Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet — Songs & Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog
Qobuz new release review (Sept. 2023)
Every few years, it seems that the zeitgeist remembers the incredible and singular genius of Moondog. Although he died in 2005 and was composing and recording music into the 1990s, the “Viking of 6th Avenue” got his start on the streets of New York City in the mid-1950s, and was regarded as something of a beatnik oddity: a blind man with long hair and a beard (and, for a bit, a Viking helmet) who was a poet, composer, and philosopher willing to expound on any of those art forms from his post at the corner of 54th and Sixth. Early albums on jazz-affiliated labels cemented that reputation, but by the late 1960s, Moondog was being regarded less as a counterculture quirk and more as the thoughtful artist that he actually was. Two albums on Columbia Masterworks emphasized his modern compositional skills and his ability to fuse unique instrumentation and percussion with traditional orchestral arrangements. What Harry Partch was to rail-riding hobos, Moondog was to street musicians: a genius of modern music working literally outside of the great performance halls. Sporadic album releases (largely on European independent labels) followed throughout the ’70s and ’80s, and by the time his next (and final) major-label album was released (1994’s stunning Sax Pax for a Sax), Moondog was in failing health; he died in 1999. Now, more than 20 years after his passing, the zeitgeist is again catching up with Moondog, with the pending release of Holly Elson’s documentary film due imminently and, even more notably, this release, a long-overdue, multi-artist, high-profile tribute album. Appropriately bridging the worlds of contemporary classical music, jazz, and art-pop, Songs and Symphoniques was collaboratively spearheaded by Brooklyn jazz-folk ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra and Kronos Quartet. Those two groups’ unique imprimatur makes this project so successful, as both are excellent at interpreting the spirit of works that have been obscured, misunderstood, or both; in the case of Kronos, it’s often been daring new music compositions rendered more approachable in a string quartet setting, while Ghost Train has consistently breathed new vitality and muscularity into jazz pieces from the 78 rpm era. Here, their approaches converge on the unique percussive bounce that undergirded so many of Moondog’s compositions, and all of the pieces are lively and swinging but still retain their original chromatic complexity. And, by bringing in a diverse group of vocal collaborators — ranging from Jarvis Cocker and Joan As Police Woman to Karen Mantler, Petra Haden, and a stunning duet with Aoife O’Donovan and Sam Amidon — his poetry is turned into some surprisingly effective lyrics. While the textures may shift from folk to jazz to chamber music, nothing seems to venture too far from the already disparate sonic approach of Moondog, making this tribute as endearing as it is daring.
