Native son poet brings new book to town
By Chris King
Of the St. Louis American
For a guy who has an apartment in Harlem and a country house in the Caribbean, and who has published and performed his poetry all over the world, Quincy Troupe is very much a St. Louis homeboy.
Troupe told the American this week, “I’ve got the same friends I’ve had since I was a little boy. And I had them through the years.”
Troupe – the son of a Negro League legend (Quincy Sr.) and “cousin brother” of the long-time state representative and current alderman, Charles Quincy Troupe – grew up on Cozens and then Ashland. Opera icon Grace Bumbry was his first choir director at First Baptist. He went to school, somewhat reluctantly, at Vashon before transferring (very reluctantly) to Beaumont in 1959 when it was dominated by white kids.
He’ll be home repeatedly this fall. On October 7 he is part of The Big Read in downtown Clayton, then he will read from his new book, The Architecture of Language (Coffeehouse Press), on October 23 at Left Bank Books and October 26 at SIUE.
“I love coming home,” Troupe said.
In the Lou, Troupe sees his mother – Dorothy Smith Marshall, alive and well at 89 – his cousin Charles and the rest of the Troupes. He sees Eugene B. Redmond, whom Quincy and his wife, Margaret Porter Troupe, just hosted for a reading in Harlem, and who will in turn host Troupe in Edwardsville. He sees Donald M. Suggs and K. Curtis Lyle. Now that Hammiet Bluiett is back in the river cities, he’ll see Bluiett. We could list people who will want to see Troupe when he’s in town, and whom he will try to see, for the rest of this story.
Troupe is, to put it politely, a trip.
He is a prolific and accomplished poet whose books sell well, for poetry books, and who has performed his work with a lengthy list of jazz innovators, who are also his long-time buddies.
His efforts as an editor alone would put him on most folks’ literary A-list. At the moment, he edits a journal out of New York University (Black Renaissance Noir) that is transforming itself from a forum for black writers into a forum about the Black Diaspora that is open, he said, “to any progressive writer.” The forthcoming edition will feature an interview with the great black visual artist (and St. Louis native) Oliver Jackson, yet another genius Troupe calls friend.
He is both down-home and capable of moving with the swells and getting the swells to support his own work (and the right stuff in general). He is a professional poet capable of demanding fairly impressive fees who has weathered some career controversy over credentials, yet comes across as just plain folks.
Spike Lee scouted his spacious apartment in Harlem as a location for Jungle Fever. Troupe told Spike, “Where am I supposed to live? I’m not interested in being in no hotel for three, four months.”
As if that’s not enough, he is the man who was hand-picked by Miles Davis to tell Miles’ life story – yes, Troupe is the hand behind the classic Miles memoir, a book that will be read as long as books are read.
Yet, at root, he is a St. Louis brother. His family story is similar to many in the local black community. The Troupes came up from the Deep South because they had to. Troupe said, “My uncle Albert threatened a white guy in Dublin, Georgia. Everybody had to leave – including my father.”
His father, who spelled his name Quincy Trouppe Sr., would have been a dominant Major League catcher had baseball been integrated in his prime. He entered St. Louis Cardinals history by working as a scout in the 1960s. Troupe said his dad was fired “because he hadn’t done anything,” though in fact he scouted and recommended great Latin American ballplayers – including Roberto Clemente and Orlando Cepeda – before the Cardinals were ready to get all that brown.
“Be sure to put that in there, since this is a St. Louis story,” Troupe said.
Gotcha, man. See you in a minute.
Troupe in STL
Local son and major poet Quincy Troupe will read from his new book, The Architecture of Language:
– At 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 7 in the Spotlight Tent as part of The Big Read in the Clayton business district.
– at 4 p.m. on Monday, October 23 at Left Bank Books
– at noon on Thursday, Oct. 26 at SIUE/Dunham Hall Theater with K. Curtis Lyle.
Troupe will also be a featured guest at the Eugene B. Redmond Writers Club’s 20th Birthday and Awards Banquet at the Queen Hotel on the East St. Louis Riverfront. It will be held at 7 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 26.
Tickets for the Birthday/Awards Banquet are $30. All other events are free. To purchase tickets for the banquet, contact EBR Writers Club/SIUE English at (618) 650-3991; or write the Club c/o P.O. Box 6165, East St. Louis 62202.
For information on Black Renaissance Noir, edited by Troupe, contact the Institute of African-American Affairs, New York University, 41-51 E. 11th St., NYC 10003-6687 or call (212) 998-2131.
Stay tuned to these pages for more from Troupe on his new book and his joint with Redmond.