Charles Arthur Russell Jr. (May 21, 1951 – April 4, 1992)[2][3] was an American cellist, composer, producer, singer, and musician from Iowa, whose work spanned a disparate range of styles.
[2][8][9] Russell's profile rose in the 21st century owing to a series of musical releases (including collections of previously unreleased material) and biographical works.
While studying at the conservatory, Russell repeatedly clashed with Pulitzer Prize-winning serialist composer and instructor Charles Wuorinen, who disparaged the composition "City Park" (a minimalist, non-narrative suite incorporating readings from the works of Ezra Pound and Gertrude Stein) as "the most unattractive thing I've ever heard".
[19] Embittered by his experience, Russell briefly considered transferring to Dartmouth College at the behest of experimental composer Christian Wolff, whom he had sought out and befriended upon arriving in the Northeast.
But after a chance meeting at a Wolff concert in Manhattan, he became close with Rhys Chatham, who arranged for Russell to succeed him as music director of The Kitchen, a downtown avant-garde performance space.
This approach elicited controversy when Russell booked Boston-based proto-punk band The Modern Lovers for an engagement at the venue, widely regarded as a leading bastion of minimalism.
Russell's booking of Fluxus stalwart Henry Flynt's "punkabilly" ensemble Nova'billy, concluding his season as director, was likewise unsettling to the avant-garde establishment.
The collaboration among Russell (once again as a keyboardist), Brooks, and Chamberlain extended into The Necessaries, a power pop quartet fronted by guitarist Ed Tomney.
Their lone 1981 album on Sire Records (initially released as Big Sky before being tweaked and re-released as Event Horizon) featured few songwriting contributions from Russell, who abruptly left the band at the approach to the Holland Tunnel before an important concert in Washington, D.C.
"[27] In 1977, trenchantly attracted to the minimalist rhythms of disco and funded by Siano's "Gallery war chest", Russell wrote and co-produced "Kiss Me Again" in collaboration with a diverse array of musicians—Flynt, Zummo, Byrne (on rhythm guitar) and Gloria Gaynor veterans Wilbur Bascomb (bass) and Alan Schwartzberg (drums)[2]—under the moniker of Dinosaur L.[20] The first disco single to be released by Sire Records,[2] it was a fairly large club hit, reportedly selling "some ungodly amount, like two hundred thousand copies".
Although the duo was signed to Sire to produce a follow-up single featuring Gerri Griffin of the Voices of East Harlem, the sessions stalled because of Siano's burgeoning drug habit (leading him to take temporary refuge in California) and Russell's myopic approach to recording.
D'Aquisto, a non-musician who favored such extemporaneous touches as off-key singing and the input of street buskers, repeatedly clashed with the perfectionist Russell throughout the sessions.
"[25] The experimental recordings bemused many of downtown New York's disco cognoscenti, including West End head Mel Cheren and Loft proprietor David Mancuso, a predicament that led Larry Levan to remix "Is It All Over My Face" for club play; the ensuing track, based around a female vocal wiped from the original mix (and recorded on stolen studio time with Francois Kevorkian as an uncredited co-mixer)[25] was an enduring staple of Levan's sets at the Paradise Garage and a formative influence on Chicago house, in addition to becoming a bona fide commercial hit in the New York area via airplay on WBLS.
"[12] "Go Bang," originally released on this album but recorded three years earlier by an ensemble that included Zummo, Peter Gordon, academic/composer Julius Eastman, Bascomb, and John and Jimmy Ingram[30] was remixed as a 12" single by Francois Kevorkian.
While Russell tangentially remained affiliated with the new music sphere in New York until his death, continuing to perform in solo and group configurations at The Kitchen and Experimental Intermedia Foundation, Tower of Meaning was his final orchestral effort.
[33] According to Bob Blank in a followup to an Internet reposting of the (purportedly fallacious) 1986 article that detailed the subterfuge, Socolov "wanted to take the label to 'another level".
[33] During the mid-1980s, Russell gave many performances, either accompanying himself on cello with a myriad of effects, or working with a small ensemble consisting of Steven Hall, Ernie Brooks, Peter Zummo, percussionist Mustafa Ahmed, and composer Elodie Lauten.
Heralded as "a magnum opus of sorts" by contemporary critics,[35] it incorporated many of his ideas for pop, dance and classical music for both solo and cello format.
[36] Russell also collaborated with a number of choreographers, including John Bernd,[37] Diane Madden,[38] Alison Salzinger,[39] Stephanie Woodard,[40] and Charles Moulton.
[28] In an April 28 column, Kyle Gann of The Village Voice wrote: "His recent performances had been so infrequent due to illness, his songs were so personal, that it seems as though he simply vanished into his music.
[49] As a young adult, Russell led a seemingly heterosexual lifestyle; at least two of these relationships (with Muriel Fujii in San Francisco and later Sydney Murray in New York) have been substantiated.
[12] As this relationship drew to a close, Russell became acquainted with silkscreen operator Tom Lee; their friendship rapidly evolved into a domestic partnership.
"[52] PopMatters noted "the contributions Russell made to the disparate genres of dance, disco, dub, and experimental music" and wrote that "his absolute fearlessness in lending his own unique style to even the most unlikely sound combinations is peerless.
"[53] Vice noted that he "never settled on one genre of music [...] He made winsome country and hypersexual disco and delicate art pop," while drifting through the downtown rock and classical scenes of New York.
"[55] AllMusic stated that his eclectic music was marked by adventurous production choices and his distinctive singing,[2] described by The New York Times as "soft tenor vocals.