| Tonto's Expanding Head Band | |
|---|---|
Cover to their 1971 album Zero Time |
|
| Background information | |
| Genres | Electronic music |
| Associated acts | Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers |
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[1][2]), extensive commercial advertising work and the unique warmth and personality of their work.
Contents |
Tonto is an acronym for "The Original New Timbral Orchestra," the world's first (and still the largest) multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer, 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.[3] plus several custom modules designed by Serge Tcherepnin and Cecil (who has an electrical engineering background).[4] 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[6] 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.
Tonto's Expanding Head Band's first album, Zero Time, was released in 1971 on the U.S. Embryo label (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:
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 Herefordshire, 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.
(see also Robert Margouleff Discography Malcolm Cecil Discography)
Stevie Wonder
The Isley Bros
Other acts [7]