Ted Joans facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Ted Joans
Born	Theodore Jones July 4, 1928 Cairo, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 25, 2003(2003-04-25) (aged 74) Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	American
Education	Indiana University
Occupation	Jazz poet surrealist trumpeter painter
Known for	Originator of the "Bird Lives" legend and graffiti

Theodore Joans (born July 4, 1928 – died April 25, 2003) was an American artist. He was a jazz poet, a surrealist (meaning he was interested in art that explores dreams and imagination), a trumpeter, and a painter. From the 1960s, he spent a lot of time traveling in Europe and Africa.

Ted Joans' work mixed different new art styles. Some people think his work helped start the "spoken-word" movement, where poetry is performed out loud. However, he didn't like the competitive side of slam poetry. Joans had a famous saying: "Jazz is my religion, and Surrealism is my point of view." He wrote over 30 books of poetry, stories, and collages. Some of his books include Black Pow-Wow, Beat Funky Jazz Poems, Afrodisia, and Teducation.

Biography

Early Life and Education

Ted Joans was born as Theodore Jones in Cairo, Illinois. His parents worked on riverboats that traveled the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. He loved jazz music and played the trumpet. He followed the new "Bop" jazz style as it grew. He continued to love and support all kinds of jazz throughout his life.

He grew up in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Louisville, Kentucky. He earned a degree in fine arts from Indiana University. After finishing college, he moved to New York City in 1951.

New York and the Beat Generation

In New York, Ted Joans created paintings in a style he called Jazz Action. He also read his poetry out loud, developing his own style called Jazz Poetry. He was part of the Beat Generation in Greenwich Village. This was a group of writers and artists who explored new ways of thinking and living.

He was friends with famous writers like Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, Leroi Jones, Gregory Corso, and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. For a while, Joans even shared a room with the great jazz musician Charlie Parker. His lively parties were often photographed by artists like Fred McDarrah and Weegee.

Surrealism and Travels

Ted Joans was also deeply involved in Surrealism. This art movement explores the world of dreams and the unconscious mind. He met the artist Joseph Cornell and became close with his childhood hero, Salvador Dalí. However, they soon went their separate ways. In Paris, Joans was welcomed by André Breton, a leader of the Surrealist movement.

Joans was very knowledgeable about Africa. He traveled widely across the continent, often walking for long distances. He spent many years living outside the United States, splitting his time between Europe, North America, and Africa. He had a house in Tangier, Morocco, and later in Timbuktu, Mali. Even though he stopped playing the trumpet, his poetry readings still had a jazz feel. He often worked with musicians. He also wrote many letters to other creative people, like Langston Hughes and Ishmael Reed. Many of these letters are kept at the Bancroft Library at the University of California, Berkeley.

Art and Legacy

Ted Joans' painting Bird Lives is displayed in the De Young Museum in San Francisco. He also started the famous "Bird Lives" saying and graffiti in New York City. This happened after the jazz musician Charlie Parker died in 1955.

Joans created many types of visual art. These included collages, sculptures made from different objects, paintings, and drawings. He often used a surrealist game called Cadavre Exquis to create art with others. The rhinoceros was a common subject in his artwork. He also made short films.

In the early 1980s, Joans was a writer living in Berlin, Germany. He wrote jazz essays and reviews for magazines like Coda and Jazz Magazine. His life story, "Je Me Vois," was published in a book series about authors' lives. His work also appeared in many poetry collections.

Later Life and Death

In the late 1990s, Ted Joans moved to Seattle. He lived there and in Vancouver, Canada, when he wasn't traveling. In 2001, he received the American Book Awards Lifetime Achievement Award. This award honored his long and important career.

Ted Joans passed away in Vancouver, British Columbia, on April 25, 2003. He had complications from diabetes. He had 10 children, and he named one of his daughters Daline, after Salvador Dalí.

Published works

• Funky Jazz Poems (1959), New York: Rhino Review.
• Beat Poems (1959), New York: Deretchink.
• All of Ted Joans and No More(1961), with collages by the author, New York: Excelsior Press.
• The Truth (1960)
• The Hipsters with collages by the author (1961), New York: Corinth.
• A Black Pow-Wow Of Jazz Poems (1969), London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.
• Black Pow-Wow Jazz Poems (1969), New York: Hill and Wang.
• Afrodisia (1970), with collages by the author, London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.
• Afrodisia; New Poems (1970), New York: Hill and Wang.
• A Black Manifesto in Jazz Poetry and Prose (1971), London: Calder and Boyars.
• Cogollo Caniculaire (1977), with artist Heriberto Cogollo and poet Joyce Mansour, Rome (Italy): Carlo Bestetti.
• Flying Piranha (1978), with poet Joyce Mansour, New York: Bola Press.
• Der Erdferkelforscher / The Aardvark Watcher (1980), translated by Richard Anders, Berlin: LCB-Editionen.
• Vergriffen: oder Blitzlieb Poems (1979), Kassel (Germany): Loose Blätter Press.
• Mehr Blitzliebe Poems (1982), Hamburg (Germany): Michael Kellner Verlag.
• Merveilleux Coup de Foudre (1982) with poet Jayne Cortez, in French, translated by Ms. Ila Errus and M. Sila Errus, Paris: Handshake Editions.
• Sure, Really I Is (1982), with collages by the author, Sidmouth (UK): Transformaction.
• Dies und Das: Ein Magazin von actuellem surrealistischen interesse (1984), Berlin.
• Double Trouble (1991), with poet Hart Leroy Bibbs, Paris: Revue Noire, Editions Bleu Outremer.
• Honeyspoon (1993), Paris: Handshake Editions.
• Okapi Passion (1994), Oakland: Ishmael Reed Publishing Company.
• WOW (1998), with artist Laura Corsiglia, Mukilteo (Washington): Quartermoon Press.
• Teducation: Selected Poems 1949-1999 (1999), illustrations by Heriberto Cogollo, Minneapolis: Coffee House Press.
• Select one or more: Poems (2000), Berkeley: The Bancroft Library Press.
• Our Thang: Several Poems, Several Drawings (2001), with artist Laura Corsiglia, Victoria (Canada): Ekstasis Editions.
• In Thursday Sane (2001), with illustrations by the author, Davis (California): Swan Scythe Press.

Ted Joans in film

• (1964) by Louis van Gasteren, Amsterdam. Ted Joans reads with Piet Kuiters Modern Jazz Group, excerpt on YouTube.
• Pan-African Cultural Festival / Festival panafricain d'Alger (1969) by William Klein, France/Algeria. Features Ted Joans reading with Archie Shepp and Touareg musicians.
• (1971), directed by John Jeremy with the photographs of Val Wilmer. Features Ted Joans' voice reading one of his signature poems, "Jazz is My Religion".
• (1994) at Jack Kerouac conference, New York University.
• From St. Louis to Dogon Country (1999) part of the BBC series Great Railway Journeys. directed by David Hickman, written by Danny Glover. Features Joans and Danny Glover, Clyde Taylor and others in Mali.
• WOW! Ted Joans Lives! by Kurt Hemmer and Tom Knoff (2010). An homage to Ted Joans, featuring his reading at Harper College, Palatine, Illinois, in 2002.