A treat from Speechification, a 30 minute BBC Radio 3 Jazzfile documentary about the legendary New York musician Louis Hardin, aka Moondog. Here’s what the producer has to say about the programme:
The budget for these 30min jazzfile docs was very low so it was basically an illustrated talk but we managed to find two people who had actually experienced Moondog on the streets of New York: Charles knew musician Patti Palladin from way back and I was friendly with composer John Zorn. I think their eye witness statements bring this piece alive alongside the incredible Moondog interview I found buried in the BBC archive. The hardest thing to source when we were making the show was the Moondog / Julie Andrews collaboration. It’s since been reissued but at the time it seemed as if someone had invented it just to give me something to search for. We eventually tracked down a copy via a Julie Andrews completist in Holland – the things we do for radio! Hope you enjoy Moondog – spread the word about him and if you’re going buy some of his music get the early stuff.
Get it here
