115-439: Tonto's Expanding Head Band was a British-American electronic music duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff . Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were influential in the development of electronic music and helped bring the synthesizer to the mainstream through session and production work for other musicians (most notably Stevie Wonder ) and extensive commercial advertising work. TONTO
230-405: A PA system , several turntables, and mixers. The performance did not go well, as creating live montages with turntables had never been done before." Later that same year, Pierre Henry collaborated with Schaeffer on Symphonie pour un homme seul (1950) the first major work of musique concrete. In Paris in 1951, in what was to become an important worldwide trend, RTF established the first studio for
345-466: A slide show synchronized with a recorded soundtrack. Composers outside of the Jikken Kōbō, such as Yasushi Akutagawa , Saburo Tominaga, and Shirō Fukai , were also experimenting with radiophonic tape music between 1952 and 1953. Musique concrète was introduced to Japan by Toshiro Mayuzumi , who was influenced by a Pierre Schaeffer concert. From 1952, he composed tape music pieces for a comedy film,
460-508: A TV show and dropped "into one of his 'Day at the Dog Races'. I just got out of there as fast as I could. It was embarrassing". In the same interview, George stated that he planned to reunite Little Feat without Payne and Barrere. At this time Warner Bros. released George's only solo album, Thanks, I'll Eat It Here , for which he had signed a contract in 1975. The album was mostly a collection of cover versions that George had been working on as
575-408: A blend of country rock with folk influences, while Dixie Chicken showcased a distinctive New Orleans-inspired funk sound that became a hallmark of their style. Their music is also known for its complex rhythms and instrumental improvisations, influenced by bandleader Lowell George 's bottleneck guitar work, a defining aspect of their early recordings. Critics often compare their fan base to that of
690-463: A collection of sequencers were added, along with MIDI control. All of these are housed in a semi-circle of curving wooden cabinets, 20 feet (6.1 m) in diameter and 6 feet (1.8 m) tall. TONTO was featured (as the "electronic room") in the 1974 Brian de Palma film Phantom of the Paradise . It was also used in the album 1980 by Gil Scott-Heron and Brian Jackson and was pictured on both
805-465: A common household item, and by the 1920s composers were using them to play short recordings in performances. The introduction of electrical recording in 1925 was followed by increased experimentation with record players. Paul Hindemith and Ernst Toch composed several pieces in 1930 by layering recordings of instruments and vocals at adjusted speeds. Influenced by these techniques, John Cage composed Imaginary Landscape No. 1 in 1939 by adjusting
920-537: A cover of the Hank Williams song "Lonesome Whistle". In 1981 and 1982, Barrere, Clayton, Gradney and Hayward performed several shows as "Barrere, Clayton, Gradney and Hayward" along with singer/guitarist Phil Brown. Barrere then released two solo albums, 1983's On My Own Two Feet (Mirage) and 1984's Real Lies (Atlantic). Richie Hayward was the drummer on Robert Plant 's 1985 funk and new wave flavoured Shaken 'n' Stirred (Es Paranza). Payne has always been
1035-533: A leave of absence from touring with Little Feat to combat the disease, and to remain close to his health providers. He later performed a few one-off gigs with Fred Tackett as an acoustic duo and recorded collaborations with longtime friend Roger Cole. In August 2015, it was announced that he was suffering from liver cancer . In 2017 the band was joined for some shows by the Midnight Ramble Horns (Steve Bernstein, Jay Collins, and Erik Lawrence) who then augmented
1150-583: A member of the Fraternity of Man whose claim to fame was the inclusion of their "Don't Bogart That Joint" on the million-selling Easy Rider film soundtrack. The name of the band came from a comment made by Mothers' drummer Jimmy Carl Black about Lowell's "little feet". The spelling of "feat" was an homage to the Beatles . There are three stories about the genesis of Little Feat. One has it that George showed Zappa his song " Willin' ," and that Zappa fired him from
1265-990: A number of musicians, ranging from Neil Rolnick , Charles Amirkhanian and Alice Shields to rock musicians Frank Zappa and The West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band . Following the emergence of differences within the GRMC (Groupe de Recherche de Musique Concrète) Pierre Henry, Philippe Arthuys, and several of their colleagues, resigned in April 1958. Schaeffer created a new collective, called Groupe de Recherches Musicales (GRM) and set about recruiting new members including Luc Ferrari , Beatriz Ferreyra , François-Bernard Mâche , Iannis Xenakis , Bernard Parmegiani , and Mireille Chamass-Kyrou . Later arrivals included Ivo Malec , Philippe Carson, Romuald Vandelle, Edgardo Canton and François Bayle . These were fertile years for electronic music—not just for academia, but for independent artists as synthesizer technology became more accessible. By this time,
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#17328691401121380-507: A permanent member. He left in 2015 to take up a permanent post in The Doobie Brothers ' touring band: this restricted his ability to perform longer tours with Little Feat. After this, the full band would perform around 10 dates per year, while Barrere, Tackett, Gradney and Ford would sometimes tour playing Little Feat material as a four-piece called Funky Feat. In 1994, Paul Barrere had been diagnosed with Hepatitis C and, in 2013, took
1495-586: A popular and busy session musician, as well as a songwriter, and during the band's first hiatus performed on a variety of albums by many famous musicians including J. J. Cale , the Doobie Brothers , Emmylou Harris , Pink Floyd , Bob Seger , Linda Ronstadt , Jackson Browne , James Taylor , Bonnie Raitt , and Stevie Nicks . He was a guest performer on Raitt's Sweet Forgiveness in 1977, which featured his composition "Takin' My Time." In 1986, Hayward, Barrere and Payne were invited to play on Blue Slipper ,
1610-688: A public concert in New York together with other compositions I had written for conventional instruments." Otto Luening, who had attended this concert, remarked: "The equipment at his disposal consisted of an Ampex tape recorder . . . and a simple box-like device designed by the brilliant young engineer, Peter Mauzey, to create feedback, a form of mechanical reverberation. Other equipment was borrowed or purchased with personal funds." Just three months later, in August 1952, Ussachevsky traveled to Bennington, Vermont, at Luening's invitation to present his experiments. There,
