Piri Thomas • Every Child is Born a Poet

"...What a great title. And how good to hear an album that lives up to it... This rich and multifaceted 27-track CD is based on the soundtrack to Jonathan Robinson's film about Piri Thomas, the Nuyorican "poet laureate", assembled from the poet's own readings and sessions led by auteur/producer Kip Hanrahan. ...Thomas, now in his 70s, has a speaking voice that is still powerful, resonant and urgent. The music moves logically from improvised textures to Latin schmaltz; from streetwise percussion jams to the minimalist, multitracked pianos of Hanrahan's instrumental title track. The young boy's spoken voice on I'm Tough is almost unbearably moving: 'I'm tough. I hope I'm tough enough.' ...."
~John L Walters, The Guardian

1. Like Tight (At Juvie)

2. Bullets Or Butterflies / Every Child Is Born A Poet

3. Born Anew At Each a.M.

4. Oye Familia!

5. What Better Place?

6. Softly, Puerto Rican, You're Not Alone

7. Mom and Pop Had Filled My Eyes With the Wonderous City

8. I Speak For Myself

9. Vaya!

10. Mindtrances

11. Freedom of Expressions

12. Getting From Nothing

13. Pride On Bended Knees

14. Momma Never Lost Her Sense of Beauty

15. Those Who Is And Those Who Ain't

16. Armed Robbery On West 8th Street

17. Puerto Rican Identity / I'm Tough / El Miedo

18. Distant Shore Dreams / the Cruelest Prison of All

19. Hollywood In Harlem

20. Every Child Is Born a Poet

21. Hard Stuff

22. El Vejiganté

23. Doubt Kills

24. Dignity

25. No Vuelvo

26. Dialogue With Society a/K/a Sermon From the Ghetto

27. Pretty As Thee

PIRI THOMAS, ROBBY AMEEN, CHOCOLATE ARMENTEROS, BILLY BANG, MILTON CARDONA, EDSEL GOMEZ, ANDY GONZALEZ, JERRY GONZALEZ, KIP HANRAHAN, STEFON HARRIS, JT LEWIS, PEDRO MARTINEZ, MARIO RIVERA, FERNANDO SAUNDERS, ALFREDO TRIFF, JAMES ZOLLAR, JONATHAN ROBINSON

Produced by Kip Hanrahan and Jonathan Robinson
Recorded 1990 through 2003, San Fransisco, New York

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"words can be bullets or butterflies. The truth uplifts, while lies destroy. So say what you mean and mean what you say."

Piri Thomas 

 Piri Thomas, the author known for the best-selling book “Down These Mean Streets”  died October 17, 2011 aged 83.

Label: American Clavé – AMCL 1032
Format: 320
Country: Japan
Released: 2006
Genre: Jazz, Latin
Style: Latin Jazz, Poetry