"Colors"
Ken Nordine, 1967 (reissued
1995)
Colors
is the perfect combination of the artistic and commercial sides of Ken
Nordine.
Nordine, a satellite member of the Beat
Generation, knew that the human voice (especially his) had an inherent
poetry to it. It wasn't just the words he said, but the ways he said them.
Since the 1950's,
Nordine has been producing audio art that
he calls "Word Jazz." (In fact,
he still does a weekly half-hour program by that name.) Not only is Nordine
a brilliant word smith, but his natural baritone voice has also given him
fame as a commercial voice-over talent. Colors started as
a small series of commercials for the Fuller Paint Company. Each commercial
focused on a certain color, but it turned into more than just an advertising
gimmick. The requests to hear the ads again after their scheduled run was
over prompted Nordine and company to expand the concept and
create a full album. In Colors,
Nordine, with
the help of a backing jazz combo, infuses each color with a personality.
Some of the colors, like green and purple, were based on artistic or literary
convention (envy and royalty respectively), but other were without precedence.
It is with those Nordine really lets his imagination run
free. Over 30 years after it's first pressing,
Colors still
exudes warmth, humor, pathos, and vitality.
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