1725-465: A radio broadcast, and a radio drama. However, Schaeffer's concept of sound object was not influential among Japanese composers, who were mainly interested in overcoming the restrictions of human performance. This led to several Japanese electroacoustic musicians making use of serialism and twelve-tone techniques , evident in Yoshirō Irino 's 1951 dodecaphonic piece "Concerto da Camera", in
1840-525: A re-formed Pure Prairie League , who in 2005 released their critically acclaimed All in Good Time, which heavily featured his songwriting, singing and acoustic guitar. Up until leaving PPL again in 2011, he performed about 40 shows yearly with them, as well as occasional shows with Little Feat in addition to performing solo shows. Fuller was replaced by Shaun Murphy in September 1993. Murphy had sung on all of
1955-627: A result of this concert and the distribution of its recording, the album gained recognition from a wider audience among younger listeners. In 2018, at Peach Fest at Montage Mountain in Scranton, Pennsylvania , the remaining members of Little Feat joined forces with moe. , the Turkuaz Horns and the Ramble Band Horns to recreate and pay homage to the band's classic live album Waiting For Columbus . Little Feat's songs "Sailin' Shoes" and "Fat Man in
2070-777: A score. In 1955, more experimental and electronic studios began to appear. Notable were the creation of the Studio di fonologia musicale di Radio Milano , a studio at the NHK in Tokyo founded by Toshiro Mayuzumi , and the Philips studio at Eindhoven , the Netherlands, which moved to the University of Utrecht as the Institute of Sonology in 1960. "With Stockhausen and Mauricio Kagel in residence, [Cologne] became
2185-592: A side project for several years and, in his biography Rock And Roll Doctor , Mark Brend states that George had hinted he only signed the solo contract to obtain funds to finance Little Feat (and Bill Flanagan states in Written in My Soul that George "didn't want his audience to assume a collection of other people's material marked the direction of Lowell George's solo career"). While touring in support of his solo album in June 1979, at
2300-454: A significant influence on popular music , with the adoption of polyphonic synthesizers , electronic drums , drum machines, and turntables , through the emergence of genres such as disco , krautrock , new wave , synth-pop , hip hop , and EDM . In the early 1980s mass-produced digital synthesizers , such as the Yamaha DX7 , became popular, and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface)
2415-567: A strong community of composers and musicians working with new sounds and instruments was established and growing. 1960 witnessed the composition of Luening's Gargoyles for violin and tape as well as the premiere of Stockhausen's Kontakte for electronic sounds, piano, and percussion. This piece existed in two versions—one for 4-channel tape, and the other for tape with human performers. "In Kontakte , Stockhausen abandoned traditional musical form based on linear development and dramatic climax. This new approach, which he termed 'moment form', resembles
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#17328691401122530-454: A video rerecording of the 1975 Lowell George song Long Distance Love . The video introduced a new band lineup with Tony Leone , known for his work with Levon Helm and Phil Lesh , joining on drums in place of Gabe Ford. Levon Helm's daughter Amy guested on backing vocals - she and Leone had previously played together in Ollabelle . A new song, the first in eight years, "When All Boats Rise",
2645-450: A year-round hive of charismatic avant-gardism." on two occasions combining electronically generated sounds with relatively conventional orchestras—in Mixtur (1964) and Hymnen, dritte Region mit Orchester (1967). Stockhausen stated that his listeners had told him his electronic music gave them an experience of "outer space", sensations of flying, or being in a "fantastic dream world". In
2760-692: Is a group of music genres that employ electronic musical instruments , circuitry-based music technology and software, or general-purpose electronics (such as personal computers ) in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroacoustic music ). Pure electronic instruments depended entirely on circuitry-based sound generation, for instance using devices such as an electronic oscillator , theremin , or synthesizer . Electromechanical instruments can have mechanical parts such as strings, hammers, and electric elements including magnetic pickups , power amplifiers and loudspeakers . Such electromechanical devices include
2875-479: Is alone, a world of mystery and essential loneliness." In Cologne, what would become the most famous electronic music studio in the world, was officially opened at the radio studios of the NWDR in 1953, though it had been in the planning stages as early as 1950 and early compositions were made and broadcast in 1951. The brainchild of Werner Meyer-Eppler , Robert Beyer, and Herbert Eimert (who became its first director),
2990-641: Is an acronym for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra", the first, and still the largest, multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world, designed and constructed over several years by Malcolm Cecil. TONTO started as a Moog modular synthesizer Series III owned by record producer Robert Margouleff. Later a second Moog III was added, then four Oberheim SEMs, two ARP 2600s, modules from Serge with Moog-like panels, EMS , Roland , Yamaha , etc. plus several custom modules designed by Serge Tcherepnin and Cecil himself - who has an electrical engineering background. Later, digital sound-generation circuitry and
3105-468: Is most recognizable in its 4/4 form and more connected with the mainstream than preceding forms which were popular in niche markets. At the turn of the 20th century, experimentation with emerging electronics led to the first electronic musical instruments . These initial inventions were not sold, but were instead used in demonstrations and public performances. The audiences were presented with reproductions of existing music instead of new compositions for
3220-701: Is to be realized as a magnetic tape. According to Otto Luening, Cage also performed Williams Mix at Donaueschingen in 1954, using eight loudspeakers, three years after his alleged collaboration. Williams Mix was a success at the Donaueschingen Festival , where it made a "strong impression". The Music for Magnetic Tape Project was formed by members of the New York School ( John Cage , Earle Brown , Christian Wolff , David Tudor , and Morton Feldman ), and lasted three years until 1954. Cage wrote of this collaboration: "In this social darkness, therefore,
