Louis C. Elson Lecture: JJJJJerome Ellis

is this stutter a black chant offered by the waterside

In this improvisational lecture-performance, composer and poet JJJJJerome Ellis will share some of his ongoing research on intersections between music, stuttering, race, and nature. Using piano, saxophone, electronics, and voice, he’ll perform excerpts from “Benediction,” a devotional song cycle attending to 18th and 19th century black runaway slaves who stuttered. This lecture-performance is an ongoing attempt to, in the words of critic Hortense Spillers, “hear [slavery’s] stutter more clearly.”

“Benediction” appears in Ellis’ new poetry collection, Aster of Ceremonies. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.

JJJJJerome Ellis is a proud stutterer. He makes music and writes books. He lives in Norfolk, Virginia with his wife, ecologist-poet Luísa Black Ellis. They like walking in the woods and drinking tea together.

This event is co-sponsored by the Harvard University Music Department and the Sound/Text Seminar at the Mahindra Humanities Center.

The event will be livestreamed via the Harvard University Department of Music Youtube Channel.