Blue Humans
Arthur Doyle Plays and Sings From the Songbook Volume One
Rudolph Grey
(Agaric)
Donald Miller
The Blue Humans’ Live–N.Y. 1980 is a period piece from a New York scene that wasn’t well documented. In 1980 downtown New York was in a sorta post-Contortions funk. The no-wave and post-no-wave bands were never popular, and their development had come to a standstill. But there was some interesting crossbreeding with and appreciation for the post-Trane jazz players of the second loft era. Bands like the World Saxophone Quartet or Defunkt would share bills with groups like DNA or the Hi Sheriffs of Blue, and a feeling of noise synchronicity was in the air. But few bands integrated jazz and punk personnel as one unit. The Blue Humans were one of the select.
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The Blue Humans are still led by guitarist Rudolph Grey, late of the band Red Transistor and best known for his Amok Press book on director Ed Wood. In 1980 the other players were drummer Beaver Harris (an alumnus of Archie Shepp’s immense mid-60s bands and Ayler’s European troupe) and saxophonist Arthur Doyle, a proponent of high energy improvisation with far too few sessions in his resume.
