In The Infinity Sessions, T. R. Hummer achieves a radical act of translation, creating poems that project the narrative of twentieth-century America implicit in the syncopated rhythms of jazz and blues. Hummer boldly stands up as a poet and rides with some of the obscure greats with whom he feels a deep kinship—Jimmie Lunceford, Adrian Rollini, Big Maybelle Smith, and Sun Ra—in a dazzling poetic cycle as melodic, surprising, and improvisational as the finest of jazz music.

Showing readers that the musician's character is tested and formed in the merciless crucible of improvisation, Hummer forces forth his own unique character as a poet, testing himself to the limit within the mystery, sadness, and beauty of jazz. His vaultingly ambitious collection is a work of grace and nuance, its conveyance of music in words incisively original in achieving this "impossible" translation.