The lyrics to these ersatz jazz tunes are more like scripts than
anything that one would hum along to.

Glad you appreciate Ken Nordine. I have most of the original
vinyl and the stuff from Ken is still available. He even sent
me an email once.

Many spoken word things are available on file share. The ones to
look for are by the likes of Richard Buckley (60's comedian who
was a contemporary of Lenny Bruce) Brother Theodore Gottlieb who used
to be a regular on the Tonight Show and has done such off camera rolls as Gollum in the Ralph Bakshi Lord Of The Rings.

Many poets read their work like Gil Scott Heron and Ishmael Reed,
but I never got into the coffee house scene, Starbucks or anywhere else. Part of my role as cab driver was to educate the
public on these subjects. As I'm thinking about this now one
of my favorite spoken word pieces is "A Foreign Affair" written
by Tom Waits and performed by Manhattan Transfer.

Historically, radio drama was one of the best sources of
spoken word as anyone who has Well's War Of The Worlds
can attest. But the poet of radio was Norman Corwin.
Corwin's work is available in cd reproductions and is heard
here in Wisconsin on a special weekly program devoted to
Old Time Radio.