Musical history is full of people who became famous for a brief, shining second, then rode that one second to a long career. Ken Nordine is one of these people, and his story is an interesting one.
Ken Nordine's career started not in music, but in voice work. In the 40s, he was doing voice work for radio stations in Chicago, then, in the 50s, he began reciting poetry over cool jazz. His style became known as "word jazz", a slick mix of spoken word and jazz. His album, 1957's Word Jazz, came out on the Dot label and immediately causes a sensation. His follow up records, 1958's Son of Word Jazz and Love Words, were equally as successful. Nordine was also lucky to be doing this style of music around the time the Beat Generation work of Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs became huge, and his style fit right in with those writers.
Nordine is known for his deep, resonant voice and he's still involved in music and radio to this date. His latest album was a DVD called The Eye is Never Filled, released in 2005. He's also worked with modern musicians like DJ Food and Shellac. He also hosts a radio show in the Chicago area.
I came across Ken Nordine thanks to the excellent Re/Search Labs book series, most notably the two volume Incredibly Strange Music set. The accompanying CD for Volume 2 of the Incredibly Strange Music book features three Ken Nordine tracks, including two from his Colors album from 1967. Anyone interested in weird and just plain bizarre music needs to check these books out. They're truly eye opening.
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