Spoken word and live jazz are sharing a stage at the Texas Music Museum, where Double Vision Jazz Ensemble is teaming up with Texas poets Jacqueline Miller and Eddie Vega for a free performance billed as an interdisciplinary mashup of verse and improvisation. The event blends poetry, contemporary jazz, rhythmic interpretation, composition, and live improvisation into a single show, rather than treating music and words as separate acts.
The performance, listed by CultureMap Austin, brings Double Vision together with Miller and Vega for an evening of jazz and spoken word. Ensemble co-leaders Hank Hehmsoth and John Mills are creating original music and new arrangements specifically inspired by the poems selected for the night, meaning the compositions are being shaped around the words rather than the other way around.
Eddie Vega brings an official title to the bill: he is San Antonio's poet laureate, according to CultureMap Austin's listing. The City of San Antonio says Vega was selected as the city's seventh poet laureate for a three-year term running from April 1, 2024, through March 31, 2027, though that detail comes with lower confidence in the available record.
Who's Playing, And Where
The event takes place at the Texas Music Museum's Marvin C. Griffin Building at 1009 E. 11th St. in Austin, per the listing, and admission is free. The lineup rounds out Double Vision's core sound with Utah Hamrick on bass, Hank Hehmsoth on piano, John Mills on saxophone and flute, and a guest drummer, Rob Kazanel, sitting in for this performance.
HPPAA, the nonprofit tied to the ensemble, frames the night in similar terms, describing it as a free public performance that blends live jazz and spoken word at the museum. The organization describes itself on its own site as an Austin-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit whose mission is to build community through jazz by presenting public performances, educating young musicians, and preserving Texas music history, linked here via HPPAA.
A Quartet With A Growing Résumé
Double Vision is described elsewhere as an Austin-based contemporary acoustic jazz quartet co-led by Hehmsoth and Mills, with Hamrick on bass and drummer Aaron Easley rounding out that general lineup, according to a profile from All About Jazz. That same profile notes the group's recent work includes an Eddie Durham tribute previously presented at the Texas Music Museum, suggesting this isn't the ensemble's first run through the venue's doors.
The ensemble has kept busy elsewhere in 2026 as well. HPPAA’s project history lists an October 10, 2026, performance of Eddie Durham’s music at a San Marcos festival honoring his life and legacy, and an August 9 workshop and public jam session where young musicians learned, played, and improvised with professional mentors, according to the group’s project page on Hank's Jazz. Double Vision is also listed on the Texas Commission on the Arts' 2026–2028 Texas Touring Roster, and HPPAA says the ensemble is available for bookings at schools, colleges, universities, libraries, museums, arts centers, festivals, and community organizations across Texas and beyond.
Organizers note the event is subject to change due to weather or other concerns, according to the original listing. Beyond that caveat, no further scheduling details have been confirmed for the Texas Poets Meet Texas Jazz performance.
