J. J. Jeczalik

Jonathan Edward Stephen Jeczalik ( /jɛnˈɑːlɪk/; born 11 May 1955), better known as J. J. Jeczalik, is a retired electronic musician, and co-founder of the former electronic music group, Art of Noise. Jeczalik also worked as a record producer and musician on a number of the Pet Shop Boys early recordings. After leaving Art of Noise, he recorded in the 1990s under the moniker "The Art of Silence," releasing one album entitled artofsilence.co.uk.

Before Art of Noise

Before working with Trevor Horn and the ZTT Records label, Jeczalik had studied little about music. Through working with Geoff Downes (whom co-founded The Buggles with Horn) and his Fairlight CMI sampler, Jeczalik got in touch with Horn in the early 1980s and became the main programmer and player of Horn's own Fairlight. Jeczalik worked with several artists and bands including:

When the Fairlight CMI Series II came out in 1982, Jeczalik got access to "Page R", the built-in sequencer for the Fairlight. While working on the Yes album 90125, Jeczalik was experimenting with drum and percussion samples from Yes' drummer, Alan White. Jeczalik along with sound engineer, Gary Langan, sequenced drum beats and breaks in Page R and created "Beat Box", the debut single for Art of Noise.

During production of Malcolm McLaren's album Duck Rock, Jeczalik and Langan met Anne Dudley, a classical music session musician and composer. Along with Horn, Langan, Dudley and Paul Morley, Jeczalik co-founded Art of Noise in 1983.

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