Tonto's Expanding Head Band
Encyclopedia
Tonto's Expanding Head Band was a British electronic music
duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil
and Robert Margouleff
. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were (and still remain) influential because of their session work for other musicians (most notably Stevie Wonder
), extensive commercial advertising work and the unique warmth and personality of their work.
, designed and constructed by Malcolm Cecil. Tonto started as a Moog modular synthesizer
Series III owned by record producer 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 (who has an electrical engineering background). Later, digital sound-generation circuitry and a collection of sequencers were added, along with MIDI control. The modules are all mounted in an instantly recognizable semicircle of huge curving wooden cabinets, twenty feet in diameter and six feet high.
The synthesizer 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 features on the front and back covers of this album.
Tonto has been solely 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. Currently Tonto is located in its own studio in upstate New York close to Woodstock.
(distributed by Atlantic Records
) and attracted a lot of 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 Talking Book). Writing in Keyboard Magazine
in 1984, John Diliberto
asserted that:
The remainder of the 1970s and '80s saw Tonto featured on albums from Quincy Jones
, Bobby Womack
, The Isley Brothers
, Gil Scott-Heron
, 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
".
A second Tonto album, It's About Time was released in 1972.
In 1996 a CD
"Tonto Rides Again" was released, which features all of the original tracks from "Zero Time" plus the tracks from "It's About Time" (which have been mysteriously re-titled, apparently for legal reasons). In the liner notes to the re-release, Mark Mothersbaugh wrote:
Also, Stevie Wonder
said:
, about 2½ hrs drive northwest of London
. Tonto was not actually there - its way too big and expensive to ship for a one hour performance - Malcolm Cecil created a "Virtual Tonto" and played live over pre-recorded backing tracks with a specially prepared visual show with hundreds of pictures of Tonto and Poli Cecil's art pieces. The performance was enthusiastically received by an audience of over 3,000 fans.
Stevie Wonder
The Isley Bros
Other acts
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
duo consisting of Malcolm Cecil
Malcolm Cecil
Malcolm Cecil is a British jazz bassist and Grammy Award-winning record producer.A founding member of the UK's leading jazz quintet of the late 1950s, The Jazz Couriers, he went on to join a number of British jazz combos led by Dick Morrissey, Tony Crombie and Ronnie Scott in the late 50s and...
and Robert Margouleff
Robert Margouleff
Robert Margouleff is a Grammy Award winning American record producer, recording engineer, electronic music pioneer, audio expert, and film producer....
. Despite releasing only two albums in the early 1970s, the duo were (and still remain) influential because of their session work for other musicians (most notably Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
), extensive commercial advertising work and the unique warmth and personality of their work.
The Tonto synthesizer
Tonto is an acronym for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra," the world's first (and still the largest) multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizerSynthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, designed and constructed by Malcolm Cecil. Tonto started as a Moog modular synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer
Moog modular synthesizer refers to any of a number of monophonic analog modular synthesizers designed by the late electronic instrument pioneer Dr. Robert Moog and manufactured by R.A Moog Co...
Series III owned by record producer Margouleff. Later a second Moog III was added, then four Oberheim
Oberheim
Oberheim Electronics is an American company, founded in 1969 by Tom Oberheim , which manufactured audio synthesizers and a variety of other electronic musical instruments.-Oberheim Electronics:...
SEMs, two ARP
ARP Instruments, Inc.
ARP Instruments, Inc. was an American manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, founded by Alan Robert Pearlman in 1969. Best known for its line of synthesizers that emerged in the early 1970s, ARP closed its doors in 1981 due to financial difficulties...
2600s, modules from Serge with Moog-like panels, EMS
Electronic Music Studios (London) Ltd
Electronic Music Studios Ltd. is a synthesizer company formed in 1969 by Dr. Peter Zinovieff, Tristram Cary and David Cockerell....
, Roland
Roland Corporation
is a Japanese manufacturer of electronic musical instruments, electronic equipment and software. It was founded by Ikutaro Kakehashi in Osaka on April 18, 1972, with ¥33 million in capital. In 2005 Roland's headquarters relocated to Hamamatsu in Shizuoka Prefecture. Today it has factories in Japan,...
, Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
, etc. plus several custom modules designed by Serge Tcherepnin
Serge Tcherepnin
Serge Tcherepnin is an American composer and electronic-instrument builder of Russian-Chinese origin. He created the Serge Modular synthesizer.-Biography:...
and Cecil (who has an electrical engineering background). Later, digital sound-generation circuitry and a collection of sequencers were added, along with MIDI control. The modules are all mounted in an instantly recognizable semicircle of huge curving wooden cabinets, twenty feet in diameter and six feet high.
- "I wanted to create an instrument that would be the first multitimbral polyphonic synthesizer. Multitimbral polyphony is different than the type of polyphony provided by most of today's synthesizers, on which you turn to a string patch and everything under your fingers is strings. In my book 'multitimbral' means each note you play has a different tone quality, as if the notes come from separate instruments. I wanted to be able to play live multitimbral polyphonic music using as many fingers and feet as I had."
The synthesizer was featured (as the "electronic room") in the 1974 Brian de Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
film Phantom of the Paradise
Phantom of the Paradise
Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 musical film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The story is a loosely adapted mixture of The Phantom of the Opera, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Faust and also briefly references Frankenstein and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari...
. It was also used in the album 1980 by Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
and Brian Jackson
Brian Jackson
Brian Jackson is the name of:*Brian Jackson , American football cornerback*Brian Jackson , American basketball player for Utah Flash*Brian Jackson , Canadian conductor...
and features on the front and back covers of this album.
Tonto has been solely owned by Malcolm Cecil since he acquired Robert Margouleff's share in 1975. In the mid-1990s Tonto was moved to Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika
Mutato Muzika is a music production company established in 1989 by Devo co-founder Mark Mothersbaugh. While Devo members Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V...
studios, the headquarters of Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Mothersbaugh
Mark Allen Mothersbaugh is an American musician, composer, singer and painter. He is the co-founder of the new wave band Devo and has been its lead singer since 1972. His other musical projects include work for television series, films, and video games....
and Devo
Devo
Devo is an American band formed in 1973 consisting of members from Kent and Akron, Ohio. The classic line-up of the band includes two sets of brothers, the Mothersbaughs and the Casales . The band had a #14 Billboard chart hit in 1980 with the single "Whip It", and has maintained a cult...
, leading to widespread rumors that Mothersbaugh had purchased Tonto but this was not true. Currently Tonto is located in its own studio in upstate New York close to Woodstock.
Tonto's influence
Tonto's Expanding Head Band's first album, Zero Time, was released in 1971 on the U.S. Embryo labelEmbryo Records
Embryo Records was a jazz and rock record label founded by Herbie Mann as a division of Atlantic Records, itself distributed by the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records. The label released albums in the years 1969 through 1977.-Discography:...
(distributed by Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records
Atlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
) and attracted a lot of attention. Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
in particular was impressed enough to subsequently feature Tonto in his albums starting with Music of My Mind
Music of My Mind
- Side One :# "Love Having You Around" – 7:21#* Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, talk box, drums, Moog bass#* Art Baron – trombone#* Background Singers – uncredited...
and continuing through Talking Book
Talking Book
Talking Book is the fifteenth album by Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972. A signal recording of his "classic period", in this one he "hit his stride"...
, Innervisions
Innervisions
Innervisions is the sixteenth album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973 on Motown Records; a landmark recording of his "classic period"...
, Fulfillingness' First Finale
Fulfillingness' First Finale
-Side One:#"Smile Please" – 3:28#*Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, drums#*Michael Sembello – electric guitar#*Reggie McBride – electric bass#*Bobbye Hall – congas, bongos#*Jim Gilstrap – background vocals...
and Jungle Fever; all projects which listed Margouleff and Cecil as associate producers, engineers and programmers (and winning them an engineering Grammy for Talking Book). Writing in Keyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, including those not strictly pertaining to the...
in 1984, John Diliberto
John Diliberto
John Diliberto is an award-winning radio producer, music writer, and host of Echoes, a radio program on Public Radio International featuring ambient, downtempo music "soundscapes"....
asserted that:
- "... this collaboration changed the perspectives of black pop music as much as The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
' Sgt. PepperSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club BandSgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is the eighth studio album by the English rock band The Beatles, released on 1 June 1967 on the Parlophone label and produced by George Martin...
altered the concept of white rock".
