Arthur Russell papers

1960-2005 [bulk 1974-1991]

Arthur Russell (1951-1992) was a multi-genre singer-songwriter, musician, and producer associated with the avant-garde music scene in New York City throughout the 1970s and 1980s. His instrument of choice was the cello, which he began playing as a child in Oskaloosa, Iowa. His music has been described as new wave, folk, disco, and experimental.

Russell left home in 1967 before completing high school to study North Indian classical music in San Francisco, California at the Ali Akbar Khan School of Music. It was in San Francisco that Russell first met and began collaborating with Allen Ginsberg. In 1973, Russell and Ginsberg united once more after Russell relocated to New York City's East Village after being accepted into the Manhattan School of Music (MSM). Ginsberg's later work, First Blues: Rags, Ballads & Harmonium Songs 1971-1974, contains music transcribed by Russell. Russell only briefly studied at MSM, eventually transferring to Dartmouth College. Though he discontinued his studies shortly thereafter, it was during this time that Russell met musicians Christian Wolff and Rhys Chatham, whom Russell succeeded as director of the avant-garde performance space, The Kitchen, in 1974. Russell's directorship, which lasted just over one year, was marked by his promotion of lesser-known, minimalist bands, such as The Modern Lovers and Talking Heads.

Russell's performances were primarily solo concerts. He carried out several shows at the Kitchen and Experimental Intermedia Foundation; as well as Sobossek's Bar, Jolly Munk, Dock's, Roulette, the Mudd Club, and night clubs and bars. Throughout his career, Russell collaborated with many musicians on minimalist instrumental, pop, and experimental disco projects. From 1975 to 1979, he performed with the Flying Hearts, a band consisting of him and several rotating musicians, including Ernie Brooks, Larry Saltzman, Joyce Bowden, Jesse Chamberlain, David Van Tieghem, Jerry Harrison, David Byrne, Jon Gibson, and Peter Zummo. In 1977, Russell recorded "Ballad of the Lights" with Allen Ginsberg as part of the Flying Hearts. The band Dinosaur L. (or Dinosaur) consisted of Russell, Byrne, Zummo, Henry Flynt, Wilbur Bascomb, and Alan Schwartzberg. Their 1977 hit "Kiss Me Again" (composed and produced by Russell) was one of Sire Records' earliest disco releases. Several of these individuals worked with Russell on Instrumentals, a lengthy orchestral work created in the mid-1970s that was released as an album in 1984. In 1980, Russell, DJ Steve A'Quisto, and Steven Hall formed the band Loose Joints. Singles included "Pop Your Funk" and "Is It All Over My Face." The Necessaries was yet another collaborative effort between Russell, Zummo, and Chamberlain. Together they produced one album Big Sky (later renamed Event Horizon), in 1981. That same year, Russell and businessman Will Socolov founded Sleeping Bag Records. Through Sleeping Bag, Russell created and produced the album 24 --> 24, and singles "Wax the Van," "Go Bang!" (Dinosaur L.), and "School Bell/Treehouse" (with Peter Zummo). Russell and Socolov parted ways around 1987.

In 1976, Russell played music composed for him by Philip Glass in the Mabou Mines production of Samuel Beckett's Cascando. Glass later introduced Russell to theatrical director and playwright Robert Wilson, who commissioned Russell to compose music for his production of Medea. Although Wilson abandoned Russell's compositions in favor of English composer Gavin Bryers, the music was eventually incorporated into an album, Tower of Meaning, in 1983 (Chatham Square). World of Echo, Russell's only full length, solo album, was recorded and released in 1986.

Arthur Russell died of AIDS-related complications in 1992. In 1994, Point Music released Another Thought, the first of several compilations released posthumously. Audika Records has released six Russell compilations since its inception by Steve Knutson in 2004, including a re-release of Tower of Meaning in 2016. The majority of Audika's compilations and EPs contain songs that were then previously unheard. In 2008, Matt Wolf released his documentary about Russell, Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell. The book Hold on to Your Dreams: Arthur Russell and the Downtown Music Scene, 1973-1992, was published in 2009 by Tim Lawrence.