3335-752: The Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in the late 1950s. Following his work with Studio d'Essai at Radiodiffusion Française (RDF), during the early 1940s, Pierre Schaeffer is credited with originating the theory and practice of musique concrète. In the late 1940s, experiments in sound-based composition using shellac record players were first conducted by Schaeffer. In 1950, the techniques of musique concrete were expanded when magnetic tape machines were used to explore sound manipulation practices such as speed variation ( pitch shift ) and tape splicing . On 5 October 1948, RDF broadcast Schaeffer's Etude aux chemins de fer . This
3450-498: The Ensemble of electro-musical instruments [ ru ] , which used theremins, electric harps, electric organs, the first synthesizer in the USSR "Ekvodin", and also created the first Soviet reverb machine. The style in which Meshcherin's ensemble played is known as " Space age pop ". In 1957, engineer Igor Simonov assembled a working model of a noise recorder (electroeoliphone), with
3565-498: The Grateful Dead due to their devoted following and the band’s turbulent lineup changes. Rolling Stone has described them as a “cult band” with a sound that drew on the musical traditions of cities like New Orleans and Memphis , but with an idiosyncratic twist, blending Southern and swamp rock elements into a “zany South-West synthesis.” By the late 1970s, They began incorporating jazz-rock fusion, evident in tracks such as Day at
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3680-540: The UK . Due to TONTO being too large and expensive to ship for a one-hour performance, Cecil created a "Virtual TONTO" and played live over pre-recorded backing tracks and Malcolm playing an Arp 2600 live with Moonpup adding some DJ loops and samples. It was accompanied by a specially prepared visual show by Liz Searle with hundreds of pictures of TONTO and Poli Cecil's art pieces. Stevie Wonder The Isley Bros Other acts Electronic music Electronic music broadly
3795-432: The telharmonium , Hammond organ , electric piano and electric guitar . The first electronic musical devices were developed at the end of the 19th century. During the 1920s and 1930s, some electronic instruments were introduced and the first compositions featuring them were written. By the 1940s, magnetic audio tape allowed musicians to tape sounds and then modify them by changing the tape speed or direction, leading to
3910-848: The 'cinematic splice' techniques in early twentieth-century film." The theremin had been in use since the 1920s but it attained a degree of popular recognition through its use in science-fiction film soundtrack music in the 1950s (e.g., Bernard Herrmann 's classic score for The Day the Earth Stood Still ). Little Feat Little Feat is an American rock band formed by lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George , keyboardist Bill Payne , drummer Richie Hayward and bassist Roy Estrada in 1969 in Los Angeles. The band's classic line-up, in place by late 1972, comprised George, Payne, Hayward, bassist Kenny Gradney , guitarist and vocalist Paul Barrere and percussionist Sam Clayton . George disbanded
4025-445: The 1950s and algorithmic composition with computers was first demonstrated in the same decade. During the 1960s, digital computer music was pioneered, innovation in live electronics took place, and Japanese electronic musical instruments began to influence the music industry . In the early 1970s, Moog synthesizers and drum machines helped popularize synthesized electronic music. The 1970s also saw electronic music begin to have
4140-507: The 1970s and 1980s saw TONTO featured on albums from Quincy Jones , Bobby Womack , The Isley Brothers , Steve Hillage , Billy Preston , and Weather Report , as well as releases from Stephen Stills , The Doobie Brothers , Dave Mason , Little Feat , Joan Baez , and others. The TONTO synthesizer was also used in Brian De Palma's 1974 movie Phantom of the Paradise as well as appearing on-screen. A second TONTO album, It's About Time ,
4255-479: The 1987 debut album by Helen Watson . They subsequently appeared on her second album The Weather Inside . The surviving former members of Little Feat then reformed in 1987 when Barrere, Clayton, Gradney, Hayward and Payne added songwriter/vocalist/guitarist Craig Fuller , formerly from the band Pure Prairie League , and Fred Tackett on guitar, mandolin and trumpet. The band admired Fuller's previous work and were impressed when he toured with them in 1978 as part of
4370-553: The Alley which opened with George's "Sailing Shoes." The whole band chipped in on Palmer's 1975 release, Pressure Drop , which contained another George composition, "Trouble". 1976's Some People Can Do What They Like , Palmer's third opus, opened with the Bill Payne/Fran Tate composition "One Last Look", and later featured George's "Spanish Moon", although George and Gradney sat this one out. In March 1976, Little Feat served as
4485-455: The Bathtub" were featured prominently in the 2010 Edward Norton film Leaves of Grass . Guitarist Jimmy Page stated that Little Feat was his favorite American band in a 1975 Rolling Stone interview. Little Feat’s musical style is marked by an eclectic fusion of genres, incorporating elements of rock , blues , jazz , country , and funk . Early albums like Sailin’ Shoes introduced
4600-619: The DiscReet label produced by Warner Brothers . Due to disappointing sales, the band disbanded a second time in late 1973. Payne joined the Doobie Brothers and Hayward joined Ike Turner . They reformed in 1974, releasing their fourth album Feats Don't Fail Me Now later that year. In 1974, Lowell George, along with the Meters and other session musicians, backed Robert Palmer on his Island Records debut solo release Sneakin' Sally Through
4715-475: The Dog Races , reflecting a shift in their sound toward jazz influences. Their live performances are celebrated for their jam band qualities, often characterized by extended instrumental sections that capture the improvisational spirit of jazz while retaining a Southern rock foundation. Glide Magazine noted that Dixie Chicken and its surreal cover art became iconic for the band, underscoring their fusion of music and visual artistry and cementing their status as
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4830-504: The Fuller/Kaz band. They didn't require an audition, having played with him on tour, and thus, the new Little Feat lineup was formed. The initial release by the new lineup, Let It Roll , was a tremendous success and Fuller's presence proved to be a major factor. His strong vocals and songwriting abilities were showcased, co-writing 8 of the 10 songs and handling a large share of lead vocals. The first single, "Hate to Lose Your Lovin'", earned
