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Ken Nordine Took the A Train


Teasing the Korean

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2 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

So "took the A Train" actually is a synonymous expression for "left the building"? I wouldn't have thought that the Duke Ellington tune has such a morbid title. ;)

Never heard it used that way and I’m from the City. However, if you’d like to take a ride from Rovkaway (where my grandmother had a beach house) in Queens to near the Henry Hudson Bridge at the tip of Manhattan, that’s the way to do it. 

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3 hours ago, Big Beat Steve said:

So "took the A Train" actually is a synonymous expression for "left the building"? I wouldn't have thought that the Duke Ellington tune has such a morbid title. ;)

No, it isn't. The OP used this phrase in the title of a Lou Reed obit thread he started here five years ago. Frankly, I think it comes off as rather flippant, although I doubt that was his intention. Anyway, Ken Nordine's Word Jazz was a favorite among my friends and I at Berklee in the late 70's, especially after a bowl or two. :lol:

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Some of those Word Jazz things seem, to me, like they should be standard reading/listening in some sort of 20th Century American Literature calsses, the type that probably hardly exist, (if they exist at all). OTOH, they're quintessentially "middlebrow" (if you subscribe to the whole brow hierarchy thing at all), yet at the same time, they're complete renderings of an entire ethos of a time and place. Quite remarkable achievements, the best of them.

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1 hour ago, JSngry said:

Some of those Word Jazz things seem, to me, like they should be standard reading/listening in some sort of 20th Century American Literature calsses, the type that probably hardly exist, (if they exist at all). OTOH, they're quintessentially "middlebrow" (if you subscribe to the whole brow hierarchy thing at all), yet at the same time, they're complete renderings of an entire ethos of a time and place. Quite remarkable achievements, the best of them.

This. His ability to describe situations and human responses to them in the abstract made him like a less twisted Kafka.

Edited by danasgoodstuff
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When I was in high school, the NPR station in our market played Nordine's Word Jazz radio show on Friday nights at midnight.  Jazz would come on at 1 am.  I used to get into bed by midnight, put on the headphones, and space out to Word Jazz.  I would go to sleep listening to jazz afterward.  That was an exciting time for musical discovery for me.  Safe travels, Ken.

Edited by Teasing the Korean
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I once played golf with Nordine. Very nice guy but not a good golfer; neither was I. I'd just showed up that weekday morning at a local public course in Winnetka, Il., and he and I were paired together. Strange feeling for a while talking to a man whose distinctive voice had so many associations -- not only to "Word Jazz" but also to a  good many Chicago-area radio commercials over the years.

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23 minutes ago, Larry Kart said:

I once played golf with Nordine. Very nice guy but not a good golfer; neither was I. I'd just showed up that weekday morning at a local public course in Winnetka, Il., and he and I were paired together. Strange feeling for a while talking to a man whose distinctive voice had so many associations -- not only to "Word Jazz" but also to a  good many Chicago-area radio commercials over the years.

BEAUTIFUL!

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6 hours ago, chewy-chew-chew-bean-benitez said:

Do you all know here how Jerry was really influenced by ken nordine, and he speaks in interviews of how influential the word jazz lp was to him and in the 90s he actually guested with them, i think he did a recitation over 'space'.........

I had no idea that Jerry Lewis loved Ken Nordine so much!  Thanks for the info!  

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