MEET THE BAND
JOHN SOBOL’S SOUNDBYTES features the exciting lyrical imagination of frontman John Sobol, accompanied by the veteran musical ingenuity of Tim Posgate on banjo & guitar.
As a wildly entertaining poet, songwriter and storyteller, Sobol conjures up electrifying moments of inspiration that pulse with raw realism, visionary passion and sly humour.
As musicians the fearless duo dive deep into jazz, funk, folk, rootsy americana and punky rock and roll, with Sobol weaving searing sax solos over Posgate’s gorgeous grooves.
Together, Sobol and Posgate deliver songs, sounds and stories guaranteed to delight.
Email: soboltalk@gmail.com
At 15 saxophonist John Sobol was playing 4 nights a week in Montreal jazz clubs. Also a passionate poet from an early age, he later led the first Canadian team to the National Poetry Slam in San Francisco. In the decades since then he’s performed in hundreds of venues across Canada and internationally, as both a performance poet and musician. His unique style has been featured at the Vancouver Folk Festival, the Edmonton Fringe Festival, Ottawa Bluesfest and the Montreal International Jazz Festival, as well as the Nuyorican Poets Café, Seattle’s Bumbershoot Festival and the University of California at San Diego, among countless other appearances.
As the Edmonton Journal put it in their 4-star review:
“In the expansive world of the Edmonton Fringe, there isn’t a known category for John Sobol… a tirelessly smart and rigorous blend of performance poetry, history, lecture and political speech — with a jazz intro. 4 STARS”
And in the words of Bob Wiseman, legendary Canadian singer/songwriter and indie producer (of Ron Sexsmith among many others):
“Generally, I avoid seeing great work, but this was a worthy exception. John is unique and inspiring.”
Toronto-based jazz guitarist, banjoist, bandleader and composer Tim Posgate has performed across Canada and around the world for over 30 years. In addition to having been nominated Canada’s Best Jazz Guitarist at the Canadian Jazz Awards, Tim has toured Cuba with Jane Bunnett, European jazz festivals with renowned tuba player Howard Johnson (John Lennnon, The Band, Taj Mahal…), and played endless Eastern European borscht bars with Ronley Teper and the Lipliners, to list but a few of his musical adventures. His Canadian collaborators include The Shuffle Demons, Mike Murley, Rob Clutton, Mary Margaret O’Hara and many others.
“Tim Posgate is a Canadian guitarist who has demonstrated the kind of diverse idiosyncratic mindset in the past ten years that places him in the same musical vicinity as Bill Frisell.”
– John Kelman, All About Jazz
“I’ve listened to his most recent album, Banjo Hockey, at least once a day since getting a copy (and sometimes several times a day.) Banjo Hockey is a devoutly soulful amalgam of styles ranging from jazz to bluegrass to klezmer to folk, and it is quickly earning its way to the top of my daily playlist.”
– Dustin Ogdin, No Depression
JOHN SOBOL’S SOUNDBYTES were born as a trio. In February 2020 we played our first gig and a few days later the world shut down. When Calliope, the muse of music, awoke from her extended slumber, the trio was reborn as a duo. And here we are.
John and Tim are old friends. They first played together when John hired Tim as part of the house band for Action Poetry’94, a massive month-long spoken word residency John had created at the Banff Centre for the Arts. Since then they crossed paths in various musical settings, but with JOHN SOBOL’S SOUNDBYTES the pair have reunited at last to embark on a new creative adventure.
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The images immediately above (and many others on Instagram) are extracted from John Sobol’s 8th book, Poetic Logic, published in 2023, and the first dedicated to his poetry. Each of the 27 poems in the book poem is illustrated with images Sobol generated using the Midjourney AI platform. Many of these poems he regularly performs on stage, some accompanied by music, some without.
The book also includes an essay explaining how the process of translating poems into AI images illuminated surprising relationships between human and machine creativity.
Poetic Logic
124 pp, 57 images
$30 (CDN) plus shipping
Available by contacting: soboltalk@gmail.com
Other Books
Digitopia Blues
Race, Technology and the American Voice
(Banff Centre Press, 2002)
“Digitopia Blues is a cutting edge, highly recommended look at an American popular culture of the future.”
Midwest Book Review
“His book begs to be read, and what’s more, it begs to be discussed.”
The Georgia Straight
Friend or Foe
(Groundwood Books, 2016)
“A quiet, thoughtful narrative for all readers who like to wonder.”
Kirkus Reviews
“A charming modern-day fable, without a simplistic moral, about what makes for and what undoes the sense of otherness.”
Brainpickings (read post)
JOHN SOBOL'S SOUNDBYTES 