(San Francisco, CA, February 28, 2012) – SFJAZZ, the leading nonprofit jazz organization on the West Coast, the presenter of the SFJAZZ Spring Season 2012 running now through June 22, and the San Francisco Jazz Festival, today announced the appointment of Ishmael Reed as the first SFJAZZ Poet Laureate. This appointment will serve to expand and promote the role of poetry and spoken word in jazz and to continue celebrating jazz as a living art form built on a constantly evolving tradition.