ABSTRACT

A New Mass for a New Collection: Richard “Dickie” Landry’s Mass for Pentecost Sunday

by Brandon Bell

This document serves two purposes. First, it is a substantial biography of Richard “Dickie” Landry, a virtuosic polymath who has found considerable success as a saxophonist, composer, photographer, and visual artist. Secondly, the document details Landry’s major work as a composer, his Mass for Pentecost Sunday, commissioned by Dominique de Menil for the 1987 opening of Houston’s Menil Collection.

As Landry created his own art both as a musician and visual artist in addition to documenting the work of others through his work in photography, he occupies a unique position in the cadre of musicians and artists who turned downtown Manhattan into a hotbed of creative endeavors in the 1960s and 1970s. Musically, Landry is most closely associated with the Philip Glass Ensemble, of which he was a founding member. Outside of the ensemble, Landry developed a robust solo career through the use of the stereo quadraphonic system, an audio system that used delay processes thereby allowing him to create an accompaniment of a “choir of saxophones.”

After leaving the Philip Glass Ensemble in 1981, he went on to work with celebrated musicians such as Laurie Anderson, Paul Simon, and the Talking Heads, as well as the iconic artist Robert Rauschenberg and the renowned theater director and playwright Robert Wilson. The turn of the 21st century found Landry back home in Lafayette, Louisiana, performing with the swamp pop supergroup Lil’ Band O’ Gold. In the visual arts, Landry assisted Richard Serra, Keith Sonnier, and Gordon Matta-Clark as they created their masterworks in the lofts and galleries of downtown New York. He also developed his own, minimalist style in various mediums including, drawing, video, and eventually painting.

Chapters One through Three form the first part of this document. Chapter One details Landry’s early life in Louisiana through his move to New York City in 1969. Chapter Two, the bulk of this first part, chronicles Landry’s heady activities between 1969-1981. The third chapter records Landry’s activities from 1981 to 2018. Chapter Four, the second part of the document, is dedicated solely to the Mass Landry composed for the opening of The Menil Collection.