David Meltzer
| David Meltzer | |
|---|---|
David Meltzer speaking at Beyond Baroque Literary Arts Center, Venice, California in 2007
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| Born |
February 17, 1937 Rochester, New York, United States |
| Died | December 31, 2016 (aged 79) Oakland, California, United States |
| Occupation | Poet, writer, musician |
| Citizenship | United States |
| Genre | San Francisco Renaissance |
| Notable awards | Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award, 2008 |
| Spouse | Tina (her death), Julie Rogers |
| Children | Jennifer, Margaret (Maggie), Amanda, Adam, Sangye Land (stepdaughter) |
David Meltzer (February 17, 1937 – December 31, 2016) was an American poet and musician of the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance. Lawrence Ferlinghetti described him as "one of the greats of post-World-War-Two San Francisco poets and musicians." Meltzer came to prominence with inclusion of his work in the anthology, The New American Poetry 1945-1960.
Meltzer was born in Rochester, New York, the son of a cellist and a harpist. In 1940, the family moved to Brooklyn. At the age of 11, he wrote his first poem, on the topic of the New York City subway system. He performed on radio and TV in The Horn and Hardart Children's Hour. The family moved once again to Rockville Centre. His parents separated, and he accompanied his father to Los Angeles in 1954. In 1957, he moved to San Francisco and became part of a circle of writers based around Jack Spicer and Robert Duncan.
In 1958, he recorded an album of his poems with a jazz combo for Jim Dickson on Dickson's Vaja label. The album was not released but finally saw the light of day in 2006 on Sierra Records titled "David Meltzer: Poet with Jazz 1958." Jim Dickson had earlier recorded Lord Buckley, Lenny Bruce and the Page Cavanaugh Trio. Later Jim would be A&R producer for World Pacific and Elektra Records as well as discovering and producing the rock group, The Byrds.
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