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Creator
Russell, Arthur
Call number
JPB 16-14
Physical description
10.05 linear feet (25 boxes, 1 oversize folder, 1 tube)
Language
English
Preferred Citation
Arthur Russell papers, JPB 16-14. Music Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Repository
Music Division
Access to materials
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Portions of this collection have been digitized and are available online.

Arthur Russell (1951-1992) was a multi-genre singer-songwriter, cellist, and record producer. The collection dates from 1960 to 2005 (bulk 1974-1991) and documents Russell's creative process, output, and reception through sound recordings, video recordings, notated music, correspondence, photographs, printed matter, articles, contracts, and biographical materials.

Biographical/historical information

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.

Scope and arrangement

The Arthur Russell papers date from 1960 to 2005 (bulk 1974-1991) and contain writings, notated music, photographs, correspondence, articles, flyers, and posters. The vast majority of the collection consists of over 1,600 original sound and video recordings covering Russell's entire career. The paper portion of the collection is strong in its documentation of Russell's creative output, particularly through drafts, sketches, and full scores of his music.

The sound and video recordings document Russell's various bands, released singles and albums, collaborations, and other projects in the form of rehearsals, performances, demos, multi-track recordings, rough mixes, test pressings, finished masters, unfinished projects, radio broadcasts, and interviews. Some of what are denoted as video recordings are actually audio, as video cassettes were commonly used for digital audio recording in the 1980s and 1990s. The recordings are arranged by title, with the exception of recordings of multiple titles (arranged under Multiple Tracks), and untitled recordings. Both appear at the end of the respective audio and video listings.

The recordings include such songs and disco singles as "Kiss Me Again," "Arm Around You," "Is It All Over My Face," "Let's Go Swimming," "Home Away From Home," "Wax the Van," "I Am A Saxophone," "Make 1, 2," "Hop On Down To Petland," "I Wanna Go All The Way," "School Bell/Treehouse," and many others. Russell's bands and co-operative projects Dinosaur L., the Flying Hearts, the Loose Joints, the Singing Tractors, and the Necessaries are present as well, as are collaborations with Allen Ginsberg, Joyce Bowden, Ernie Brooks, Steven Hall, Peter Zummo, and Elodie Lauten, among other colleagues. Russell's larger projects, including the albums 24 --> 24 Music, World of Echo, Instrumentals, and Tower of Meaning, have extensive content. Posthumous recordings include video and audio of the 1993 tributes to Russell held at the World Financial Center in New York City, and a 1994 performance by the Ohio Ballet of Another Way (music by Russell, choreography by Charles Moulton). The collection also holds recorded lectures by the Shingon priest Yuko Nonomura (Russell's spiritual teacher).

The descriptions of the sound and video recordings in the container list refer often to two recording studios in New York: Blank Tapes Inc. (owned by producer Bob Blank), and Sundragon Studios.

Music files comprise the bulk of the papers and contain notated music, lyrics, poetry, and notes. Notated music consists primarily of manuscripts in the form of musical sketches; chord changes; complete scores; draft and partial compositions; and musical staves and chords that Russell clipped into smaller pieces. Printed music and annotated photocopies are also present. Notes consist of interior monologues and other creative explorations relating to Russell's work, as well as snippets of ideas and song lists.

Untitled, unsorted, and (largely) undated music precedes alphabetically arranged, titled files that were created by Russell. The unsorted music consists of writings, musical drafts, and sketches for a multitude of songs. Song titles, when present or identified, are noted in the container list. Researchers should note that drafts or versions of a particular work may be scattered throughout these and the titled files, which contain materials pertaining to specific projects or songs. Materials used and created by Russell while he studied music in San Francisco are filed under "binders;" these and the composition notebooks contain a substantial amount of music documenting Russell's creative development. Several drafts and chord sheets created by Russell for Robert Wilson's Medea are present.

In addition to the music files are articles; correspondence; photographs; printed matter; biographical files; and materials relating to various record labels, such as invoices, letters, and recording schedules for Sire Records and West End Records. Two harmonicas that belonged to Russell are also present. Files for Loose Joints contain fliers, contracts, and photographs. Incoming letters comprise the bulk of the correspondence. Primary correspondents are Russell's parents, Emily and Chuck Russell; and friends Muriel Fuji, Yuko Nonomura, Kathleen Cooney, Alan Abrams, and Johanna (Jonni) Sue Bartel. Among the undated letters are notes from Allen Ginsberg and Tom Waits, and a poem from Jill Kroesen. Some letters are accompanied by music, such as a 1974 letter from Christian Wolff to Russell with a copy of "For 1, 2, or 3 People," and a 1975 letter to Russell from Cornelius Cardew, accompanied by a manuscript for his "Revolution is the Main Trend." The majority of the unsent or draft letters are to Steven Hall.

Printed material consists of programs, announcements, and flyers for performances by Russell and his peers. They advertise shows at the Anchorage, Dock's, Roulette, Jolly Munk, Sobossek's Bar, and Experimental Intermedia Foundation. Photographs consist of candid and posed shots of Russell, as well as a small amount of performance photographs. Most of the slides depict flowers and landscapes. Yuko Nonomura photographed the majority of the clouds pictured in the slides.

Arrangement

The collection is arranged alphabetically by subject or format.

Administrative information

Source of acquisition

Acquired from Tom Lee, 2015.

Revision History

Revised by Matthew Snyder. (2020-10-26)

Two additional boxes processed by Christopher Arena. (2022-07-11)

Processing information

Processed by Robyn Hjermstad in 2016. When present, original folder titles were maintained.

Using the collection

Location

Music Division
New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, New York, NY 10023-7498
Third Floor