Kirpal
Gordon is a member of Poets
& Writers, Inc. and Outside
Insight, Inc., a non-profit 501(3) (C) dedicated to arts performance
and education. In addition to delivering his texts for spoken word, he often
performs accompanied by musicians in venues as varied as jazz festivals,
radio and television shows, recitals, libraries, night clubs, art openings,
prisons, theatres, universities, schools, bars, cafes, restaurants, galleries,
halfway houses, churches, museums, rehab centers and for special interest
groups. A noted speaker, he has also given a variety of presentations on
subjects as diverse as world religion, philosophy, yoga, meditation, art,
writing and culture.
View or listen to some of Kirpal Gordon's performances and readings online—
Listen to Kirpal performing Origins in the Key of Sea, accompanied by the Claire Daly Band.
Watch his readings of Love in Sanskrit, In This Time of Increasing War, and Tree, Mend Us on poetryvlog.com
Reviews and Acclaim for Kirpal Gordon's performances
Lotsa people go at it, but it's Kirpal G who IS it---the Real Deal, The
Chilly Willy, the Absolute Rootin' Tootin'est Poet Qua Non. Like the rain
out of the blue. When my life is through and the angels ask me to recall
the thrill of them all, I will tell them I remember Kirpal!
Bob Holman, proprietor, Bowery Poetry Club, www.bobholman.com
Kirpal Gordon is our poet laureate here at Dizzy's Club Coca-Cola in Jazz
at the Lincoln Center.
Todd Barkin, proprietor
Hearing Kirpal Gordon’s poetry is like seeing Salvador Dali’s
paintings—he’s a shape shifter, who creates surreal landscapes,
bending reality like those mystical, melted clocks and a Sphinx that proudly
wears Shirley Temple’s head.
Lara Pellegrinelli, contributor, National Public Radio & WNYC
Kirpal Gordon is a poet who genuinely swings both on the page and in the
ether.
Steve Smith, TimeOut New York
Kirpal Gordon is one of my very favorite poet/performers, not just in New
York City but anywhere. His work is wise and jazzy and poised and fun, and
whether alone or accompanied, he never fails to bring it on stage in a manner
that few can even approach.
George Wallace, poet laureate, Suffolk County
For the past decade or more, those jazz artists who have been able to move
the music forward have done so by drawing upon other musical sources---various
types of world musics, New Music, even hip hop---& incorporating the
best elements from these alternative currents into an ever-broadening jazz
mainstream.
In that vein, Heaven Help Us All’s most striking track fuses spoken
word, hip hop & jazz, as Gordon recites a stream of consciousness-type
of jazz manifesto accompanied first by Napoleon Maddox’s human beat
box & then by Claire Daly’s interpolation of Rahsaan Roland Kirk’s
haunting "Theme for the Eulipions."
Bob Bernotas, Jazz Improv Magazine
Not since Amiri Baraka is there a performer who speaks the streets in a
combination black, white and Span-glish dialect, defying all category. Singing
us into what Lawrence Ferlinghetti called "a re-birth of wonder,"
it’s clear that the spoken word is the soul of his existence
Harold Johnson, critic, Café Noir Editions