4945-659: The Louisville Symphony and A Poem in Cycles and Bells , both for orchestra and tape. Because he had been working at Schaeffer's studio, the tape part for Varèse's work contains much more concrete sounds than electronic. "A group made up of wind instruments, percussion and piano alternate with the mutated sounds of factory noises and ship sirens and motors, coming from two loudspeakers." At the German premiere of Déserts in Hamburg, which
5060-450: The Mothers of Invention, because he felt that George was too talented to merely be a member of his band and told him he ought to go away and form his own band. The second version has Zappa firing him for playing a 15-minute guitar solo with his amplifier off. The third version says that Zappa fired him because "Willin ' " contains drug references ("weed, whites and wine"). George often introduced
5175-467: The Philips studio in the Netherlands. The public remained interested in the new sounds being created around the world, as can be deduced by the inclusion of Varèse's Poème électronique , which was played over four hundred loudspeakers at the Philips Pavilion of the 1958 Brussels World Fair . That same year, Mauricio Kagel , an Argentine composer, composed Transición II . The work was realized at
5290-446: The Poet , a 1959 series of electronic compositions that stood out for its immersion and seamless fusion of electronic and folk music , in contrast to the more mathematical approach used by serial composers of the time such as Babbitt. El-Dabh's Leiyla and the Poet , released as part of the album Columbia-Princeton Electronic Music Center in 1961, would be cited as a strong influence by
5405-589: The United States following the end of World War II. These were the basis for the first commercially produced tape recorder in 1948. In 1944, before the use of magnetic tape for compositional purposes, Egyptian composer Halim El-Dabh , while still a student in Cairo , used a cumbersome wire recorder to record sounds of an ancient zaar ceremony. Using facilities at the Middle East Radio studios El-Dabh processed
5520-454: The United States, electronic music was being created as early as 1939, when John Cage published Imaginary Landscape, No. 1 , using two variable-speed turntables, frequency recordings, muted piano, and cymbal, but no electronic means of production. Cage composed five more "Imaginary Landscapes" between 1942 and 1952 (one withdrawn), mostly for percussion ensemble, though No. 4 is for twelve radios and No. 5, written in 1952, uses 42 recordings and
5635-577: The WDR studio in Cologne. Two musicians performed on the piano, one in the traditional manner, the other playing on the strings, frame, and case. Two other performers used tape to unite the presentation of live sounds with the future of prerecorded materials from later on and its past of recordings made earlier in the performance. In 1958, Columbia-Princeton developed the RCA Mark II Sound Synthesizer ,
5750-509: The age of 34, George collapsed and died in his hotel room in Arlington, Virginia. An autopsy determined the cause of death was a heart attack. The surviving members finished and released Down on the Farm in late 1979. A double compilation album of rare studio outtakes and live recordings, Hoy-Hoy! , was released in 1981. The album is an overview of the history and sound of Little Feat and includes
5865-733: The ancestor of the ORTF . Karlheinz Stockhausen worked briefly in Schaeffer's studio in 1952, and afterward for many years at the WDR Cologne's Studio for Electronic Music . 1954 saw the advent of what would now be considered authentic electric plus acoustic compositions—acoustic instrumentation augmented/accompanied by recordings of manipulated or electronically generated sound. Three major works were premiered that year: Varèse's Déserts , for chamber ensemble and tape sounds, and two works by Otto Luening and Vladimir Ussachevsky : Rhapsodic Variations for
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#17328691401125980-536: The backing band on the first side of Akiko Yano 's debut studio album Japanese Girl [ ja ] , released on the Philips label. The band remained based in Los Angeles due to doing session work on the side in addition to band activities. The release of The Last Record Album in 1975 signalled another change in the Little Feat sound, with Barrere and Payne developing an interest in jazz-rock . Prior to
6095-403: The band for the 50th Anniversary tour of 2018. They continue to often join the band on selected dates. The band then toured more sporadically during the next four years. Paul Barrere died on October 26, 2019. Scott Sharrard , who had filled in for Barrere during Little Feat's 50th Anniversary tour, was later brought on board as a full-time band member. On September 16, 2020, the band released
6210-629: The band their first No. 1 hit on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart. All Music Guide critic Stephen Erlewine stated "What's surprising about Let It Roll is not just that it works, but that it works smashingly." The LP garnered Feat a certified gold record status on February 14, 1989. On the heels of this success, previous Feat releases experienced a surge in sales. The 1978 live release Waiting for Columbus went platinum in November 1989. Dixie Chicken , originally released on January 25, 1973, went gold
6325-519: The band, such as to get away from the Los Angeles pollution and the L.A. city life. In late 1972 Little Feat reformed, with bassist Kenny Gradney replacing Estrada. The band also added a second guitarist in Paul Barrere , who had known George since they attended Hollywood High School in California , and percussionist Sam Clayton (brother of session singer Merry Clayton and the brother-in-law of
6440-410: The best live albums of all time, despite the fact that significant portions of George's vocals and slide work were over-dubbed later in the studio. It was released in 1978, by which time it had become apparent that George's interest in the band was waning, as was his health. Little Feat began working on a new album, Down on the Farm , before disbanding in 1979. In an interview with Bill Flanagan (for
6555-485: The book Written in My Soul ) conducted eleven days before his death, George made it clear that he felt the demise of Little Feat was due to his having allowed the band to be run democratically, with the result that Payne and, to a lesser extent, Barrere, had a presence as songwriters and in production which was disproportionate to their abilities. George was particularly scathing about Payne's attempts at jazz/fusion, citing an instance when Payne jammed with Weather Report on
