Text by Sohrab Saadat Ladjevardi

Jayne Cortez  was an African-American poet, spoken-word performance artist and activist of the Black Arts Movement. Yes, this great woman passed away in New York on December 28, 2012. I met her once at Ornette Coleman‘s birthday party last year. At that time I didn’t know much about her legacy. Yes, I knew she was my mentor’s ex wife. And I knew that Denardo Coleman was their son. And I knew he had been playing the drums in her band. Sorry that’s all what I knew about her.

But her death told me more about her…what she has been about for the last 78 years. Death has the power to bring people together. Death doesn’t mean that it kills a human life. No, on the contrary, death can give birth to life if the dead person got some s-o-u-l.

So I did some research of her and felt that some of you, my dear readers, would like to know about her.

Who was she?

As a reference please read the New York Times article here

She speaks out: “Find your own voice and use it. Use your own voice and find it!”

 She reads her post-9/11 work

Her music poetry: “A Dialogue Between Voice and Drums,” live at The Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy (NY) on October 23, 2010.

She and her band The Firespitters