Boogaloo style was an attempt in the ’60s to meld various styles of Latin music with American rock and roll and pop music. Notables such as Tito Puente and Ray Baretto were early practitioners.

“Jazzmouth is a celebration of jazz, poetry and the collaboration of the two,” said Larry Simon. “It’s that collaboration and the creativity that ensues from it that, to me, is what makes the festival so special.”

For more information on Jazzmouth, visit www.jazzmouth.org.