6670-637: The borrowed equipment in the back of Ussachevsky's car, we left Bennington for Woodstock and stayed two weeks. . . . In late September 1952, the travelling laboratory reached Ussachevsky's living room in New York, where we eventually completed the compositions." Two months later, on 28 October, Vladimir Ussachevsky and Otto Luening presented the first Tape Music concert in the United States. The concert included Luening's Fantasy in Space (1952)—"an impressionistic virtuoso piece" using manipulated recordings of flute—and Low Speed (1952), an "exotic composition that took
6785-412: The composition of microtonal music allowed for by electronic instruments. He predicted the use of machines in future music, writing the influential Sketch of a New Esthetic of Music (1907). Futurists such as Francesco Balilla Pratella and Luigi Russolo began composing music with acoustic noise to evoke the sound of machinery . They predicted expansions in timbre allowed for by electronics in
6900-600: The development of electroacoustic tape music in the 1940s, in Egypt and France. Musique concrète , created in Paris in 1948, was based on editing together recorded fragments of natural and industrial sounds. Music produced solely from electronic generators was first produced in Germany in 1953 by Karlheinz Stockhausen . Electronic music was also created in Japan and the United States beginning in
7015-597: The development of music technology several decades later. Following the foundation of electronics company Sony in 1946, composers Toru Takemitsu and Minao Shibata independently explored possible uses for electronic technology to produce music. Takemitsu had ideas similar to musique concrète , which he was unaware of, while Shibata foresaw the development of synthesizers and predicted a drastic change in music. Sony began producing popular magnetic tape recorders for government and public use. The avant-garde collective Jikken Kōbō (Experimental Workshop), founded in 1950,
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#17328691401127130-402: The direction of electronic music. Another associate of Schaeffer, Edgard Varèse , began work on Déserts , a work for chamber orchestra and tape. The tape parts were created at Pierre Schaeffer's studio and were later revised at Columbia University . In 1950, Schaeffer gave the first public (non-broadcast) concert of musique concrète at the École Normale de Musique de Paris . "Schaeffer used
7245-721: The end of the 1960s, musical groups playing light electronic music appeared in the USSR. At the state level, this music began to be used to attract foreign tourists to the country and for broadcasting to foreign countries. In the mid-1970s, composer Alexander Zatsepin designed an "orchestrolla" – a modification of the mellotron. The Baltic Soviet Republics also had their own pioneers: in Estonian SSR — Sven Grunberg , in Lithuanian SSR — Gedrus Kupriavicius, in Latvian SSR — Opus and Zodiac . The world's first computer to play music
7360-438: The first complete work of computer-assisted composition using algorithmic composition. "... Hiller postulated that a computer could be taught the rules of a particular style and then called on to compose accordingly." Later developments included the work of Max Mathews at Bell Laboratories , who developed the influential MUSIC I program in 1957, one of the first computer programs to play electronic music. Vocoder technology
7475-539: The first programmable synthesizer. Prominent composers such as Vladimir Ussachevsky, Otto Luening, Milton Babbitt , Charles Wuorinen , Halim El-Dabh, Bülent Arel and Mario Davidovsky used the RCA Synthesizer extensively in various compositions. One of the most influential composers associated with the early years of the studio was Egypt's Halim El-Dabh who, after having developed the earliest known electronic tape music in 1944, became more famous for Leiyla and
7590-516: The flute far below its natural range." Both pieces were created at the home of Henry Cowell in Woodstock, New York. After several concerts caused a sensation in New York City, Ussachevsky and Luening were invited onto a live broadcast of NBC's Today Show to do an interview demonstration—the first televised electroacoustic performance. Luening described the event: "I improvised some [flute] sequences for
7705-479: The front and back covers of this album. TONTO was owned by Malcolm Cecil since he acquired Robert Margouleff's share in 1975. In the mid-1990s TONTO was moved to Mutato Muzika studios, the headquarters of Mark Mothersbaugh and Devo , leading to widespread rumors that Mothersbaugh had purchased TONTO but this was not true. TONTO eventually made its way back to Cecil's home in Saugerties, New York. In late 2013 TONTO
7820-617: The future)." Word quickly reached New York City. Oliver Daniel telephoned and invited the pair to "produce a group of short compositions for the October concert sponsored by the American Composers Alliance and Broadcast Music, Inc., under the direction of Leopold Stokowski at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. After some hesitation, we agreed. . . . Henry Cowell placed his home and studio in Woodstock, New York, at our disposal. With
7935-483: The group because of creative differences shortly before his death in 1979. Surviving members re-formed Little Feat in 1987 and the band has remained active to the present. Singer and guitarist Lowell George met keyboardist Bill Payne when George was a member of Frank Zappa 's Mothers of Invention . They formed Little Feat in 1969 along with former Mothers bassist Roy Estrada , and drummer Richie Hayward from George's previous band, The Factory. Hayward had also been
8050-458: The group released Join the Band , an album featuring collaborations with Jimmy Buffett , Dave Matthews , Emmylou Harris , Bob Seger , Béla Fleck , Brooks & Dunn , Chris Robinson , Vince Gill , Mike Gordon , and Inara George . In August 2009, Richie Hayward announced that he had recently been diagnosed with a severe liver disease and would be unable to work indefinitely. A benefit concert
8165-413: The group sharing lead vocals and writing with Payne and Barrere. Her rendition of Bob Dylan's "It Takes a Lot to Laugh" was first recorded in studio on Chinese Work Songs and became a favorite in live appearances with Murphy. After recording five studio albums and performing over 1,400 concerts with the band, Murphy was dismissed in 2009, and the group pared down to a six-piece collective entity. In 2008,
8280-546: The group") backed soul singer Nolan Porter on his first album, No Apologies . The first two albums received nearly universal critical acclaim, and "Willin ' " became a standard, subsequently popularized by its inclusion on Linda Ronstadt 's album Heart Like a Wheel . Despite good reviews of Sailin' Shoes , lack of commercial success led to the band splitting up, with Estrada leaving to join Captain Beefheart 's Magic Band, although he has given other reasons for quitting
