Paul Haines (poet)

This article is about the Canadian poet and jazz lyricist. For the Australian fiction writer see Paul Haines (fiction writer).

Paul Haines (1933 – January 21, 2003) was a poet and jazz lyricist. Born in Vassar, Michigan, Haines eventually settled in Canada after spending time in Europe, Asia, and the United States; he had a long stint as a French teacher at Fenelon Falls Secondary School, in Ontario, Canada.

Haines's best-known work is Escalator over the Hill, a collaboration with Carla Bley.

Haines's daughter Emily Haines is a songwriter and musician with Metric, Broken Social Scene, and Emily Haines & The Soft Skeleton. Another daughter, Avery Haines, is a Canadian television journalist and television show host.

Bibliography

Poetry

• Third World Two (1981)
• Secret Carnival Workers (2007)

Lyrics

• Escalator Over the Hill (with Carla Bley, 1971)
• Smalltown Agonist / Little Pony Soldier (with Carla Bley, 1971)
• Tropic Appetites (with Carla Bley, 1974)
• Darn It! Poems by Paul Haines, Musics by Many (1994)
• A Beautiful Western Saddle (with Curlew, 1993)
• Trace (with Roof, 1997)
• The Memphis Years (with Curlew, 2000)
• Which Side Are You On (with 4Walls)
• American Clave Anthology with Kip Hanrahan.

Other writing about Paul Haines

• *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. Edited by Daniel Kernohan.
• "Paul Haines" by Andrew Jones, *Jazziz*, November 1995
• "Paul Haines / Now Can You Tell Me: An Article by Stuart Broomer: Words and Music: A Beautiful Western Saddle", *Coda Magazine*, July/August 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."
• Toronto Star (1971-2009); Toronto, Ontario [Toronto, Ontario] 22 Oct 1994: F14. Geoff Chapman's Jazz Column has a review of "Darn It," entitled "Peterson and Perlman lack spark, Burning for Buddy cooks unevenly” Jazz." Chapman writes: "Darn It! (American Clave) is a two CD anthology of poems by Paukl Haines with an army of jazz folk providing acoustic, impressionistic settings for his obscure, minimalist texts. Contributors include Paul Bley, Don Pullen, Evan Parker, Henry Threadgill, and Canada’s Mary Margaret O’Hara and D. D. Jackson among nearly 60 musicians performing 33 songs."
• "His words fit into music 'like fish in water'" by Carl Wilson, The Globe and Mail, May 8, 2003.
• "A word with the past, a look to the future" by Robert Everett-Green, The Globe and Mail, July 25, 2007.

Videography

• Jubilee (1992, 21 mins)
• Our Rudd's Golden Curtain (1992, 19 mins)
• Learning to Cope with Hope (1992, 3 mins)
• An All-Ethnic Electric Program (1992 transfer from 1966 16mm., 25 mins)
• Curlew: Paul Haines Set to Music (1989, 44 mins)
• Rice Scented in our Absence (1983, 33 mins)
• 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)--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.

An Evening of Poetry & Jazz, November 25, 1995, Market Hall, Peterborough: Michael Snow & Jack Vorvis performed a set of free improvisation and then Paul Haines presented his videos. The show sold out. It was produced by Daniel Kernohan in cooperation with Artspace and the Kawartha Jazz Society. Haines produced a number of audio cassette "mystery tapes", mostly drawn from his personal recording collection. These were not commercially issued but only passed around to friends and associates.

External links

• Paul Haines biography at Coach House Books