It's Saturday Jazz With Ken Nordine .......
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Artist:
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Album:Next! (1959)
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Track:
Okay so it's technically not Saturday anymore. Cut a guy some slack, I had a busy day. Chopping wood and whatnot. Gotta stay warm because it's good for the digestion.
This track can be called jazz for a few reasons. One would be because Ken Nordine had a long running program called Word Jazz. I still catch it in reruns when I can on WMUH 91.7 it airs on Sunday afternoons. Another reason it could be called jazz is because of the backing sounds that accompany Ken's unmistakable voice. It's got a swing to it. A low and crawling swing but a swing none the less, propelled by The Richard Marx Orchestra. Thirdly, Ken writes in the tradition of Kerouac. He has a stream that doesn't need rewrites. Disjointed analogies that make total sense and timing that couldn't be more on time if it was riding into town on a Timex wristwatch.
Next! came out in 1959 and by that time Ken had 5 LP's under his belt and he had established himself as a beat poet. This track underscores his love of real jazz and his fondness for the city that gave birth to him, Chicago.
Soak it up and scream madly, "Go cat go!"
Ken Nordine folks, the track "Faces in the Jazzmatazz" from the album Next!
Comments (7)
Cool beat neck style. Reminds me of Chris in the morning.
That odd. Odd but right on at the same time. Northern Exposure 'Chris' made me pine for my old DJ days. I start with 4 hours in the dead of night. 4 hours without a leash.
The guy I thought Chris was most like was a fella named Truman Ingalsby. He had a radio show called 'Meanderings' on WMUH and WDIY. Truman was the guy they modelled Chris after. If not in reality it was in spirit. Truman could draw you into the moment. I miss him something awful.
This is the only mention of Truman on the net.
http://mosc.com/~bill/blogs/truman.html
Glad to see you again Ray. Got any new sound for us?
Thanks Chris, Still trying to get things together after my two month trip to CA. Hope to be in the Mog groove asap. For now here's a tune from ex-Megadeth guitarist Chris Poland's newest project OHM. Just read about them in Bass Player Magazine.
Ohm: System of a Clown
Along with radio broadcaster/author Jean Shepherd, comic book artist Carl Barks, and animators Jay Ward & Bill Scott, Ken Nordine was one of my major influences while growing up. Always appreciate seeing Nordine and "Word Jazz" getting their due.
"Faces in the Jazzmatazz" sends me. I don't know what it means, but it's poetry that is musical, the way great poetry should be.
I always felt if you could recite a line or two it was great poetry.
The lilt and words draw you in so you pay attention to them. Ken had a way, a voice that made you listen whether you wanted to or not. You had no choice. You listened and you heard every word. That was his magic.
It sends me too.
Mike, Ken is one of those 'heroes' you want to emulate. I couldn't agree more. Carl Barks, interesting choice. I am trying to put together my Disney post. I have a fascination for Ward Kimball. Walt really knew how to draw in the good one's didn't he?
I should really note that Barks was more than a mere comic book artist. Among his creations: Scrooge McDuck, Gyro Gearloose, Gladstone Gander, the Beagle Boys, Donald's hotheaded Neighbor Jones, etc. He wrote all the great Uncle Scrooge adventures (some of which influenced aspects of the Indiana Jones films, according to Lucas and Spielberg), in addition to the cleverest and sneakily moralistic Donald stories. Barks: one of the titans of sequential art.