Jack Kerouac & Steve Allen - Poetry For The Beat Generation (1959) - Poetry

"Poetry for the Beat Generation marked Jack Kerouac's debut as a recording artist. Strangely enough, it was the by-product of a disastrous first show by Kerouac in an engagement at
the Village Vanguard during December of 1957. For the second
performance, Kerouac's friend Steve Allen provided the accompaniment at
the piano, with results so impressive that it would lead Kerouac to a
short but dazzling career as a recording artist. The first result was
this album, which came at the suggestion of either Allen or his friend,
producer Bob Thiele, who was working for Dot Records at the time. The
record was cut in a single session and a single take for each piece.
Allen's graceful piano opens the recording and Kerouac comes in, reading
"October in the Railroad Earth" for seven minutes, off of a roll of
paper in front of him. Kerouac's reading are in a class by themselves,
and separate from Allen — the two performances co-exist and weave
together without ever really joining, and the result is a peculiar form
of jazz; Kerouac did his thing, Allen did his, and the result was a
spellbinding performance, and it was musical, despite Kerouac's seeming
monotone reading, which never slowed or otherwise interacted with
Allen's piano — his voice dances to its own beat, with Allen
embellishing and working around him; in the process, you get visions of
various facets of Kerouac's work and personality, in extended pieces
such as "October in the Railroad Earth" and short, piercing brilliant
exclamations such as "Deadbelly" and "Charlie Parker." The resulting
album, cut in March of 1958, was one of the crowning achievements in
recording of the 1950s. But it so appalled Rany Wood, the president of
Dot Records, with its meandering narrative and daring language and
subject matter, that the release was canceled, with Wood denouncing the
recording in the trade papers as tasteless and questionable. Somewhere
over 100 promotional copies of the Dot album (catalog number 3154) had
gotten out to disc jockeys and reviewers, however, thus making it one of
the rarest LPs in the label's entire history. Thiele finally left the
company over the dispute and he reclaimed the master tape — it was on
the Hanover label, formed with Allen (who was virtually a pop-culture
institution at the time), that Poetry for the Beat Generation finally
reached the public in June of 1959. It's still worth a listen now every
bit as much as it was in 1959, and perhaps even more so."

Personnel:
Steven Allen (piano)
Jack Kerouac (vocals)

Tracklist:
01. October In The Railroad Earth (Allen/Kerouac) 7.09
02. Deadbelly (Allen/Kerouac) 1.05
03. Charlie Parker (Allen/Kerouac) 3.45
04. The Sounds Of The Universe Coming In My Window (Allen/Kerouac) 3.17
05. One Mother (Allen/Kerouac) 0.49
06. Goofing At The Table (Allen/Kerouac) 1.45
07. Bowery Blues (Allen/Kerouac) 3.56
08. Abraham (Allen/Kerouac) 1.17
09. Dave Brubeck (Allen/Kerouac) 0.31
10. I Had A Slouch Hat Too One Time (Allen/Kerouac) 6.12
11. The Wheel Of The Quivering Meat Conception (Allen/Kerouac) 1.55
12. McDougal Street Blues (Allen/Kerouac) 3.23
13. The Moon Her Majesty (Allen/Kerouac) 1.36
14. I´d Rather Be Thin Then Famous (Allen/Kerouac) 0.37
+
15. Readings From 'On The Road' And 'Visions Of Cody' (Allen/Kerouac) 3.31

Poetry

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