It really is free form blank verse poetry about colors set to inoffensive smooth jazz. It was commissioned by the fuller paint company to write radio advertisement spots, but after a few commercials became popular, it evolved to become an album of 34 songs. Seusslike exploration of the meanings of different colors. His rich, deep baritone graces numerous television and radio ads. February, 2017 ruudverkerk a trio with glasses on leave a comment ken nordine, stan freberg and all an sherman not exactly three of a kind, but when we talk about glasses they were very trendy in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and they were not alone. Oct 28, 2010 wantcha to know that i love my baby and my baby loves me short time ago, we went out together, to a place called far out up in limbo the rhythm was there. But he found his passion in using his dramatic baritone to riff surreally on colors, time, spiders, bullfighting, outer space and dozens of other subjects. Inspire a love of reading with prime book box for kids discover delightful childrens books with prime book box, a subscription that delivers new books every 1. Legendary voiceover artist, narrator, and disc jockey ken nordine was born on april, 1920 in cherokee, iowa, the son of an architect. Nordine made several guest appearances on other artists recordings and his tracks featured on.
Ken nordi ne april, 1920 february 16, 2019 was an american voiceover and recording artist, best known for his series of word jazz albums. Get all the lyrics to songs on colors and join the genius community of music scholars to learn the meaning behind the lyrics. Ken nordine bachman crimson and olive dunwich usa d123. Mar 06, 2000 ken nordine, the originator of word jazz, npr commentator, and chicago fixture, has an unbelievably rich voice that makes his musings come alive. The childrens book equivalent of alexander therouxs eminently browsable if not always sensible freeassociative essays, the primary colors and the secondary colors, this is a volume for older kids, who may well be inspired to try their own hands at what nordine calls word jazz. Motion poetry by brandon beichler to ken nordine s poem about the color chartreuse. Ken nordine, surreal poet with a jazz beat, is dead at 98. Ken nordines word jazz gives voice to color and henrik dreschers. Ken nordines word jazz gives voice to color and henrik dreschers irrepressible image jazz completes the pictureand lets you in on the many quirks of colors. Ken nordine april, 1920 february 16, 2019 was an american voiceover and recording artist best known for his series of word jazz albums, featuring spoken word poetry over a jazz backdrop. Its tale has long been on the airwaves, courtesy of ken nordine, and its latest incarnation is in a childrens book called colors. If notability cannot be established, the article is likely to be merged, redirected, or deleted.
Colors by ken nordine, henrik drescher, hardcover barnes. The recordings for nordine s 44 colors were made in 1967, and 34 of these sound paintings were put on this 1995 cd, and a few years ago, harcourt published the words for 15 of the poems as a childrens book with the funny abstract pictures of the artist, henrik drescher. Adult childrens book collectors will love this book, but many children just wont get it. Colors divulges the silliness of orange, the pomp of purple, the offwhiteness of whiterevealing the many subtle personalities of color. Ken nordine was asked to produce a series of radio spots for the fuller paint company, and how the heck do you promote color on the radio anyway. For many jazz fans, the name ken nordine and the phrase word jazz are synonymous. Blessed with an exquisitely deep, rich, soothing, and resonant baritone voice, ken was heard on the worlds great novels. What was, and continues to be, your inspiration for word jazz. Dec 20, 2015 there arent many artists who could get away with creating an album of short eclectic odes to the various relatives and extended kinfolk of roy g. As an intellectual vibration smack dab in the middle of spectrum green can be a problem. Remembering ken nordine and his word jazz ken nordine, creator of a style of audio storytelling he called word jazz, died saturday at the age of 98. Sep, 2001 ken nordines amazing technicolor dream job.
The voiceover man from a thousand commercials, ken nordine registers in your subconscious instantly. Features song lyrics for ken nordine s colors album. Published march 6th 2000 by hmh books for young readers. I have loved his classic colors cd from the first time i heard it and i recommend you buy it at once but had a hard time imagining it in book form without his voice saying the words. His deep, resonant voice has also been featured in many commercial advertisements and movie trailers. Thinking thoughts and then rethinking them, and then writing them down to see how they look in print, then lifting whats on the page off the page by saying the printed thoughts out loud, hearing how they sound intoned, or half sung, or just skipping along the way shaky wanted his actors to speak the lines. Nordine became wealthy doing voiceovers for television and radio commercials. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. Noted voiceover man ken nordine recorded this in the 1960s big surprise there, and it is ostensibly a commentary on social injustices, particularly racism.
Ken nordine, yea i know that guy, i heard his voice times, hes the guy in the hits station that says go ahead ill keep an eye on your stuff for you, and you see him the next day walking around town wearing your clothes. A collaboration by ken nordine, an npr commentator, and the illustrator henrik drescher, this riotous and highly sophisticated assembly of images and language ultimately has at least as much to say about creativity as color. Nordines voice, wit and imagination combined with the talented musicians makes colors an unforgettable listening experience. Visit an apple store, call 1800myapple, or find a reseller. In fact, one might read these poems and hear nordines own familiar npr broadcast voice. Ken nordine colors a sensuous listening experience. They were weird halftrips into strange references snippets from leonard da vincis journals about dissecting. He brought that approach to the inner life of colors in a series of 10. Colors sings of the beautiful burgeoning of burgundy, the sorrow of olive, the story of the green that is green with envy. Ken nordine, who improvised poetry in a silky voice to cool, vibrant musical accompaniment, creating a form of storytelling that he called word jazz, and that brought him renown on radio and led to collaborations with fred astaire, tom waits, jerry garcia of the grateful dead and other artists, died on feb.
