This paper adds not only to the slowly growing discourse on jazz fusion, a genre that has been historically neglected in jazz scholarship, but also to electronic organology and the study of the early development of synthesizers. While these indeterminate conditions of constructing and combining electronic instruments have been noted in recent scholarship (Fellezs 2011 Gluck 2012), such forms of lutherie have not been understood as improvisational. I demonstrate how Herbie Hancock and his sound engineers Patrick Gleeson, Bryan Bell, and Keith Lofstrom improvised instrument- building both on-stage and off-stage, in their continual acquisition and exploration of electronic instruments and the sonic possibilities of their combinations during the early 1970s, providing new ways of musical improvisation. Understanding improvisation as comprising indeterminacy, analysis of conditions, agency, and choice (Lewis 2016), it can be both an “in the moment” practice as well as a process that can take place over longer periods of time. In this paper, I argue that the uncertainty of manipulating, combining, and recombining early synthesizers generated a form of improvisational lutherie, creating sutured-together hybrid instruments. This led to indeterminate settings in which musicians created patches on the fly, unsure of their sonic results.
#TUNESMITH LLOYD BIGGLE SUMMARY PATCH#
Two particular issues that hindered streamlined performances were the initial lack of capacity to save patch configurations and, until the introduction of MIDI in 1981, the inability of synthesizers of different brands to be connected efficiently. However, these instruments, sold by Moog, ARP, etc., were still developing in terms of sophistication. Drawing from this last genre, fusion groups added synthesizers to their instrumental line-up.
The late 1960s saw the emergence of jazz fusion, a genre that blended elements from not only jazz and rock, but also funk. Rather, by referencing my creative process and compositions within the context of belonging to the lineage of African-American music, this paper will demonstrate how the arpeggiator is representational of electronic dance music’s overall essential qualities.
#TUNESMITH LLOYD BIGGLE SUMMARY SERIES#
This paper establishes that the arpeggiator is more than just a series of knobs on a synthesizer that manipulate sound or act as a facilitator for performance. The arpeggiator’s impact on aesthetics is explored, demonstrating how automation and repetition combine to inject mechanical aesthetics into music, reflecting society’s immersion and fascination with automation and futuristic technology while redefining the creative process of the musician. The properties of the arpeggiator bring forth a creative process that marries production, composition, improvisation and performance in a manner that inspires the musician/producer, helped define the aesthetics, creative process, and social function of electronic music as a whole, while grounding that music in an association with traditional African-American music and notions of futurism simultaneously.
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