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The Documentary: Philip Glass: Taxi Driver

Philip Glass - Composer

04/11/2015 GMT

Philip Glass: Taxi Driver

BBC World Service - The Documentary, Philip Glass: Taxi Driver

Musician Philip Glass revisits his life in '70s New York as a taxi driver and composer

Musician Philip Glass revisits his parallel lives in '70s New York - driving a taxi while also emerging as a composer.

The Philip Glass Ensemble formed in 1968 and performed in lofts, museums, art galleries and, eventually, concert halls. Two of Glass's early pieces - the long form Music In Twelve Parts and the opera Einstein on the Beach - secured his reputation as a leading voice in new music.
 
But America's soon-to-be most successful contemporary composer continued to earn a living by driving a taxi until he was 42. "I would show up around 3pm to get a car and hopefully be out driving by 4. I wanted to get back to the garage by 1 or 2am before the bars closed, as that wasn't a good time to be driving. I'd come home and write music until 6 in the morning."
 
Glass's new musical language - consisting of driving rhythms, gradually evolving repetitive patterns and amplified voice, organs and saxophones - reflected the urgency of the city surrounding him. New York, on the brink of financial collapse, was crime-ridden and perilous. Driving a cab offered more than a window on this gritty, late night world. Almost every other month, according to Glass, a driver colleague was murdered. Glass escaped altercations with gangs and robbers in his cab.

(Photo: Composer Philip Glass, Credit: AFP/Getty Images)

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