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All is Loneliness- Moondog |
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Here are two albums by Moondog, one of my favorite musicians. Unlike the last album of his I posted, these are from his early days as a busker on the streets of New York. His music is a fascinating mix of jazz, avant-garde and what would later come to be called minimalism. He made his own instruments (the Oo and the Trimba for example) and wrote his own poetry, not to mention his own fusion viking/native american garments. Everyone from Leonard Bernstein to Philip Glass have cited Moondog as a major influence. One sad story from his days on the street involves none other than Charlie Parker. Parker saw him on the street one day and was so impressed with his music that he asked Moondog to cut an album with him. Parker died two days later before anything could come to fruition. In my opinion there is no one more unique and original than Moondog. More Moondog was released in 1956 and The Story of Moondog one year later.
More Moondog:
"Moondog's second Prestige album solidified his standing as a rare breed: a musician whose work was both highly experimental and approachable by listeners without a taste for the avant-garde. That's what enabled him to make a living as a street musician in Manhattan, after all. On this album he produced a variety of wonderful shaking percussion sounds and rhythms with an oo (a triangular stringed instrument struck with a clave) and even "Ostrich Feathers Played on Drum" (as the title on one track reads). The percussion is sometimes backed by sparse, Asian-sounding melodies, and there are also unpredictable interludes of solo piano, street sounds, and an eight-minute "Moondog Monologue." One of the round-like vocal numbers, the minute-long and inexpressibly sad "All Is Loneliness," found an unexpected second life in the 1960s when it was covered by Big Brother & the Holding Company. The album is now available as part of a single-disc CD reissue that also includes the whole of his subsequent Prestige album, The Story of Moondog (1957)."
-Allmusic
The Story of Moondog:
"Moondog's third Prestige effort is a tad less accessible than his previous ones, going heavy on percussion numbers utilizing instruments of his own invention: the oo, trimba (a triangular-shaped drum), and tuji (a series of mounted sticks of graduated lengths). There's also a softshoe dance, a nice piano solo improvisation, and the usual bit of random street noise and quotations of poetry. It's still unpredictable Moondog -- "Wildwood" is reminiscent of Native American chants, and spooky organ underlies the shuffle-shakes of maraca and clave on "Organ Rounds." "Up Broadway," by contrast, is a jubilant jazz/swing cut that would have made a great opening number over the credits of any number of 1950s inner-city crime dramas. The album is now available on CD, in tandem with the 1956 record More Moondog, on Prestige's single-disc More Moondog/The Story of Moondog reissue."
-Allmusic
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cheerful
