D-CLAIM

D-CLAIM is a Dallas-based jazz & literature collective founded by poet/bassist J.D. Debris, backing contemporary poets with hypnotic live-band grooves. Sponsored by Project Poetica at SMU English, D-CLAIM brings together hip-hop tinged jazz with a poetry reading on the third Thursday of every month, highlighting an improvisational confluence of words and music.

Pierre Minar is a poet born in Lebanon living in Dallas whose work can be found in Second Factory Issue 8, Midwest Quarterly, Keith Journal, Hobart, and a chapbook called Transmissions from My Yearning Chair (Bottlecap Press 2024), among other places. He is a 2026-27 Fieldnotes Associate.

D-CLAIM has been praised by the Dallas Observer for possessing a “spark that allows the poetic medium to evolve while also giving jazz new material.” Their sound, featuring original compositions, combines the lyricism of Gil Scott-Heron, the low-end explorations of Esperanza Spalding, and hypnotic grooves informed by East Coast boom-bap and Brazilian soul.

Manny Galindo (Piano), Ste’fon Landers (Saxophone), Nicholas Rothouse (Percussion), Jackie Whitmill Jr. (Drums), J.D. Debris (Bass)