Arthur Russell (1951 – 1992)

American cellist, composer, producer, singer and musician Arthur Russell was a born performer sans spiritual homeland. He made pop music, had folk and country excursions, flirted with disco (the single Is It All Over My Face under his moniker Loose Joints was an instant classic at New York’s vogue balls), and released experimental cello music amid the New York avant-garde scene in ‘70-‘80s. He found himself in the circles of Allen Ginsberg – who described Russell’s music as “Buddhist bubblegum music” – and once recorded an alternative version of Psycho Killer with Talking Heads (that can still be found on YouTube). He actually only released two studio albums during his far too short lifetime: the orchestral Tower Of Meaning in 1983 and the captivating World Of Echo in 1986 – the year in which he also received his HIV-diagnosis.

After his death, his archive was found to be bulging with piles of unreleased material. It contained an estimated 1000+ hours of music. His partner Tom Lee gave Audika label boss Steve Knutson access to Russell’s hundreds of tapes, which have since been transferred to The New York Public Library. His posthumous output – neatly organised by such genres as lovelorn folk, mutant disco, new wave or sweeping instrumentals – now hovers around 20(!) albums. Meanwhile, his legacy grows by the day. Kanye West sampled him on his masterpiece The Life of Pablo. Frank Ocean and David Byrne are also fans. Devendra Banhart and Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) consider him a gOD. And Sufjan Stevens and Robyn have covered his work.

Arthur Russell: Tower Of Meaning (1983)

Tower Of Meaning was initially planned as a soundtrack/score for the opera Medea by the famous theatre-maker Robert Wilson (see too: The Life and Death of Abramovic and Einstein on the Beach). Russell was introduced to Wilson by contemporary and minimalist Philip Glass, but disagreements between Russell and Wilson caused the collaboration to break down. Philip Glass kept the music however, and released it on his own label Chatham Square. It immediately became Russell’s debut (and was only released in 320 copies). 

Peter Broderick & Ensemble 0: Arthur Russell’s Give It to the Sky

Via leading British label Erased Tapes (see: Hatis Noit, Nils Frahm, Rival Consoles, Ólafur

Arnalds, …) earlier this year we saw the release of Give It to the Sky: Arthur Russell’s Tower of Meaning Expanded by the 12-member French Ensemble 0 and composer/producer/singer Peter Broderick. Broderick – an obsessive Russell-fan who once paid 500 dollars for an original copy of Tower Of Meaning – never connected with the collector’s item like he did with the other Russell oeuvre however, because “it felt a tad cold and distant”. 

So Broderick and Ensemble 0 immersed the work in a warm bath, and see… Mojo oracled of it: "A delightfully warm, immersive listening experience - ????”. The Wire was won over too: "Their inventiveness unearths a new angle, peeling back the layers of meaning that live inside these pieces and reminding us again of the timelessness of Russell's work".

Line-up:

Pandora Burrus (horn), Sylvain Chauveau (harmonium, ebows, radio, revox), Vianney Desplantes (euphonium), Jozef Dumoulin (keyboards, piano), Júlia Gállego Ronda (flutes), Amélie Grould (vibraphone, percussion), Barbara Hünninger (viola da gamba), Tomoko Katsura (violin), Peter Broderick (voice, violin, guitar), Fanny Meteier (tuba), Julien Pontvianne (saxophones), Stéphane Garin (percussion, field recordings), Caty Olive (scenography, lights), Christian Rizzo (advices for musical dramaturgy), Lucas Pizzini (sound technician), Manuella Rondeau (régie lumière), Alexandre Maillet (stage manager)

Co-producers: Scène nationale du Sud Aquitain, MECA-OARA, La Soufflerie-Rezé, Théâtre des 4 Saisons - Gradignan, TAP-Poitiers, Espaces Pluriels - Pau, Orchestre de Pau-Pays de Béarn.

Photo: Jean-Jacques Ader