The remainder of the 1970s and '80s saw Tonto featured on albums from Quincy Jones
Quincy Jones
Quincy Delightt Jones, Jr. is an American record producer and musician. A conductor, musical arranger, film composer, television producer, and trumpeter. His career spans five decades in the entertainment industry and a record 79 Grammy Award nominations, 27 Grammys, including a Grammy Legend...
, Bobby Womack
Bobby Womack
Robert Dwayne "Bobby" Womack is an American singer-songwriter and musician. An active recording artist since the early 1960s where he started his career as the lead singer of his family musical group The Valentinos and as Sam Cooke's backing guitarist, Womack's career has spanned more than 40...
, The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers
The Isley Brothers are a highly influential, successful and long-running American music group consisting of different line-ups of six brothers, and a brother-in-law, Chris Jasper...
, Gil Scott-Heron
Gil Scott-Heron
Gilbert "Gil" Scott-Heron was an American soul and jazz poet, musician, and author known primarily for his work as a spoken word performer in the 1970s and '80s...
, Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage
Steve Hillage is an English musician, best known as a guitarist. He is associated with the Canterbury scene and has worked in experimental domains since the late 1960s...
, Billy Preston
Billy Preston
William Everett "Billy" Preston was a musician who gained notoriety and fame, first as a session musician for the likes of Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and The Beatles, and later finding fame as a solo artist with hits such as "Space Race", "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "Nothing from...
, and Weather Report
Weather Report
Weather Report was an American jazz-rock band of the 1970s and early 1980s. The band was co-led by the Austrian-born keyboard player Joe Zawinul and the American saxophonist Wayne Shorter...
, as well as releases from Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
Stephen Arthur Stills is an American guitarist and singer/songwriter best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield and Crosby, Stills & Nash . He has performed on a professional level in several other bands as well as maintaining a solo career at the same time...
, The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers
The Doobie Brothers are an American rock band. The group has sold over 40 million units worldwide throughout their career. The Doobie Brothers were inducted into The Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004.-Original incarnation:...
, Dave Mason
Dave Mason
David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
, Little Feat
Little Feat
Little Feat is an American rock band formed by singer-songwriter, lead vocalist and guitarist Lowell George and keyboardist Bill Payne in 1969 in Los Angeles....
, Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
, and others. The Tonto synthesizer was also used in Brian De Palma
Brian De Palma
Brian Russell De Palma is an American film director and writer. In a career spanning over 40 years, he is probably best known for his suspense and crime thriller films, including such box office successes as the horror film Carrie, Dressed to Kill, Scarface, The Untouchables, and Mission:...
's 1974 movie "Phantom of the Paradise
Phantom of the Paradise
Phantom of the Paradise is a 1974 musical film written and directed by Brian De Palma. The story is a loosely adapted mixture of The Phantom of the Opera, The Picture of Dorian Gray and Faust and also briefly references Frankenstein and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari...
".
A second Tonto album, It's About Time was released in 1972.
In 1996 a CD
Compact Disc
The Compact Disc is an optical disc used to store digital data. It was originally developed to store and playback sound recordings exclusively, but later expanded to encompass data storage , write-once audio and data storage , rewritable media , Video Compact Discs , Super Video Compact Discs ,...
"Tonto Rides Again" was released, which features all of the original tracks from "Zero Time" plus the tracks from "It's About Time" (which have been mysteriously re-titled, apparently for legal reasons). In the liner notes to the re-release, Mark Mothersbaugh wrote:
- "Once upon a time, Tonto represented the cutting edge of artificial intelligence in the world of music - Robert and Malcolm are the mad chefs of aural cuisine with beefy tones and cheesy timbres, making brain chili for those brave enough and hungry enough. Consequently, back in the cultural wasteland of the Midwest, the release of Tonto's Expanding Head Band was an inspirational indicator for starving Spudboys who had grown tired of the soup du jour. It was official - noise was now Muzak, and Muzak was now noise. So with Tonto "riding again" and the orb-of-sound resurrected, expect a healing. The masses are asses who need Tonto's glasses. Lookout, here comes Tonto!"
Also, Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
said:
- "How great it is at a time when technology and the science of music is at its highest point of evolution, to have the reintroduction of two of the most prominent forefathers in this music be heard again. It can be said of this work that it parallels with good wine. As it ages it only gets better with time. A toast to greatness... a toast to Zero Time... forever."
