On The Streets Of New York - Moondog (1953-1962)

If you made up a story like that of Louis Hardin, aka Moondog, people would think you were being ridiculous and unrealistic. Sure, a blind street musician who dresses like a viking, designs his own instruments, taught himself composition, plays his music busking on the corner of 54th & 6th, and happens to be one of the great compositional minds of the 20th century. Sure, pal. Whatever. But his story is even wilder for being true.

These are field recordings of what his music sounded like in the 1950s, including a bunch of the things he would play in the street on the instruments he built himself.

Details are hard to come by (I can’t even find a definite release date for the record, which is why the title is like it is), but I assume the early tracks feature more musicians than just himself. Nocturne Suite clearly has (at least) a cello and a violin, in addition to the percussion. That percussion is interesting in itself: ever-present, and sort of weirdly polyrhythmic (like there two different beats mashed together). The stringed instruments carry a nice melody in something like a minor key with a lot of harmonic interplay between them.

Despite the image painted at the beginning, this isn’t just a guy drumming and chanting, although the parts of the record that are drumming and chanting are also quite interesting and well-composed.

It’s a fascinating document of a fascinating artist. He’ll wind up in this space again, I’m sure.

Tracks I Liked

Nocturne Suite - talked about above

Avenue Of The Americas (51st Street) - Has kind of a jazzy rumble and a humor to it, and–like several tracks here–was pretty clearly recorded live on the street.

The second half is mostly “untitled chants” that are haunting and beautiful and definitely worth a listen