David Meltzer, American poet and musician, Died at 79

David Meltzer was born on February 17, 1937, in Rochester, New York and died on December 31, 2016.

He was an American poet and musician of the Beat Generation and San Francisco Renaissance.

Meltzer was describe by Lawrence Ferlinghetti as “one of the greats of post-World-War-Two San Francisco poets and musicians.”

He came to prominence with inclusion of his work in the anthology, The New American Poetry 1945-1960.

In 1958, David Meltzer recorded an album of his poems with a jazz combo for Jim Dickson on Dickson’s Vaja label.

That album was not released but inially saw the light of day in 2006 on Sierra Records titled “David Meltzer: Poet with Jazz 1958.”

His other books include, No Eyes, poems on Lester Young, and a book of interviews, San Francisco Beat: Talking with the Poets (City Lights Books).

He taught at the New College of California in the Poetics Program, which was originally founded by Robert Duncan.

David lived in the San Francisco Bay Area.

David Meltzer passed away at 79 years old.