It’s hard to briefly introduce Arthur Russell. Firstly, it’s impossible to sum up his life. If I try, pages and pages will come up.
He spent his early years living at a San Francisco Buddhist community and Ali Akbar College of Music, where he learnt North Indian music. His lifetime friendship with Allen Ginsberg resulted in this amazing video of a chant both often performed together on tour. His first New York years were at the downtown avant-garde performance venue “The Kitchen”, which made him abandon his academic education to prove that minimalism could play pop music’s part in society and vice-versa. Between his part in the Disco night club scene, all his love stories, “The Flying Hearts”, believe me there’s a lot to be said.
All I can state is he displayed an ardent passion to live, which transcends every song. Most of them he never even finished.
Parts of his work had never been previously released in any form until 2004 when the album “Calling Out of Context” came out, compiling home and studio recordings from 1973 to 1992, the year of his death. He not only sang and wrote all the songs but played cello, percussion, guitar, keyboards, and additional vocals along collaborations with Mustafa Khaliq Ahmed and Peter Zummo. Today we feature the album’s stand out “Wild Combination”. Well, we might not be allowed to say that, because all of them are so tied up. It is just the kind of song you wanna share with your mother, father, friends, dog… everyone around.
