The Weird World of Old Records #2: Ken Nordine

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.

Jello Biafra speaks truth

I've been putting a bunch more music into my iPod and came across my copy of Incredibly Strange Music Vol. 2. This was put out by the people at Re/Search, who put out some stellar books in the 80s on counter culture. I'm particularly fond of the Industrial Culture Handbook, which opened my eyes to a number of weird things in music. The ISM volumes, or course, cover odd music, mostly from the 40s to 60s. Jello Biafra, of Dead Kennedys fame, wrote the liner notes for ISM Vol. 2. It kind of nails down why I search out the music I do, and why I enjoy digging through boxes of old records:

"From early one, I developed a sense of humor about records and music that weren't necessarily 'cool'. Starting in the 9th grade, I got fed up with radio that I began buying records just on the basis of which covers looked the most interesting. Thrift store singles broadened me even more. My tastes continued to widen; I'm always looking for that left-field idea that would help make my own songs different...

I keep expanding and discovering more and more sounds, i blunder into new things. Hybrids and blends are the most intriguing, especially when they're unintentional. Part of the reason I search for weird rock-ethnic-experimental music hybrids is: they inspire me to come up with new material. The more bent and unexpected, the better - you never know what you may find, and what sort of catalyst/inspiration it could be. If you want to get into the weirdest of the weird, you have to take chances. For those who stay curious, there are always new frontiers..."

Here's some music from the compilation. Ken Nordine's experiments in "word-jazz", an odd mix of jazz and free-association poetry