Verse set to inventive vocals

Jazz and poetry collaborations are unfortunately stamped with the stereotype of bongo-tapping beatniks, so I was wary of the new disc by longtime Seattle jazz singer and pianist Carolyn Graye, "Poems by Denise Levertov" (Pony Boy).

To say I was pleasantly surprised is a wild understatement. Graye's tasteful, respectful settings (with some tart playing by the likes of Jim Knapp, trumpet; Hans Teuber, reeds; and John Stowell, guitar) do exactly what they should do. They thrust listeners into the clear light of Levertov's words — a very fine place to be.

"I was mostly trying to go for what the poem suggested," says Graye, whose arrangements vary from straight recitation to actual songs, improv and scat, with a touch of electronic manipulation. "Her writing is so precise, so spare. And she's so musical. It's that down-to-the-bone kind of writing, and great phrasing!"

Graye celebrates the release of her album in the Garden Court of the Seattle Asian Art Museum, at 5 p.m. Thursday (free with museum admission, $3-$5; 206-654-3100 or www.seattleartmuseum.org).

Graye also performs at the Pony Boy Records Jazz Picnic, which kicks off at noon Sunday in the Sand Point Magnuson Park Garden Amphitheatre (free; www.ponyboyrecords.com).

More than 50 local performers will be on hand, including Randy Halberstadt; the Vern Sielert Dektet; the Buddy Catlett Trio with Jay Thomas; Karen Shivers and Bill Anschell; the Greg Williamson Quartet; Floyd Standifer; and the rarely-seen Olympia saxophonist Bert Wilson.

One of the most celebrated poets of her generation, Levertov, who was English, lived the last eight years of her life in Seattle, where she died in 1997. Smitten by the power and presence of nature, she often mentioned Mount Rainier and the moon in her poems.

Graye met Levertov during the last year of her life, during a benefit at Swedish Medical Center for victims of domestic violence.

"I went into the restroom and there was this older lady with red shoes," recalls Graye. "I had no idea who she was, but she was very cordial. I told her I liked her shoes. I did my little set and then the lady with red shoes was reading."

Afterward, Graye says Levertov told her, "Jazz singers don't usually have such good diction. I can never understand the words.'"

Intrigued, the singer proposed a collaboration, and Levertov instantly said yes.

"I was floored," says Graye. "I guess we just hit it off."

Between February and July, Graye visited Levertov at her Seward Park home, walking through her garden and discussing the project. Levertov died in December, without ever hearing the songs.

What a shame. You can definitely understand the words.

On "Adam's Complaint," Phil Sparks quickly walks his bass under Knapp's cool improv, as Gray recites: "Some people/no matter what you give them,/still want the moon ... "

"The Footprints" starts with a funky, Horace Silver-like piano vamp and a counterline for horns, moves through lively solos and ends with the poem, like a haiku tag. Moody textures of bass clarinet and tremolo bowed bass support the long lines of "Mass of the Moon Eclipse."

A couple of tracks stray into studio doctoring (Levertov's voice on "The Absentee," for example), but, for the most part, this is a no-nonsense project.

It's a welcome departure for Graye, a mainstay on the bar scene at such long-gone hangouts as Lofurno's and author of a fascinating masters thesis about Seattle jazz. Graye still performs at Tula's and the "jazz and sushi" series at Hiroshi's, a Japanese restaurant on Eastlake, but is contemplating a return to academia.

"It's not about always performing for me," she says.

Enjoy her while you can.

Paul de Barros: 206-464-3247 or pdebarros@seattletimes.com