Please join us with composer and trombonist Mark McGrain for a poetry reading and signing celebrating the launch of his new book, ETCHED IN A TIME OF RECKONING.

The grace and irony of the human condition abound in Mark McGrain's first published collection of poetry. With the rhythm and pitch of a fluent jazz improvisor, McGrain delivers images of joy, whimsy, and unfettered humility in this canon of personal triumph, tragedy, reflection, and social commentary. Touching upon topics ranging from the city of New Orleans surviving the Federal flood of Hurricane Katrina, enduring the COVID pandemic, the racism and classism rampant in southern American culture, and the gun violence of mass shootings, Etched In A Time Of Reckoning lays bare the comedy of serendipity and heartful musings of love, life, aging, and death. A remarkable, masterful initial outing of a voice rich in emotional depth and literary dimension.

Mark McGrain is a career jazz composer, performing trombonist, and educator. He’s been a journeyman musician for over fifty years—the past twenty-five spent living in New Orleans and working with some of the city’s most iconic artists including Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers, sousaphonist and founder of the Dirty Dozen Brass Band Kirk Joseph, Anders Osborne, the Radiators, vocalist John Boutté (who was featured prominently in HBO’s series Treme), and the legendary blues and R&B great Walter “Wolfman” Washington.  McGrain has appeared as composer and performer with his own band, PLUNGE, in the Jazz Tent at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as well as other festivals, creative music series, and club venues across the United States. He has released four critically acclaimed albums of original compositions with PLUNGE.