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Artist
Ken Nordine
12+ albums
spoken wordjazzpoetryword jazzAvant-Garde
about
Ken Nordine (April 13, 1920 - February 16, 2019) was an American voice-over and recording artist, best known for his series of Word Jazz albums. His deep, resonant voice has also been featured in many commercial advertisements and movie trailers. One critic wrote that "you may not know Ken Nordine by name or face, but you'll almost certainly recognize his voice." The son of Theresia and Nore S. Nordine, a contractor, Ken Nordine was born in Cherokee, Iowa. The family later moved to Chicago, where he attended Lane Technical College Prep High School and the University of Chicago. He has three sons with his wife Beryl, whom he married in 1945. During the 1940s, he was heard on The World's Great Novels and other radio programs broadcast from Chicago. One of which, Honore de Balzac's short story “Une passion dans le désert”, was recorded for the 1955 album Passion in the Desert. In 1955 he provided the voiceover on Billy Vaughn's version of Shifting Whispering Sands, which peaked at #5 on the Billboard Hot 100. He subsequently attracted wider attention when he recorded the aural vignettes on Word Jazz (Dot, 1957). Love Words, Son of Word Jazz (Dot, 1958) and his other albums in this vein feature Nordine's narration over cool jazz by the Fred Katz Group featuring Chico Hamilton recording under an alias. Nordine began performing and recording such albums at the peak of the beat era and was associated with the poetry-and-jazz movement. However, it has been observed that some of Nor
