Ken Nordine
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Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ken Nordine is the son of an architect. He attended Lane Technical College Prep High School (Chicago) and the University of Chicago. He has three sons with his wife Beryl whom he married in 1946.
Nordine’s deep, resonant voice has been featured on many commercial advertisements. One critic wrote that “you may not know Ken Nordine by name or face, but you’ll almost certainly recognize his voice.”
He initially attracted attention when he recorded the aural vignettes on Word Jazz on Dot in 1957. Word Jazz, Son of Word Jazz (Dot, 1958) and his other albums in this vein feature Nordine’s narration over a cool jazz background. He began performing and recording such albums at the peak of the beat movement and was associated with the poetry-and-jazz movement. Regarded by some as an original hipster, Nordine’s “writings are more akin to Franz Kafka or Edgar Allan Poe” than to other beats. Many of his word jazz tracks feature critiques of societal norms, while some reveal dark, paranoid undercurrents and bizarre, dream-like scenarios.
Nordine was Linda Blair’s vocal coach for her role in The Exorcist, and Word Jazz inspired Tom Waits’ spooky, spoken word-type pieces, such as “9th and Hennepin” and “Frank’s Wild Years” and “What’s He Building?”
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Colors
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The Best of Word Jazz, Vol. 1
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Wink
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Devout Catalyst
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Recent Activity
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yarrhanna tagged Ken Nordine with ‘i ate christmas dinner at his house once’. 19 hours ago
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chaoseddy, KYNocturne, nivardus and 4 other people added Ken Nordine to their libraries. Thursday evening
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VanceAttack tagged Ken Nordine with lounge, spoken word and exotica. last month
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swtichblade, eiamboutierre and polyrhythymia added Ken Nordine to their libraries. last month
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go_dinosaur_go, nettemegens, green_warden and 20 other people added Ken Nordine to their libraries. last month
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ioua tagged Ken Nordine with american and spoken word. August 2009
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LPan, dschwing6 and rjlemon added Ken Nordine to their libraries. August 2009
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blogbourri85 tagged Ken Nordine with ‘male vocalists’. July 2009
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