Biography: Arthur Russell
[Last updated: 07.06.2005]
In the spring of 2003 I travelled to Seattle for the first time to
deliver a paper at the Experience Music Project. I had worked as a
consultant for EMP's Disco Exhibit, which has subsequently travelled to
the Lincoln Centre in New York, and was keen to seen the exhibition in
full flow, as well as attend the organisation's second conference,
which brings together journalists and academics. Having started out in
journalism and ended up in academia while never feeling entirely
comfortable in either profession, it seemed like an excellent
conference to attend.
During my trip to Seattle I met Ken Wissoker, the editor-in-chief at Duke and my editor for Love Saves the Day (then a year away from publication), for the first time. I also met Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo (then a year away from publication), who delivered the conference's outstanding paper on the hidden Cuban influence on North American music culture. At the final night party, we all met, and the conversation went something like this:
Ken and I met again the following year, again at EMP. By that time Love Saves the Day had been published and, within two months, the first three thousand copies had sold out and reviews were starting to appear. We met to talk about that and future projects, including the Arthur Russell biography.
Russell had had quite a year, even though he died (from complications arising from Aids) in 1992. Having received next to no recognition during his life, Russell was suddenly receiving an extraordinary wave of press recognition following the simultaneous release of two complications: Calling Out of Context (Audika, 2004), which contained previously unreleased Russell recordings from the late 1980s, and The World of Arthur Russell (Soul Jazz, 2004), which brought together the musician's dance twelve-inches.
The media frenzy was ostensibly set off when David Toop published a feature about Russell in the Wire ⎯ David quoted Love Saves the Day generously, noting that the main focus of the book, the downtown private party dance scene, was the milieu that inspired Russell's dance recordings and was the place where he would take his acetates for a first hearing ⎯ and it was followed by extensive features in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and scores of other publications.
The media coverage took away the scoop-like element of the biography. Just as nobody had written about David Mancuso and the Loft when I started to research Love Saves the Day, so nobody had written about Russell up to this point. But t it was also clear that a book could go a lot further than any of the journalistic pieces that had been published, and the flurry of articles also made the publication of a book on Russell more likely. Having been sceptical about the potential of the biography about, Ken was now confident that an audience existed.
I have been researching Russell's life since the publication of Love Saves the Day in February 2004. When I travelled to New York for the launch of the book ⎯ the first party took place at David Mancuso's Loft, the second at one of Danny Krivit's 718 Sessions ⎯ I spent a good part of my time with Steve Knutson, the head of Audika, who is on an Arthur mission: to re-release as many of Russell's recordings as the music market can bear. Steve now holds most of Russell's tapes and archive files, and we spent many hours going through this hall-of-mirrors material. During my trip I also met up with the wry and radical Peter Zummo, Russell's favourite trombonist, as well as the lovely and indefatigable Tom Lee, Russell's long-term lover. We talked Arthur and by the end of the trip it was clear that there was the potential for a captivating and illuminating book.
Since that trip I have interviewed many of Arthur's family, friends, collaborators and supporters, including Mustafa Ahmed, Bob Blank, Joyce Bowden, Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Jon Gibson, Philip Glass, Peter Gordon, Steven Hall, Elodie Lauten, Eric Liljestrand, Gary Lucas, Phil Niblock, Chuck and Emily Russell, Will Socolov, Geoff Travis and Jennifer Warnes. I am nearing the end of the research process and will start to write soon.
During my trip to Seattle I met Ken Wissoker, the editor-in-chief at Duke and my editor for Love Saves the Day (then a year away from publication), for the first time. I also met Ned Sublette, author of Cuba and Its Music: From the First Drums to the Mambo (then a year away from publication), who delivered the conference's outstanding paper on the hidden Cuban influence on North American music culture. At the final night party, we all met, and the conversation went something like this:
Tim: You're paper was great, Ned!
Ned: Why thank you! I'm sorry I didn't get to hear yours. What do you do?
Tim: I'm a lecturer at the University of East London and I write about dance music.
Ned: Boom, boom, boom, boom! That's not dance music ⎯ that's a pneumatic drill! This is dance music. [Sublette sings the following] Is it all over my face, I'm in love dancing…
Tim: Arthur Russell! I write about that kind of dance music. Why "Is It All Over My Face"?
Ned: I knew Arthur Russell from way back. We met in the mid-seventies. We used to hang out together. We were musicians. We made organic music!
Tim: Arthur and Walter Gibbons ⎯ those are the two music makers from the seventies/eighties that I really want to write about in a bit more detail. I'm just finishing this book on dance culture in the 1970s and one of the really frustrating things about ending it there is that I don't really get to write about Arthur. I talk about "Kiss Me Again", but most of Arthur's dance releases came out in the eighties, so he doesn't get much of a look-in.
