RIP JAYNE CORTEZ

Beyond Baroque mourns the passing of JAYNE CORTEZ. Jayne authored ten books of poems and performed her poetry with music on nine recordings. She presented her work and ideas at universities, museums, and festivals in Africa, Asia, Europe, South America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Her poems were translated into many languages and widely published in anthologies, journals and magazines, including  Daughters of Africa,Poems for the Millennium, and The Jazz Poetry Anthology.

She was organizer of "Slave Routes the Long Memory" and "Yari Yari Pamberi: Black Women Writer Dissecting Globalization", both conferences held at New York University. She was president of the Organization of Women Writers of Africa and appeared on screen in the films Women In Jazz and Poetry in Motion.

She married Ornette Coleman in 1954 and divorced him in 1964. She is the mother of jazz drummer Denardo Coleman.
 Jayne Cortez 1936 - 2012