They said you have to mention the fuller paint company, and you have to do a color, and then you have to say a century of leadership in the chemistry of color at the end. The discography of ken nordine encompasses 15 studio albums released between 1955 and 2005. Visit us and discover a daily updated wide selection of rare vinyls collectors from all over the world. Ken nordines descriptive text deserves to be read out loud while listeners pore over henrik dreschers fascinating collages. Ken nordines albums stream online music albums listen. There arent many artists who could get away with creating an album of short eclectic odes to the various relatives and extended kinfolk of roy g. Nordine did 10 commercials, each playfully extolling one of the colors in the spectrumactually it was 9 colors and an. However, after the commercials became popular, it evolved to become a full album in its own right. Ken nordine biography, albums, streaming links allmusic. By the sixties, nordine became a beat poet playing with word jazz. Nordine attended lane technical college prep high school and the university of chicago. Rest in power, ken nordine by harriet staff poetry foundation. But then again, there are few if any like wordjazz architect ken nordine. Ken nordine april, 1920 february 16, 2019 was an american voiceover and recording artist, best known for his series of word jazz albums.
Maybe its because ken is an anomaly, a oneofakind jazz sound. Though often associated with the beat generation, ken nordine operated on his own wavelength, part absurdist humor, part poetry, part jazz. Ken nordines 1966 album colors is the perfect marriage of the beat poetic impulse and good ol regular american advertising. Ken nordine colors is a word jazz album by voiceover and recording artist ken nordine. Ken nordine april, 1920 february 16, 2019 new york times obituary watch ken s videos on youtube find ken s records on cd baby watch ken s videos on vimeo visit ken s facebook tribute page contact ken nordine, jr. The complete 1950s recordings by ken nordine 20101101 by ken nordine. But you wont find much written about him in jazz literature. In the book, as on the cd, ken goes through colors in the spectrum, giving each a persona with humorous quirks. Colors is a word jazz album by voiceover and recording artist ken nordine. We also manage your collection selling it by commission. Ken nordine colors began as nothing more than a few commissioned radio advertisement spots commissioned by the fuller paint company. However, formatting rules can vary widely between applications and fields of interest or study. A stranger comes to town and magically transforms the zombielike residents into psychedelic 70s polyester attire in this memorably trippy animated levis spot.
One critic wrote that you may not know ken nordine by name or face, but youll almost certainly recognize his voice. Its disorienting at first to hear the way nordine lets go on this record with a beatinspired, mellifluoussounding, dr. His most creative work, however, is reserved for his word jazz, which marries liquid, freeassociat. His real gift was that mellifluous voice, heard on a weekly radio program for more than 40 years, on albums of his selfcreated word jazz, and in collaborations with laurie anderson, tom waits and the grateful dead. Adult childrensbook collectors will love this book. We specialise in buying,selling and trade rare original vinyl records. Colors by aaj staff, published on january 20, 2003. Nordine introduces a frustrated chartreuse that wants to let green or yellow take over, an old old old old lady known as lavender, magenta the gossip columnist and a controversial shade. Sits and sits and sits and sits and thinks about its olive drab drab. Ken nordine colors a sensuous listening experience 1967. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Ken nordines word jazz gives voice to color and henrik dreschers irrepressible image jazz completes the.
Nordine reworked the ads and took out the sponsor for his album colors, which included thirtyfour riffs. Green can be envious of course, orange is the silliest color and is by far the most fun, burgundy is fat and drowsy, while purple is all about dignity. See more ideas about color, coloring books and books. Biv aka the primary color continuum of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. One of my favorite ken nordine albums is colors which started out as commercials for a paint company. Rereleased with ten new 90 second shades, colors the american spelling, thank you. Buy colors by ken nordine mp3 download online from 7digital united states over 30 million high quality tracks in our store. Smooth as an ice sculpture and ringing with the voice of our sponsor, nordine has personified authority since the 1960s. For the best experience please update your browser. One critic wrote that you may not know ken nordine by name or face, but youll almost certainly. Originally intended as a ninepart series of commercials for a paint company, ken nordine s 1967 classic is still a brilliant and, um colorful trip through the big crayon box. Skip to the main content skip to footer skip to the main content back to the top. Focusing on the ascenders and descenders of the bauhaus type family.
This 1971 commercial was later included in the forgotten 1977 compilation film fantastic animation festival. Nordine notably collaborated with laurie anderson, sonny rollins, tom waits and jerry garcia. Ages 5 to 9 this wiggy collection of beatstyle poetic riffs and mixedmedia collages assigns unpredictable personalities. Yorgos lanthimos teaming with fox searchlight to direct the tv series the man in the rockefeller suit. The childrens book equivalent of alexander therouxs eminently browsable if not always sensible freeassociative. The recordings for nordines 44 colors were made in 1967, and 34 of these sound paintings were put on this 1995 cd, and a few years ago, harcourt published the words for 15 of the poems as a childrens book with the funny abstract pictures of the artist, henrik drescher. Really now, how many words actually do rhyme with puce.
Apr 10, 2014 it was called now nordine and all i knew at the time was that it was made possible by a grant from. Kinetic type animation to the classic green by ken nordine. In the midsixties, ken nordine recorded ten radio commercials that ran thirteen weeks for fuller paint, each spot taking on a different color. Most americans are probably familiar with ken nordine, even if they dont know it. Jan 06, 2020 to appreciate this quirky, idiosyncratic record, we must first understand how it came to be.