For nearly half a century, Richard “Dickie” Landry was at the center of the New York avant-garde. Born in the small Louisiana town of Cecilia in 1938, he began making pilgrimages to the city while still in his teens in search of the city’s most cutting edge gestures in jazz, and relaxed there not long after, falling in with a close knit community of artists and composers like Keith Sonnier, Philip Glass, Joan Jonas, Gordon Matt Clarke, Richard Serra, Robert Rauschenberg, Nancy Graves, Lawrence Weiner, Steve Reich, Jon Gibson, and Robert Wilson.
Landry remains one of the few artists of his generation who made important waves within numerous creative idioms. Having been trained from a young age on saxophone, not only is he a remarkably respected solo performer and bandleader, but he was an early and long-standing member of Philip Glass’ ensemble, playing on seminal records like Music With Changing Parts, Music in Similar Motion / Music in Fifths, Music in Twelve Parts, North Star, and Einstein on the Beach, and played with Talking Heads, Laurie Anderson, and jazz giants like Johnny Hammond, Gene Ammons, and Les McCann. He was also one of the most important photographic documenters of the New York Scene, until he left the city for his native Louisiana, following 9/11.

"Einstein on the Beach, it's a masterpiece. America, in 1976, was to be celebrating its 200th year of existence, and Michel Guy, the French Minister of Culture, came to New York to offer a commission to Philip Glass and Robert Wilson to write an opera. This was the gift that France would give for America's two-hundredth anniversary. That was the first time I met Robert Wilson."

http://www.dickielandry.com

https://unseenworlds.com/collections/dickie-landry

Music on this episode courtesy of Dickie Landry:

E-mu & Alto Saxophone composed by D.L. for Robert Wilson's production of "1433 The Grand Voyage" based on the story of Zheng He. Premier National Theater Taipei, Taiwan 2009

“Gloria” for Robert Wilson’s “Oedipus Rex”

Philip Glass’"Einstein on the Beach”. Original recording on Tomato Records 1977. D.L. on flute

"Are Years What" Phillip Glass. Composed for D.L. playing 3 soprano saxophones. On his lp "North Star”,1977

Swing Kings 1965, D.L. on flute

“Home of the Brave” on the Late Show with Laurie Anderson

"Taideco" Zydeco, for Wilson's production of "1433" Cedric Watson, Jermain Prejean, D.L.

“Ghosties” from “Dickie Landry Solo”

"It Keeps Rainin'", Robert Plant with Lil' Band O' Gold

Photo: Dickie Landry in Robert Wilson’s “1433—The Grand Voyage”, Music by Ornette Coleman, Dickie Landry, Chih-Chun Huang

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