Ned: Arthur was a genius and dance music was only small part of his work. He was an avant-garde classical cellist, he was music director of the Kitchen, he played in Peter Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra…
Tim: Arthur's life is kind of where I am at the moment with my work. I'm still neck-deep in the seventies and am about to charge into the eighties with the sequel to Love Saves the Day. Arthur kind of forms a bridge between the two decades.
[Ken comes up]
Tim: Hi, Ken. You know Ned, right? Ned knew Arthur Russell, who produced "Is It All Over My Face" and "Go Bang", which were big early eighties dance classics.
Ken: I think I have those records.
Tim: People are around who knew Arthur Russell. How would you like a biography of Arthur Russell before I write about the 1980s?
Ken: That's something we can think about.
Ned: Why thank you! I'm sorry I didn't get to hear yours. What do you do?
Tim: I'm a lecturer at the University of East London and I write about dance music.
Ned: Boom, boom, boom, boom! That's not dance music ⎯ that's a pneumatic drill! This is dance music. [Sublette sings the following] Is it all over my face, I'm in love dancing…
Tim: Arthur Russell! I write about that kind of dance music. Why "Is It All Over My Face"?
Ned: I knew Arthur Russell from way back. We met in the mid-seventies. We used to hang out together. We were musicians. We made organic music!
Tim: Arthur and Walter Gibbons ⎯ those are the two music makers from the seventies/eighties that I really want to write about in a bit more detail. I'm just finishing this book on dance culture in the 1970s and one of the really frustrating things about ending it there is that I don't really get to write about Arthur. I talk about "Kiss Me Again", but most of Arthur's dance releases came out in the eighties, so he doesn't get much of a look-in.
Ned: Arthur was a genius and dance music was only small part of his work. He was an avant-garde classical cellist, he was music director of the Kitchen, he played in Peter Gordon's Love of Life Orchestra…
Tim: Arthur's life is kind of where I am at the moment with my work. I'm still neck-deep in the seventies and am about to charge into the eighties with the sequel to Love Saves the Day. Arthur kind of forms a bridge between the two decades.
[Ken comes up]
Tim: Hi, Ken. You know Ned, right? Ned knew Arthur Russell, who produced "Is It All Over My Face" and "Go Bang", which were big early eighties dance classics.
Ken: I think I have those records.
Tim: People are around who knew Arthur Russell. How would you like a biography of Arthur Russell before I write about the 1980s?
Ken: That's something we can think about.
Ken and I met again the following year, again at EMP. By that time Love Saves the Day had been published and, within two months, the first three thousand copies had sold out and reviews were starting to appear. We met to talk about that and future projects, including the Arthur Russell biography.
Russell had had quite a year, even though he died (from complications arising from Aids) in 1992. Having received next to no recognition during his life, Russell was suddenly receiving an extraordinary wave of press recognition following the simultaneous release of two complications: Calling Out of Context (Audika, 2004), which contained previously unreleased Russell recordings from the late 1980s, and The World of Arthur Russell (Soul Jazz, 2004), which brought together the musician's dance twelve-inches.
The media frenzy was ostensibly set off when David Toop published a feature about Russell in the Wire ⎯ David quoted Love Saves the Day generously, noting that the main focus of the book, the downtown private party dance scene, was the milieu that inspired Russell's dance recordings and was the place where he would take his acetates for a first hearing ⎯ and it was followed by extensive features in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and scores of other publications.
The media coverage took away the scoop-like element of the biography. Just as nobody had written about David Mancuso and the Loft when I started to research Love Saves the Day, so nobody had written about Russell up to this point. But t it was also clear that a book could go a lot further than any of the journalistic pieces that had been published, and the flurry of articles also made the publication of a book on Russell more likely. Having been sceptical about the potential of the biography about, Ken was now confident that an audience existed.
I have been researching Russell's life since the publication of Love Saves the Day in February 2004. When I travelled to New York for the launch of the book ⎯ the first party took place at David Mancuso's Loft, the second at one of Danny Krivit's 718 Sessions ⎯ I spent a good part of my time with Steve Knutson, the head of Audika, who is on an Arthur mission: to re-release as many of Russell's recordings as the music market can bear. Steve now holds most of Russell's tapes and archive files, and we spent many hours going through this hall-of-mirrors material. During my trip I also met up with the wry and radical Peter Zummo, Russell's favourite trombonist, as well as the lovely and indefatigable Tom Lee, Russell's long-term lover. We talked Arthur and by the end of the trip it was clear that there was the potential for a captivating and illuminating book.
Since that trip I have interviewed many of Arthur's family, friends, collaborators and supporters, including Mustafa Ahmed, Bob Blank, Joyce Bowden, Ernie Brooks, Rhys Chatham, Jon Gibson, Philip Glass, Peter Gordon, Steven Hall, Elodie Lauten, Eric Liljestrand, Gary Lucas, Phil Niblock, Chuck and Emily Russell, Will Socolov, Geoff Travis and Jennifer Warnes. I am nearing the end of the research process and will start to write soon.