8395-575: The help of which it was possible to extract various timbres and consonances of a noise nature. In 1958, Evgeny Murzin designed ANS synthesizer , one of the world's first polyphonic musical synthesizers. Founded by Murzin in 1966, the Moscow Experimental Electronic Music Studio became the base for a new generation of experimenters – Eduard Artemyev , Alexander Nemtin [ ru ] , Sándor Kallós , Sofia Gubaidulina , Alfred Schnittke , and Vladimir Martynov . By
8510-547: The influential manifesto The Art of Noises (1913). Developments of the vacuum tube led to electronic instruments that were smaller, amplified , and more practical for performance. In particular, the theremin , ondes Martenot and trautonium were commercially produced by the early 1930s. From the late 1920s, the increased practicality of electronic instruments influenced composers such as Joseph Schillinger and Maria Schuppel to adopt them. They were typically used within orchestras, and most composers wrote parts for
8625-467: The instruments. While some were considered novelties and produced simple tones, the Telharmonium synthesized the sound of several orchestral instruments with reasonable precision. It achieved viable public interest and made commercial progress into streaming music through telephone networks . Critics of musical conventions at the time saw promise in these developments. Ferruccio Busoni encouraged
8740-522: The jazz saxophonist Curtis Amy ) and as a result the band was expanded from a quartet to a sextet. Both Barrere and Clayton added vocals on many songs, although all the band members provided backing vocals in various tunes. This new lineup radically altered the band's sound, leaning toward New Orleans funk . The group went on to record Dixie Chicken (1973)—one of the band's most popular albums, which incorporated New Orleans musical influences and styles—as well as Feats Don't Fail Me Now (1974), which
8855-533: The latter tracks appeared with new titles. In the liner notes to the re-release, Mark Mothersbaugh wrote: The 2017 incremental game Universal Paperclips used the track Riversong , from the album Zero Time , as a space battle threnody . Malcolm Cecil and his son, Milton aka DJ Moonpup, performed at the Big Chill Festival on 5 August 2006, a three-day event held at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire in
8970-799: The organization of electronic sounds in Mayuzumi's "X, Y, Z for Musique Concrète", and later in Shibata's electronic music by 1956. Modelling the NWDR studio in Cologne, established an NHK electronic music studio in Tokyo in 1954, which became one of the world's leading electronic music facilities. The NHK electronic music studio was equipped with technologies such as tone-generating and audio processing equipment, recording and radiophonic equipment, ondes Martenot, Monochord and Melochord , sine-wave oscillators , tape recorders, ring modulators , band-pass filters , and four- and eight-channel mixers . Musicians associated with
9085-550: The popular Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde in the United States. Experiments with graphical sound were continued by Norman McLaren from the late 1930s. The first practical audio tape recorder was unveiled in 1935. Improvements to the technology were made using the AC biasing technique, which significantly improved recording fidelity. As early as 1942, test recordings were being made in stereo. Although these developments were initially confined to Germany, recorders and tapes were brought to
9200-482: The principle of the theremin . In the 1930s, Nikolai Ananyev invented "sonar", and engineer Alexander Gurov — neoviolena, I. Ilsarov — ilston., A. Rimsky-Korsakov [ ru ] and A. Ivanov — emiriton [ ru ] . Composer and inventor Arseny Avraamov was engaged in scientific work on sound synthesis and conducted a number of experiments that would later form the basis of Soviet electro-musical instruments. In 1956 Vyacheslav Mescherin created
9315-413: The production of electronic music. Also in 1951, Schaeffer and Henry produced an opera, Orpheus , for concrete sounds and voices. By 1951 the work of Schaeffer, composer-percussionist Pierre Henry, and sound engineer Jacques Poullin had received official recognition and The Groupe de Recherches de Musique Concrète , Club d 'Essai de la Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française was established at RTF in Paris,
9430-454: The recent Little Feat albums and throughout 1993 she had toured as part of Bob Seger 's band with Fred Tackett and Bill Payne. Murphy's first album with the group was Ain't Had Enough Fun . As well as having material specifically written for her, fans attracted to her hard-edged powerhouse voice, further albums Under the Radar and Chinese Work Songs saw Murphy become an integral part of
9545-493: The recorded material using reverberation, echo, voltage controls and re-recording. What resulted is believed to be the earliest tape music composition. The resulting work was entitled The Expression of Zaar and it was presented in 1944 at an art gallery event in Cairo. While his initial experiments in tape-based composition were not widely known outside of Egypt at the time, El-Dabh is also known for his later work in electronic music at
9660-487: The recording of The Last Record Album , drummer Richie Hayward had a motorcycle accident and the liner to the LP release of The Last Record Album was decorated with copies of his many hospital bills. Also present was evidence of a late change to the running order of tracks: the lyrics for Barrere's song "Hi Roller" were printed on the sleeve, but scored out, and the words "maybe next time" scrawled over them. Sure enough, "Hi Roller"
9775-491: The same month. The band received more exposure than ever, including an appearance on Saturday Night Live . Concerts were booked nationally, and Little Feat played enthusiastic, sold-out shows. The follow-up album, Representing the Mambo , released in 1990, proved to be the group's last album for Warner Bros., who were uncomfortable with the album's jazzier leanings. The third and final album by this lineup, Shake Me Up (1991),
9890-526: The song as the reason he was asked to leave the band. On October 18, 1975 at the Auditorium Theater in Rochester, New York while introducing the song, George commented that he was asked to leave the band for "writing a song about dope". In any version, Zappa was instrumental in getting George and his new band a contract with Warner Bros. Records . The eponymous first album delivered to Warner Bros .
