MOONDOG!!
A.K.A. "The Viking of 6th Avenue"
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| I'm seriously considering dressing up as Moondog for Halloween. Unfortunately, most people would just assume I was a Viking. Dang. |
Background? Moondog (born Louis T. Hardin, in Kansas) was a blind jazz musician who moved to New York City in the 1940's and lived (by choice!) as a street musician, mostly on 6th Avenue, dressed as Odin, the Viking god.
H'amazing.
Anyways, he had a genius for mixing traditional elements of jazz, like saxophone and flute, with native American percussion and ambient city street noises, like honking horns. His music is instantly identifiable by its unusual rhythms, characteristic lack of any instruments other than woodwind and brass (with a few exceptions), and funny names. Some of his songs also have male choruses and such. Those are good ones, too. If you're curious, watch the Jens Lekman video I posted at the bottom of this post.
As I have mentioned before, I am not a huge jazz fan, but this guy's music is just incredible. And different. Because of his talent and his strategic busking location, he managed to catch the attention of many famous musicians of his time, like Benny Goodman, Charlie Parker, Leonard Bernstein, Toscanini, and Philip Glass.
You HAVE to give him a listen.
GOOD SONG #1: Bird's Lament by Moondog
This song was written in honor of Charlie Parker. Such great saxamaphone.
GOOD SONG #2: Get a Move On by Mr. Scruff (with heavy sampling of Bird's Lament by Moondog)
What an awesome remix! And look at that video-- hilarious! Most of his videos have that goofy animation, actually. Another wonderful human being.
GOOD SONG #4: All is Loneliness by Moondog, sung by Janis Joplin.
Oh yeah, and he invented the Trimba.
(How did I find out about Moondog, you might ask? I was at a Jens Lekman concert in 2007 in NYC and he covered Moondog's song "Paris." You can watch him sing it at that VERY SAME concert here on this GOOD SONG VIDEO. Gotta love youtube!)
Over and out,
Anna
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