Search - Ken Nordine :: You're Getting Better: The Word Jazz Dot Masters

You're Getting Better: The Word Jazz Dot Masters
Ken Nordine
You're Getting Better: The Word Jazz Dot Masters
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Jazz, Special Interest, Pop, Rap & Hip-Hop, Soundtracks
 
  •  Track Listings (23) - Disc #1
  •  Track Listings (22) - Disc #2

You might not immediately recognize the name Ken Nordine, but we bet you'd recognize the voice. He's done literally thousands of commercials, including Taster's Choice, Levi's, the Chicago Blackhawks, Fuller Paint, and ton...  more »

     

CD Details

All Artists: Ken Nordine
Title: You're Getting Better: The Word Jazz Dot Masters
Members Wishing: 3
Total Copies: 0
Label: Hip-O Select
Release Date: 8/1/2007
Album Type: Original recording remastered
Genres: Dance & Electronic, Jazz, Special Interest, Pop, Rap & Hip-Hop, Soundtracks
Styles: Bebop, Poetry, Spoken Word & Interviews, Vocal Pop
Number of Discs: 2
SwapaCD Credits: 2
UPC: 602498838839

Synopsis

Product Description
You might not immediately recognize the name Ken Nordine, but we bet you'd recognize the voice. He's done literally thousands of commercials, including Taster's Choice, Levi's, the Chicago Blackhawks, Fuller Paint, and tons of others. He is a frequent contributor to NPR, and has guest-starred on the Hal Willner Disney tribute album, Stay Awake.
But the thing he is probably best loved for is a series of albums released in the late Fifties on Dot Records called Word Jazz. The four albums, recorded between 1957 and 1960, have been anthologized several times over the course of their history (including a vinyl collection on Blue Thumb and a CD on Rhino), but they have never before been made available on CD in their entirety.
You're Getting Better: The Word Jazz Dot Masters contains all 49 tracks from the original albums, plus the bonus track from the Blue Thumb compilation, plus five previously unreleased tracks newly discovered in the vaults, on two compact discs. In all, 27 tracks make their CD debut.
Not only was Nordine involved with the project at every step, he also invited some of his celebrated friends to contribute; both Laurie Anderson and Tom Waits have authored notes for the release, as has Nordine's long-time engineer, engineer, Jim Cunningham. Needless to say, Ken has also written some notes, and has provided some rare photos for the set.
Painstakingly remastered in 2005 from the original master tapes, You're Getting Better also contains all of the notes from the highly collectable and extremely rare original vinyl releases.
 

CD Reviews

The Holy Grail
Phil (San Diego, CA) | San Diego, CA | 12/30/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"How distinctive are Ken Nordine's original Word Jazz recordings? You haven't heard anything like them. To call it "spoken word" borders on slander; there is nothing precious, pompous, pretentious, or mannered about Word Jazz. The original albums from 1957-1960 have become hard or impossible to find. For many years they were my personal holy grail.



If you're considering picking up a Ken Nordine anthology you're probably familiar with his recordings. For the uninitiated suffice it to say that this would be an excellent place to start. Much of Ken's best is included here. If you've already got the single disk Rhino compilation rest assured that this complete collection is well worth getting. A single CD couldn't contain all the best of Ken Nordine's Dot label recordings.



The packaging is well done and includes new liner notes from Laurie Anderson and Tom Waits in addition to the original liner notes and artwork from the LPs. The five tracks from the vaults are no throwaway filler. Unreleased til now, they hold their own with Ken's more interesting tracks from these years.



I always knew that if the house was ever burning down the one thing I would grab would be a favorite Nordine compilation. Earlier this year when the California fires threatened the need for evacuation, I took with me two items from my vast music collection. This collection was the first thing I grabbed."
The voice & the spirit, ever brilliant
William Timothy Lukeman | 10/02/2007
(5 out of 5 stars)

"If you love poetry, if you love jazz, if you love insightful ruminations at midnight, uttered in a voice of wry, sinuous, enfolding velvet -- then you must have these CDs! Never pretentious, always quirky & thoughtful, Ken Nordine welcomes you into a world just slightly askew from the everyday. And he does it with that wondrous voice, a twinkle-eyed trickster & shaman of the airwaves, making seemingly offhand observations about the life we too often take for granted, making us stop & think & wonder, "Hmmm, maybe it's time to take a different look at things." For the free spirit, for those taking furtive glances at the sky & secretly wanting to fly, this is irresistible & indispensable art!"