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Biography
Infobox musical artist | name = Jon Hassell| image = JonHassell_Stockholm20090715.jpg| caption = Jon Hassell at Stockholm JazzFest'09| image_size =| background = non_vocal_instrumentalist| birth_name =| birth_date = Birth date and age|1937|3|22|birth_place = Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis , Tennessee , United States|U.S. | death_date =| origin =| instrument = Trumpet | genre = World music | years_active =| label =| website = http://www.jonhassell.com/ www.jonhassell.com Jon Hassell (born March 22, 1937Cite web | last=Ankeny | first=Jason | title=Jon Hassell | url= http://www.allmusic.com/artist/jon-hassell-p3295 | work= allmusic | accessdate= January 3, 2011 ) is an United States|American trumpet player and composer . He is known for his influence in the world music scene and his unusual electronic manipulation of the trumpet sound.
Life and career
Born in Memphis, Tennessee , Hassell received his Master's degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York . During this time he became involved in European Serialism|serial music , especially the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen , and so after finishing his studies at Eastman, he enrolled in the Cologne Course for New Music for two years (founded and directed by Stockhausen). Hassell returned to the U.S. in 1967, where he met Terry Riley in Buffalo, New York and performed on the first recording of Riley's seminal work In C in 1968. He pursued his Doctor of Philosophy|PhD in musicology in Buffalo and performed in La Monte Young 's "Dream House" (aka Theatre of Eternal Music ) in New York City .
On his return to Buffalo in the early 1970s, Hassell was introduced to the music of Indian Pandit Pran Nath , a specialist in the Kirana gharana|Kiranic style of singing. Hassell, Young, Marian Zazeela (Young's wife) and Riley went together to India to study with Nath. His work with Nath awoke his appetite for world music , and on the album Vernal Equinox , he used his trumpet to imitate the vocal techniques of Nath (treated with various Audio signal processing|electronic effects ) where he stated:
:"From 1973 up until then I was totally immersed in playing raga on the trumpet. I wanted the physical dexterity to be able to come into a room and be able to do something that nobody else in the world could do. My aim was to make a music that was vertically integrated in such a way that at any cross-sectional moment you were not able to pick a single element out as being from a particular country or genre of music."cite web |first=Mark J. |last=Prendergast |title=Sound on Sound |url= http://www.jonhassell.com/soundon.html |work=Jonhassell.com |accessdate=11 August 2009
In 1980, he collaborated with Brian Eno on the album Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics . Hassell's 1981 release, Dream Theory in Malaya , led to a performance at the first World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) Festival, organized by Peter Gabriel . He performed and co-wrote tracks on David Sylvian 's first solo album Brilliant Trees , and its instrumental follow-up Words with the Shaman . In the late 1980s, Hassell contributed to Gabriel's Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ , the soundtrack album for Martin Scorsese|Martin Scorsese's film, The Last Temptation of Christ (film)|The Last Temptation of Christ . Hassell and Pete Scaturro composed the electronic theme music for the television show The Practice .
Style
Hassell coined the term "Fourth World" to describe his musical style, as expressed both in his trumpet playing and in his approach to musical composition|composition . This musical conception combines the philosophy and techniques of minimalist music|minimalism with Asian and African styles, and relies heavily on the use of electronic instruments. Critics of Hassell's style have noted its incorporation of New Age and world music styles, but have also detected the influence of Miles Davis , particularly Miles Davis|Davis' use of electronics, Musical modes|modal harmony and understated lyricism.Cite web | first=Mark | last=Gilbert | title=Jon Hassell | url= http://www.grovemusic.com | work=Grove Music Online | editor=L. Macy | accessdate=November 7, 2007 Both on record and during live performances, Hassell makes use of traditional western instruments—keyboards, bass, electric guitar, and percussion—to create modal, hypnotic grooves, over which he plays microtonally-inflected trumpet phrases in the style of Pandit Pran Nath|Nath's Kirana gharana|Kiranic vocals.Jon Pareles, "Jon Hassell with Trumpet and Electronics," New York Times September 21, 1989: p. C15, ProQuest Platinum , Online (November 6, 2007).
Discography
1977 Vernal Equinox
1978 Earthquake Island
1980 Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics with Brian Eno
1981 Fourth World, Vol. 2: Dream Theory in Malaya
1983 Aka / Darbari / Java: Magic Realism
1986 Power Spot (produced by Brian Eno / Daniel Lanois )
1987 The Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores Dead Things by the Power of Sound
Mark Prendergast, The Ambient Century . New York and London:Bloomsbury Publishing, 2000.
Jon Hassell, program notes from Vernal Equinox . Lovely Music, LML 1021, 1977.
Refend
External links
http://www.jonhassell.com Official Jon Hassell site
http://www.maarifastreet.com Magic Realism, Vol. 2: Maarifa Street album site
http://www.discogs.com/artist/Jon+Hassell Jon Hassell discography at Discogs
Persondata | NAME = Hassell, Jon | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = | DATE OF BIRTH = 1937-03-22 | PLACE OF BIRTH = Memphis, Tennessee|Memphis , Tennessee , United States|U.S. | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Hassell, Jon Category:1937 births Category:Living people Category:American trumpeters Category:American composers Category:Eastman School of Music alumni Category:People from Memphis, Tennessee Category:Avant-garde trumpeters Category:All Saints Records artists Category:E.G. Records artists
