| Jon Hassell | |
| Background: | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth Date: | 22 March 1937 |
| Birth Place: | Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Instrument: | Trumpet, electronics |
| Genre: | World, ambient, avant-garde, minimalism, electroacoustic |
| Years Active: | 1968–2021 |
| Label: | Editions EG, Intuition, Water Lily Acoustics, Lovely Music, All Saints, Ndeya |
| Associated Acts: | La Monte Young, Terry Riley, Brian Eno, Farafina, Theatre of Eternal Music, Marian Zazeela, Techno Animal, Ani DiFranco, David Sylvian, Ry Cooder |
Jon Hassell (March 22, 1937[1] – June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was best known for developing the concept of "Fourth World" music, which describes a "unified primitive/futurist sound" combining elements of various world ethnic traditions with modern electronic techniques. The concept was first articulated on , his 1980 collaboration with Brian Eno.
Born in Tennessee, Hassell studied contemporary classical music in New York and later in Germany under composer Karlheinz Stockhausen. He subsequently worked with minimalist composers Terry Riley (on a 1968 recording of In C) and La Monte Young (as part of his Theatre of Eternal Music group), and studied under Hindustani singer Pandit Pran Nath. His association with Brian Eno in the early 1980s would introduce Hassell to a larger audience. He subsequently worked with musical artists such as Talking Heads, David Sylvian, Farafina, Peter Gabriel, Tears for Fears, Ani DiFranco, Techno Animal, Ry Cooder, Moritz von Oswald, and Carl Craig.
Born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, Hassell received his master's degree from the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York. During this time he became involved in European 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 (founded and directed by Stockhausen) for two years, where he met Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay, who would later go on to form Can. 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 Ph.D. in musicology in Buffalo and performed in La Monte Young's Theatre of Eternal Music in New York City, contributing to the 1974 LP Dream House 78' 17".
On his return to Buffalo in the early 1970s, Hassell was introduced to the music of Indian Pandit Pran Nath, a specialist in the Kiranic style of singing. Hassell, Young, Marian Zazeela, and Riley went together to India to study with Nath. His work with Nath awoke his appetite for traditional musics of the world, and on the album Vernal Equinox, he used his trumpet (treated with various electronic effects) to imitate the vocal techniques to which Nath had exposed him. 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."[2]
In 1980, he collaborated with Brian Eno on the album and appeared on the Eno-produced Talking Heads album Remain in Light. The same year Hassell also performed solo at the Mudd Club.[3] Plans had been made with Eno and David Byrne for the three of them to team up for what became "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts," but the plan fell through when Hassell didn't agree with the direction the tracks were taking. His 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 EP follow-up Words with the Shaman. In the late 1980s, Hassell contributed to Gabriel's Passion, the soundtrack album for Martin Scorsese's film, The Last Temptation of Christ. Hassell and Pete Scaturro composed the electronic theme music for the television show The Practice.In 1989, Hassell contributed to the Tears for Fears album The Seeds of Love.
Hassell died from natural causes on June 26, 2021, at the age of 84.[4] [5] He had had health issues over the course of the previous year.[6]
Hassell coined the term "Fourth World" to describe his work on "a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." He used extensive electronic processing of his trumpet playing. In addition to nonwestern traditional musics, critics have noted the influence of Miles Davis on Hassell's style, particularly Davis' use of electronics, modal harmony, minimal vibrato and understated lyricism.[7] Both on record and during live performances, Hassell made use of western instruments—keyboards, bass, electric guitar, and percussion—to create modal, hypnotic grooves, over which he often played microtonally-inflected trumpet phrases in the style of Nath's Kiranic vocals. His use of circular breathing on the instrument enabled him to create long, seamless, and mesmerizing melodic lines.[8]
| Date | Leading artist or band | Album title | Label | Track titles and notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1968 | In C | ensemble member | |||
| 1974 | Stanze di vita quotidiana | Columbia | ensemble member | ||
