Michael Horovitz OBE (04/04/1935 – 07/07/2021)

Michael Horovitz was born in Frankfurt in 1935 but managed to escape Nazi Germany when his parents brought their children to Britain. He studied at Brasenose College, Oxford from 1954 where he began writing poetry and he launched the trail-blazing small press magazine, New Departures, in 1959 publishing the work of William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg and many other American and British beat poets, including his own work. A big jazz enthusiast, Horovitz brought poetry and jazz together during the early 1960s with the Live New Departures events and the Jazz Poetry Septet. Here he collaborated with Stan Tracey, Bobby Wellins, John Mumford, Jeff Clyne, Laurie Morgan and fellow poet Pete Brown for performances at Ronnie Scott’s Club, The Marquee and The ICA, where he also worked with Joe Harriott and Phil Seaman. A recording of the septet’s performance at the University of Southampton Arts Festival in 1962, including the long form work ‘Blues for the Hitchhiking Dead’ was released by Gearbox Records in 2013.

In June 1965 Horovitz helped organise and appeared at the International Poetry Incarnation at the Royal Albert Hall featuring Ginsberg, Laurence Ferlinghetti, Gregory Corso, Pete Brown, Adrian Mitchell, Alexander Trocchi and many others at what was one of the earliest coming togethers of London’s nascent counter-culture tribes (released on DVD as Wholly Communion). He was also involved in the UK’s first major psychedelic happening, the 14 Hour Technicolor Dream at Alexandra Palace in April 1967 and later that year his work was included in Love, Love, Love – the New Love Poetry published by Corgi. Horovitz’s Children of Albion – Poetry of the‘Underground’ in Britain anthology was published by Penguin in 1969 while several other poetry titles for both New Departures and Latimer Press imprints were published from the late 1960s to the 1990s. In 2007 his book A New Waste Land: Time Ship Earth at Nillennium, used TS Elliott’s The Waste Land as a template to look at the wretched state of the nation and planet in the new millennium through poetry, text and artwork. It was his most political statement to date and considered his magnum opus.

Throughout the past two decades Horovitz kept active with several Poetry Olympics events, including a 40th anniversary of International Poetry Incarnation in 2005, several poetry anthologies and performances with his William Blake Klezmatrix band, including trombonist Annie Whitehead and his companion, poet and singer Vanessa Vie, where he played his unique kazoo-based instrument, the anglo-saxophone. I was delighted when he agreed to contribute reviews and poetry to Jazzwise (Jon Newey and Michael pictured above at the 2003 BBC Jazz Awards) and in recent years he rekindled his love of painting and collage. A counter-cultural national treasure and one of the UK’s most inspirational and radical poets, an exhibition of his artwork was due to start at London’s Chelsea Arts Club at the time of his death.