10005-482: The speeds of recorded tones. Composers began to experiment with newly developed sound-on-film technology. Recordings could be spliced together to create sound collages , such as those by Tristan Tzara , Kurt Schwitters , Filippo Tommaso Marinetti , Walter Ruttmann and Dziga Vertov . Further, the technology allowed sound to be graphically created and modified . These techniques were used to compose soundtracks for several films in Germany and Russia, in addition to
10120-666: The studio included Toshiro Mayuzumi, Minao Shibata, Joji Yuasa, Toshi Ichiyanagi , and Toru Takemitsu. The studio's first electronic compositions were completed in 1955, including Mayuzumi's five-minute pieces "Studie I: Music for Sine Wave by Proportion of Prime Number", "Music for Modulated Wave by Proportion of Prime Number" and "Invention for Square Wave and Sawtooth Wave" produced using the studio's various tone-generating capabilities, and Shibata's 20-minute stereo piece "Musique Concrète for Stereophonic Broadcast". The impact of computers continued in 1956. Lejaren Hiller and Leonard Isaacson composed Illiac Suite for string quartet ,
10235-546: The studio of Bebe and Louis Barron . In the same year Columbia University purchased its first tape recorder—a professional Ampex machine—to record concerts. Vladimir Ussachevsky, who was on the music faculty of Columbia University, was placed in charge of the device, and almost immediately began experimenting with it. Herbert Russcol writes: "Soon he was intrigued with the new sonorities he could achieve by recording musical instruments and then superimposing them on one another." Ussachevsky said later: "I suddenly realized that
10350-571: The studio was soon joined by Karlheinz Stockhausen and Gottfried Michael Koenig . In his 1949 thesis Elektronische Klangerzeugung: Elektronische Musik und Synthetische Sprache , Meyer-Eppler conceived the idea to synthesize music entirely from electronically produced signals; in this way, elektronische Musik was sharply differentiated from French musique concrète , which used sounds recorded from acoustical sources. In 1953, Stockhausen composed his Studie I , followed in 1954 by Elektronische Studie II —the first electronic piece to be published as
10465-488: The tape recorder could be treated as an instrument of sound transformation." On Thursday, 8 May 1952, Ussachevsky presented several demonstrations of tape music/effects that he created at his Composers Forum, in the McMillin Theatre at Columbia University. These included Transposition, Reverberation, Experiment, Composition , and Underwater Valse . In an interview, he stated: "I presented a few examples of my discovery in
10580-399: The tape recorder. Ussachevsky then and there put them through electronic transformations." The score for Forbidden Planet , by Louis and Bebe Barron , was entirely composed using custom-built electronic circuits and tape recorders in 1956 (but no synthesizers in the modern sense of the word). In 1929, Nikolai Obukhov invented the " sounding cross " (la croix sonore ), comparable to
10695-412: The theremin that could otherwise be performed with string instruments . Avant-garde composers criticized the predominant use of electronic instruments for conventional purposes. The instruments offered expansions in pitch resources that were exploited by advocates of microtonal music such as Charles Ives , Dimitrios Levidis , Olivier Messiaen and Edgard Varèse . Further, Percy Grainger used
10810-403: The theremin to abandon fixed tonation entirely, while Russian composers such as Gavriil Popov treated it as a source of noise in otherwise-acoustic noise music . Developments in early recording technology paralleled that of electronic instruments. The first means of recording and reproducing audio was invented in the late 19th century with the mechanical phonograph . Record players became
10925-400: The two collaborated on various pieces. Luening described the event: "Equipped with earphones and a flute, I began developing my first tape-recorder composition. Both of us were fluent improvisors and the medium fired our imaginations." They played some early pieces informally at a party, where "a number of composers almost solemnly congratulated us saying, 'This is it' ('it' meaning the music of
11040-461: The work of Earle Brown, Morton Feldman, and Christian Wolff continues to present a brilliant light, for the reason that at the several points of notation, performance, and audition, action is provocative." Cage completed Williams Mix in 1953 while working with the Music for Magnetic Tape Project. The group had no permanent facility, and had to rely on borrowed time in commercial sound studios, including
11155-543: Was CSIRAC , which was designed and built by Trevor Pearcey and Maston Beard. Mathematician Geoff Hill programmed the CSIRAC to play popular musical melodies from the very early 1950s. In 1951 it publicly played the Colonel Bogey March , of which no known recordings exist, only the accurate reconstruction. However, CSIRAC played standard repertoire and was not used to extend musical thinking or composition practice. CSIRAC
11270-578: Was a studio-recorded attempt to capture some of the energy of their live shows (the name of the latter album pays homage to the Fats Waller song). In 1973, Payne, Gradney, Barrere, Clayton and George (incorrectly credited as George Lowell) collaborated with jazz drummer Chico Hamilton on his Stax album Chico the Master , which is a strong showcase for the band's leanings toward funk and R&B. In 1973, Little Feat backed Kathy Dalton on her Amazing album on
11385-570: Was also a major development in this early era. In 1956, Stockhausen composed Gesang der Jünglinge , the first major work of the Cologne studio, based on a text from the Book of Daniel . An important technological development of that year was the invention of the Clavivox synthesizer by Raymond Scott with subassembly by Robert Moog . In 1957, Kid Baltan ( Dick Raaymakers ) and Tom Dissevelt released their debut album, Song Of The Second Moon , recorded at
11500-451: Was also the first Little Feat album to include cover art by Neon Park , who had painted the cover for the Mothers' Weasels Ripped My Flesh . Park's surrealist art would continue for all of Little Feat's album covers through to his death in 1993. Sometime during the recording of the first two albums, the band members along with ex-Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black ("the Indian of
11615-415: Was built in 1935. however, after World War II, Japanese composers such as Minao Shibata knew of the development of electronic musical instruments. By the late 1940s, Japanese composers began experimenting with electronic music and institutional sponsorship enabled them to experiment with advanced equipment. Their infusion of Asian music into the emerging genre would eventually support Japan's popularity in
11730-419: Was conducted by Bruno Maderna , the tape controls were operated by Karlheinz Stockhausen . The title Déserts suggested to Varèse not only "all physical deserts (of sand, sea, snow, of outer space, of empty streets), but also the deserts in the mind of man; not only those stripped aspects of nature that suggest bareness, aloofness, timelessness, but also that remote inner space no telescope can reach, where man