| 1974 | Dream House 78' 17" | Shandar | ensemble member (quartet) on one of two extensive tracks | ||
| 1980 | Remain in Light | on "Houses in Motion" | |||
| 1982 | on "Shadow" | ||||
| 1984 | Brilliant Trees | on "Weathered Wall" and "Brilliant Trees", co-composer | |||
| 1985 | David Sylvian | Virgin | on "Words with the Shaman Part 1 - 3", co-composer; also released as EP | ||
| 1985 | O.S.T. Birdy | Virgin/Charisma | ensemble member | ||
| 1987 | Mainstream | on "Big Snake" | |||
| 1989 | Il sole nella pioggia | on "Il sole nella pioggia" and "Le baccanti", pre-sampled trumpet sounds activated by keyboard on "Visioni" | |||
| 1989 | Peter Gabriel | O.S.T. Passion (Music for The Last Temptation of Christ) | Real World/Geffen/Virgin | on "Passion" | |
| 1989 | The Seeds of Love | on "Standing on the Corner of the Third World" and "Famous Last Words" | |||
| 1991 | Marc Beacco | The Crocodile Smile | Polydor/Nova | on "Funeral for a Flower", co-composer | |
| 1991 | Les Nouvelles Polyphonies Corses avec Hector Zazou | on "Anima", "In la piazza" and "Notte", co-composer | |||
| 1993 | O.S.T. Trespass | Sire/Warner | ensemble with Jim Keltner | ||
| 1994 | And She Closed Her Eyes | on "Crime" and "I See You Again" | |||
| 1995 | Re-Entry | Virgin | on "Flight of the Hermaphrodite" and "Needle Park", co-composer | ||
| 1996 | Pink Noir | Virgin | on "Slow Loris Versus Poison Snail", co-composer | ||
| 1997 | on "The Next Voice You Hear" produced by T-Bone Burnett | ||||
| 1997 | Drag | Warner | on "Hain't It Funny?" | ||
| 1997 | Dark Dear Heart | on "All the Pretty Little Horses" | |||
| 1997 | Ry Cooder | O.S.T. The End of Violence | Outpost | featured trumpet soloist | |
| 1998 | Ry Cooder | O.S.T. Primary Colors | Outpost | on "Wide Sky", co-composer | |
| 1998 | The Insects & Richard Grassby-Lewis featuring Jon Hassell | O.S.T. Love and Death on Long Island | OceanDeep | featured soloist | |
| 1998 | Empathy | on "It's Enough Now", "This Time Last Year" and "Beautiful" | |||
| 1998 | Little Plastic Castle | Righteous Babe | on (probably one track) | ||
| 1999 | O.S.T. | on "Who Would You Have Me Love" with Hinda Hicks | |||
| 1999 | David Toop | Hot Pants Idol | Barooni (Nl) | on "Wing Beats", trumpet and harmonizer, co-composer | |
| 2000 | O.S.T. The Million Dollar Hotel: Music from the Motion Picture | on "Never Let Me Go" and "Amsterdam Blue (Cortege)", co-composer and track production | |||
| 2000 | k.d. lang | Invincible Summer | Warner | on "Simple" | |
| 2000 | Mandalay | Instinct | V2 | on "Not Seventeen", "Don't Invent Me" and "It's Enough Now" | |
| 2000 | Nick Wood | Sound Virus | Victor (Jp) | on "Confined to Ice" | |
| 2001 | Ani DiFranco | Revelling/Reckoning | Righteous Babe | on "Revelling" | |
| 2001 | Folk. | Polydor | on "Tap Dancer", co-composer | ||
| 2001 | Rick Cox | Maria Falling Away | Cold Blue | on "Long Distance", composer | |
| 2002 | Details | Island | on "Flicks", "The Dumbing Down of Love" and "Old Piano" | ||
| 2003 | Buenos Hermanos | on "Fuiste Cruel" and "Boliviana"; album produced by Ry Cooder | |||
| 2004 | Lightwave (with Paul Haslinger) | Bleue comme une orange | Signature | on "Huang/Hong" and "Deep Steel Dubh" | |
| 2004 | Alexkid | Mint | on "Mint", co-composer | ||
| 2005 | O.S.T. Sleeper Cell (TV series) | Rhythmbank | on "Memento Mori" with Sussan Deyhim, co-composer | ||
| 2005 | Ry Cooder | Chávez Ravine | Nonesuch/Perro Verde | on "Don't Call Me Red" | |
| 2006 | Utopies | on last three tracks, co-composer | |||
| 2007 | Paul Haslinger | O.S.T. | (not specified) | ||
| 2007 | Ry Cooder | My Name Is Buddy | Nonesuch/Perro Verde | on "One Cat, One Vote, One Beer" | |
| 2007 | O.S.T. The Number 23 | New Line | featured as soloist | ||
| 2007 | Michael Fahres | The Tubes | Cold Blue | on "The Tubes (1994/2003)" with Mark Atkins | |
| 2008 | Jan Bang and Erik Honoré as Punkt | Live Remixes Vol. 1 | on tracks "III" and "VI", co-composer | ||
| 2008 | Ani DiFranco | Red Letter Year | Righteous Babe | on "Star Matter" | |
| 2008 | k.d. lang | Watershed | Nonesuch | on "Upstream" | |
| 2008 | Ry Cooder | I, Flathead | Nonesuch/Perro Verde | on "Flathead One More Time" | |
| 2009 | Siwan | ECM | ensemble member, trumpet and electronics | ||
| 2010 | Jan Bang | …And Poppies from Kandahar | on "Exile from Paradise", co-composer (also for another track, due to trumpet samples) | ||
| 2011 | Paul Haslinger | O.S.T | Lakeshore | featured musician | |
| 2015 | Bassekou Kouyaté & Ngoni Ba | Ba Power | Glitterbeat (G) | on "Ayé Sira Bla = Make Way" | |
| 2015 | Legerdemain | Kobalt | on "Brutalized" and "No Happy End" | ||
| 2016 | Genre Peak (Martin Birke) | Your Sleekest Engine | Gonzo | on "Metanoia", trumpet samples and/or sampler |