Readings by Jack Kerouac on the Beat Generation
was the culmination of the author's short-lived recording career, a solo performance that transcends poetry and music -- it's literally spoken
jazz
, the artist improvising freely on the printed text of his own work in front of him. Produced by
Bill Randle
, it was
Kerouac
's most musical performance, despite the fact that the recording contained only his voice and no accompaniment, using his voice and language the way a saxophonist might improvise on a particular melodic line or riff. He's spellbinding throughout, intense, focused, and even subtly changing voices with the work itself. [Reissued in
Rhino
's
Jack Kerouac Collection
with a bonus track consisting of an excerpt from a 1958 forum on the existence of the "Beat Generation," held at
Hunter College
in New York.] ~ Bruce Eder