Jayne Cortez facts for kids

Jayne Cortez (born May 10, 1934 – died December 28, 2012) was an amazing African-American poet, activist, and performer. She was known for her powerful spoken-word poetry, which often explored political ideas and used unique sounds and rhythms. Her work is an important part of the Black Arts Movement, a time when African-American artists created art to celebrate their culture and fight for justice.

Jayne Cortez was married to the famous jazz musician Ornette Coleman and their son, Denardo Coleman, became a jazz drummer. Later, she married the artist Melvin Edwards. She lived in both Dakar, Senegal and New York City.

The Early Life of Jayne Cortez

Jayne Cortez was born Sallie Jayne Richardson on May 10, 1934, at an Army base in Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Her father was a soldier, and her mother worked as a secretary. She was the middle child, with an older sister and a younger brother.

When she was seven, her family moved to Los Angeles, where she grew up in the Watts area. Young Jayne loved listening to the jazz and Latin music records her parents collected. In high school, she studied art, music, and drama. She later chose the name Cortez, which was her Filipino grandmother's maiden name, for her artistic career.

Becoming an Artist and Activist

In 1954, Jayne Cortez married jazz saxophonist Ornette Coleman. Their son, Denardo, was born in 1956. Denardo started playing drums with his father when he was a child and later worked with both his parents on their music and poetry projects.

After divorcing Coleman in 1964, Cortez started the Watts Repertory Theater Company. She was the artistic director there until 1970. She was very active in the Civil Rights movement, which fought for equal rights for all people. She worked with famous activist Fannie Lou Hamer and believed that art could be a strong tool for social change. Her work even helped register Black voters in Mississippi in the early 1960s.

Jayne Cortez once said that she learned that "the problem is the system, and you can organize, unify, and do something about the system." She traveled through Europe and Africa and moved to New York City in 1967.

In 1969, her first book of poems, Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares, was published. She went on to write 11 more poetry books and recorded her poetry with music on nine albums. Most of her work was released through Bola Press, a publishing company she started in 1971. From 1977 to 1983, Cortez taught English at Rutgers University. She shared her work and ideas at universities, museums, and festivals around the world. Her poems have been translated into 28 languages and appeared in many books and magazines.

In 1975, she married sculptor and printmaker Melvin Edwards. They lived in both Dakar, Senegal and New York City. Melvin Edwards' artwork was often featured in her books and on her album covers. Cortez felt that Dakar "really feels like home."

Jayne Cortez passed away in Manhattan, New York, on December 28, 2012, at the age of 78.

Poetry and Performance Style

Jayne Cortez's musical choices showed what was important to her. Growing up, she loved her parents' collection of jazz and blues records, which also included Latin American dance music and traditional American music. This early exposure to music shaped her unique style. She was especially inspired by singers like Bessie Smith and Dinah Washington, who were strong and expressive.

Cortez admired artists like Langston Hughes and Aimé Césaire. Her poems were often written to be chanted and spoken with a strong rhythm, similar to the powerful drumming of African and Caribbean music.

Most of her work from the 1970s onwards was released by Bola Press, her own publishing company. One of her early works, Festivals and Funerals (1971), showed her personal experiences and the voices of everyday people fighting for change. In 1974, she recorded her first album, Celebrations and Solitudes, which featured duets with bassist Richard Davis.

Her group, The Firespitters, played electro-funk modern jazz behind her poetry. The band included guitarist Bern Nix, bassist Al McDowell, and her son, drummer Denardo Coleman.

Her album There It Is (1982) included powerful pieces like "I See Chano Pozo," a tribute to a famous Cuban percussionist. It also had "US/Nigerian Relations," which repeated the sentence "They want the oil/but they don't want the people" over exciting free jazz music. Her album Maintain Control (1986) featured Ornette Coleman playing saxophone. Later albums like Cheerful & Optimistic (1994) included African kora music and songs about peace and finding your own voice. Her 1996 album, Taking the Blues Back Home, was released on Harmolodic/Verve. Her 2002 album, Borders of Disorderly Time, featured guest artists like Bobby Bradford and Ron Carter.

Jayne Cortez also appeared in films like Women in Jazz and Poetry in Motion. Her strong, direct way of performing and speaking out on political issues made a big impact on spoken-word art in the late 20th century. She was known for bravely addressing topics like race and equality.

Organization of Women Writers of Africa

In 1991, Jayne Cortez and Ghanaian writer Ama Ata Aidoo co-founded the Organization of Women Writers of Africa (OWWA). Cortez served as its president for many years. This organization brought together women writers of African descent from all over the world.

In 1997, OWWA held an important international conference to celebrate literature by women of African descent. Cortez also directed a film called Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future (1999), which showed the discussions and performances from that conference. She also organized other international conferences, like "Slave Routes: The Long Memory" (2000) and "Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Writers Dissecting Globalization" (2004).

Jayne Cortez was planning another OWWA conference in Accra, Ghana before she passed away. The conference still took place in her honor in May 2013.

Tributes to Jayne Cortez

After her passing, many people celebrated Jayne Cortez's life and work. A memorial event was held in New York City on February 6, 2013. It included tributes from famous writers and artists like Amiri Baraka and Danny Glover, and music from The Firespitters.

The Spring 2013 issue of The Black Scholar magazine was dedicated to her memory. In London, a tribute event was held on July 19, 2013, with artists like Linton Kwesi Johnson and her son, Denardo Coleman.

Selected Awards and Honors

• 1970, Rockefeller Foundation grant
• 1980, American Book Award for Mouth on Paper
• 1987, National Endowment for the Arts
• 1994, Fannie Lou Hamer Award
• 1996, Arts International Award
• International African Festival Award
• 2001, Langston Hughes Medal
• New York Foundation for the Arts

Poetry Books

• Firespitter, Bola Press (1982)
• Mouth on Paper, Bola Press (1977)
• Scarifications, Bola Press (1973)
• Festivals and Funerals, Bola Press (1971)
• Pissstained Stairs and the Monkey Man's Wares, Phrase Text (1969)

Discography

• As If You Knew (Bola Press, 2011)
• Find Your Own Voice: Poetry and Music, 1982–2003 (Bola Press, 2004)
• Borders of Disorderly Time (Bola Press, 2002)
• Taking the Blues Back Home (Harmolodic/Verve, 1996)
• Cheerful & Optimistic (Bola Press, 1994)
• Poetry & Music: Women in (E)Motion Festival (Tradition & Moderne Musikproducktion, Germany, 1992)
• Everywhere Drums (Bola Press, 1990)
• Maintain Control (Bola Press, 1986)
• There It Is (Bola Press, 1982)
• Life is a Killer (compilation on Giorno Poetry Systems, 1982)
• Poets Read their Contemporary Poetry: Before Columbus Foundation (Smithsonian Folkways, 1980)
• Unsubmissive Blues (Bola Press, 1979)
• Celebrations & Solitudes: The Poetry of Jayne Cortez & Richard Davis, Bassist (Strata-East, 1974)

Videos

• Find Your Own Voice (Sanctuary TV, 2010)
• She Got He Got (Sanctuary TV, 2010)
• I'm Gonna Shake (Sanctuary TV, 2010)
• Tribeca TV Series (David J. Burke, 1993)

Filmography

• Femmes du Jazz/Women in Jazz (2000)
• Yari Yari: Black Women Writers and the Future (1999)
• Ornette: Made in America (1985)
• Poetry in Motion (1982)

See also

In Spanish: Jayne Cortez para niños