Ken Nordine - Transparent Mask (2001)

Tracklist

01. As of Now
02. Hello
03. Cat & Bird Blues
04. You know the Story
05. For the Birds
06. A Good Year For Spiders
07. You Don't Love Me Blues
08. The Bullfighter
09. The Guru
10. The Akond of Swat
11. You Were So Crazy
12. Cliché Heaven
13. Truth Mute
14. A Thousand Bingbangs
15. Quarks
16. Fibonacci Numbers
17. Hole in the Ego
18. Miniver Cheevy
19. A Thousand Dreams
20. What's There to Do

You may not know Ken Nordine by name or face, but you'll almost certainly recognize his voice. Nordine's rich, deep baritone has graced numerous radio and TV ads since he got his start in radio in the '50s, but it's best served by the "word jazz" he's recorded sporadically over the years, which marries free-flowing spoken word poetry with jazzy instrumental backdrops. On his latest LP, backed by a four-piece band featuring former Flecktones keyboardist Howard Levy, Nordine sounds so damn hepcat cool it's like he never left the beatnik era - just time-warped straight from an Allen Ginsberg reading of Howl into a poetry slam at the Nuyorican Cafe. At 20 songs, A Transparent Mask is a little long for straight-through listening; Nordine's sonorous tones merging with the ambient jazz backdrops can provide a strong sleep aid. But in small doses, it's as cool as spoken word jazz gets.

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