11845-726: Was developed. In the same decade, with a greater reliance on synthesizers and the adoption of programmable drum machines, electronic popular music came to the fore. During the 1990s, with the proliferation of increasingly affordable music technology, electronic music production became an established part of popular culture. In Berlin starting in 1989, the Love Parade became the largest street party with over 1 million visitors, inspiring other such popular celebrations of electronic music. Contemporary electronic music includes many varieties and ranges from experimental art music to popular forms such as electronic dance music . Pop electronic music
11960-527: Was never recorded, but the music played was accurately reconstructed. The oldest known recordings of computer-generated music were played by the Ferranti Mark 1 computer, a commercial version of the Baby Machine from the University of Manchester in the autumn of 1951. The music program was written by Christopher Strachey . The earliest group of electronic musical instruments in Japan, Yamaha Magna Organ
12075-482: Was offered access to emerging audio technology by Sony. The company hired Toru Takemitsu to demonstrate their tape recorders with compositions and performances of electronic tape music. The first electronic tape pieces by the group were "Toraware no Onna" ("Imprisoned Woman") and "Piece B", composed in 1951 by Kuniharu Akiyama. Many of the electroacoustic tape pieces they produced were used as incidental music for radio, film, and theatre. They also held concerts employing
12190-485: Was organized and a website created where fans unable to attend could donate toward his treatment costs. Little Feat announced that their drum technician Gabe Ford would take his place. Hayward married and was living on Vancouver Island , British Columbia, with his liver cancer in remission as he awaited a transplant. On July 11, 2010, Little Feat played at the Vancouver Island Music Festival and Hayward
12305-747: Was purchased by the National Music Centre in Calgary , Alberta. The NMC had long desired to acquire TONTO and upon moving it to Calgary, placed it on exhibit. In late 2017, John Leimseider completed a multi-year restoration on TONTO, replacing worn out jacks and repairing broken connections. TONTO is now playable, and is a part of the living collection of the National Music Centre. Synth artists can once again record with TONTO in NMC's recording studios. Tonto's Expanding Head Band's first album, Zero Time ,
12420-503: Was recorded mostly in August and September 1970 and was released in January 1971. When it came time to record "Willin'," George had hurt his hand in an accident with a model airplane, so Ry Cooder sat in and played the song's slide part. Lowell's accident is referenced on the cover art of the band's 1998 album Under the Radar . "Willin ' " would be re-recorded with George playing slide for Little Feat's second album Sailin' Shoes , which
12535-681: Was released in 1971 on the U.S. Embryo label (distributed by Atlantic Records ) and attracted much attention. Stevie Wonder in particular was impressed enough to subsequently feature TONTO in his albums starting with Music of My Mind and continuing through Talking Book , Innervisions , Fulfillingness' First Finale and Jungle Fever ; all projects which listed Margouleff and Cecil as associate producers, engineers and programmers (and winning them an engineering Grammy for Innervisions ). Wonder said: Writing in Keyboard Magazine in 1984, John Diliberto asserted that: The remainder of
12650-424: Was released in 1974. The vocalist Gil Scott-Heron and keyboardist Brian Jackson enlisted Cecil and his T.O.N.T.O. synthesizer for the production of their collaborative album, 1980 (1980). Scott-Heron and Jackson were featured on the album cover with the synthesizer. In 1996 a compilation album, TONTO Rides Again , was released, featuring all of Zero Time plus all of the tracks from It's About Time , although
12765-1228: Was released in late October 2020. The band's latest studio album Sam's Place was released in May 2024. It marks the first Little Feat album where Sam Clayton provides lead vocals on every song. Some of the prominent musicians and bands to play and record the music of Little Feat include Phish , The Black Crowes , The Byrds , The Bridge , Garth Brooks , Jackson Browne , Bob Dylan , Steve Earle , The Flying Burrito Brothers , Emmylou Harris , Taylor Hicks , Ron Holloway , Keisuke Kuwata , Nicolette Larson , Nazareth , Robert Palmer , The Radiators , Bonnie Raitt , Linda Ronstadt , Seatrain, John Sebastian , Richard Shindell , Carly Simon , Mick Taylor , Van Halen , Joe Walsh , Bob Weir , Phil Lesh , Sam Bush , Coco Montoya , Vince Herman , Inara George , Stephen Bruton , Widespread Panic , Warren Haynes and Gov't Mule , Blackberry Smoke , Jimmy Buffett , Anders Osborne , Tedeschi Trucks Band and Gregg Allman . In 2010, at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey Phish covered Little Feat's album, Waiting for Columbus , for their annual Halloween show. As
12880-498: Was released on Morgan Creek , as was the soundtrack of the 1992 film White Sands which contained one song by Little Feat called Quicksand and Lies , but this label folded soon afterwards and Little Feat moved from one label to another until the establishment of Hot Tomato Records in 2002. In the fall of 1991, Clayton was forced to miss several tour dates due to ill health. Fuller departed in 1993, stating that touring required too much time away from his family. He went on to join
12995-447: Was slated to play just a couple of tunes, but once he sat behind his kit, he finished out the night. Hayward had intended to return to the band in the event of recovery, but he died on August 12, 2010, from pneumonia and complications from lung disease. In June 2012, Little Feat released their first album of new material in nine years, Rooster Rag . In 2014, the band Leftover Salmon announced that Bill Payne had joined with them as
13110-416: Was the first " movement " of Cinq études de bruits , and marked the beginning of studio realizations and musique concrète (or acousmatic art). Schaeffer employed a disc cutting lathe , four turntables, a four-channel mixer, filters, an echo chamber, and a mobile recording unit. Not long after this, Pierre Henry began collaborating with Schaeffer, a partnership that would have profound and lasting effects on
13225-607: Was the first track on the subsequent album Time Loves a Hero . George continued to produce the albums, but his songwriting contribution diminished as the group moved into jazz fusion, a style in which he had little interest. In August 1977, Little Feat recorded a live album from gigs at the Rainbow Theatre in London and Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C. Waiting for Columbus is considered by many rock music critics to be one of
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