Virtual Tonto Live
Malcolm Cecil and his son, DJ Moonpup, brought Tonto's Expanding Head Band to the live arena performing at the Big Chill Festival on August 5, 2006. The festival was a 3 day affair held at Eastnor Castle in HerefordshireHerefordshire
Herefordshire is a historic and ceremonial county in the West Midlands region of England. For Eurostat purposes it is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three counties that comprise the "Herefordshire, Worcestershire and Gloucestershire" NUTS 2 region. It also forms a unitary district known as the...
, about 2½ hrs drive northwest of London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. Tonto was not actually there - its way too big and expensive to ship for a one hour performance - Malcolm Cecil created a "Virtual Tonto" and played live over pre-recorded backing tracks with a specially prepared visual show with hundreds of pictures of Tonto and Poli Cecil's art pieces. The performance was enthusiastically received by an audience of over 3,000 fans.
Discography
- Zero Time (Embryo RecordsEmbryo RecordsEmbryo Records was a jazz and rock record label founded by Herbie Mann as a division of Atlantic Records, itself distributed by the Atlantic subsidiary Cotillion Records. The label released albums in the years 1969 through 1977.-Discography:...
SD 732, US 1971) - It's About Time (Polydor, 2383 308, UK 1974)
- Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Atlantic RecordsAtlantic RecordsAtlantic Records is an American record label best known for its many recordings of rhythm and blues, rock and roll, and jazz...
SD 18123, US 1975) [reissue of Zero Time with different cover] - Tonto Rides Again (Viceroy VIN6036-2, 1996) (CD compiling Zero Time and retitled tracks from It's About Time)
- Tonto's Expanding Head Band (Malcolm Cecil, limited edition CD, 2006) (remastered CD Tonto Rides Again, with a bonus track)
Margouleff & Cecil engineering, production and programming credits
(see also Robert Margouleff Discography Malcolm Cecil Discography)Stevie Wonder
- Music of My MindMusic of My Mind- Side One :# "Love Having You Around" – 7:21#* Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, talk box, drums, Moog bass#* Art Baron – trombone#* Background Singers – uncredited...
(1972) - Talking BookTalking BookTalking Book is the fifteenth album by Stevie Wonder, released on October 28, 1972. A signal recording of his "classic period", in this one he "hit his stride"...
(1972) - InnervisionsInnervisionsInnervisions is the sixteenth album by American musician Stevie Wonder, released August 3, 1973 on Motown Records; a landmark recording of his "classic period"...
(1973) - Fulfillingness' First FinaleFulfillingness' First Finale-Side One:#"Smile Please" – 3:28#*Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, background vocal, Fender Rhodes, drums#*Michael Sembello – electric guitar#*Reggie McBride – electric bass#*Bobbye Hall – congas, bongos#*Jim Gilstrap – background vocals...
(1974) - Jungle FeverJungle FeverJungle Fever is a 1991 American drama film directed by Spike Lee, starring Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra. It was Lee's fifth feature-length film. The film mainly explores interracial relationships...
(1991, Cecil only, additional engineering)
The Isley Bros
- 3+3 (1973)
- Live It Up (1974)
- The Heat Is On (1975)
- Harvest for the WorldHarvest for the WorldHarvest for the World is a 1976 album released by The Isley Brothers on their T-Neck imprint.-Reception:The album included the successful socially-conscious title track and the top three R&B record, "Who Loves You Better?" The album sold over 500,000 copies in the first three weeks of release,...
(1976, Cecil only)
Other acts
- Caldara - A Moog Mass (1970)
- Richie Havens - The Great Blind Degree (1971, Synthesizer [Moog], Engineer, Remix)
- Doobie Brothers, The - The Captain And Me (1973, Programmed By [Arp Synthesizer])
- Gene Parsons - Kindling (1973)
- Randy Newman - Good Old Boys (1974, Synthesizer [Moog And Arp Programming])
- Wilson Pickett - Join Me And Let's Be Free (1975, Programmed By [Electronic Music Synthesizer])
- Billy Preston - It's My Pleasure (1975)
- Shankar Family ૐ Friends* - Shankar Family ૐ Friends (1974, Synthesizer [Moog])