Jazz Artist Benjamin Boone Celebrates Poetry Of Philip Levine With New Album

A new project from Fresno-based jazz artist Benjamin Boone is getting national attention. It combines original compositions by the Fresno State professor and saxophonist, with the poetry of the late Pulitzer Prize winner and U.S. Poet Laureate Philip Levine. It also features some of the top names in the jazz world as guest stars including Branford Marsalis and Tom Harrell, as well as Valley Public Radio’s own David Aus. Levine was known for his love of jazz and recorded with Boone's band shortly before his death in 2015. Many of Levine's poems on the recording reference jazz icons like John Coltrane and Charlie Parker. The album was released last week, and for the occasion we recently caught up with Benjamin Boone in Ghana, where he is spending the year as visiting Fulbright Professor.