Lord Buckley
Categories: Entertainment , Nonfiction
If you have never heard of Lord Buckley before, it's kind of hard to describe what he did and who he was in any succinct way. Fortunately for me, Oliver Trager, author of Dig Infinity! The Life and Art of Lord Buckley has done just that in the opening pages of his biography. Here is his summarized take on Mr. Buckley: "Lord Buckley: the white, six-and-a-half-foot-tall, ex-lumberjack cat who invoked both the manners of the English aristocracy and the street language of black America...Lord Buckley: the picaresque pill-popping darling of Al Capone...Lord Buckley the jazz philosopher who jammed with Charlie Parker...Lord Buckley: the original viper, the Hall of Fame Hipster, the baddest Beatnik, the first flower child, the premier rapper...best known for his 'hipsemantic' retellings of Bible stories, Shakespeare soliloquies, and modern poetry in the 1950s." So, while not exactly a comedian (as he's often described), he could better be described as a performance artist who experimented with language and storytelling for comic effect.
One of the captivating things about listening to Lord Buckley is the free-wheeling sources of music, literature, history, and language that he drew from and was able to seamlessly weave into his performances. And to complement all of this, he had a deep resonant voice that could modulate from a low gravelly drawl to a smooth whisper in an instant for added effect. You can actually sample some of the audio performances if you check out the book because it contains an audio CD with some of his more famous pieces along with various interviews. My favorite is a piece called "The Nazz" (his 'hipsemantic' term for Jesus of Nazareth). Upon first listen, it can be a bit disconcerting because of his rapid speech patterns and the thick hipster patois.
The book charts his course from early vaudeville days in the 1930s to tireless travelling with jazz musicians during the '40s and '50s. It notes the enormous impact Lord Buckley had on the Beat Movement and his deep involvement with musicians and personalities associated with jazz as it moved from it's Swing era to the more improvisational Bebop era. But it's not written in a traditional biographical style. The book itself is made up almost entirely of quotes or short commentaries about Lord Buckley by performers, artists, comedians, musicians, and writers including: Dizzy Gillespie, Steve Allen, Jonathan Winters, Studs Terkel, Ed Sullivan, George Plimpton, Wolfman Jack, Jerry Garcia, James Taylor, George Harrison, Robin Williams, Eric Bogosian and many others.
So whether you are new to Lord Buckley, or have been a fan for years, this is a really fun book (and CD!). It's also an interesting look at a bygone era when nightclub entertainment was rife with innovation and experimentation.
