Jon Hassell facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Jon Hassell
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Jon Hassell at Stockholm JazzFest 2009
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| Background information | |
| Born | March 22, 1937 Memphis, Tennessee, U.S. |
| Died | June 26, 2021 (aged 84) |
| Genres | World, ambient, avant-garde, minimalism, electroacoustic |
| Instruments | Trumpet, electronics |
| Years active | 1968–2021 |
| Labels | 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 (born March 22, 1937 – died June 26, 2021) was an American trumpet player and composer. He was famous for creating a unique style of music called "Fourth World" music. This sound mixes old traditional music from different cultures with new electronic music.
He first showed this idea on his 1980 album, Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics, which he made with Brian Eno. Jon Hassell was born in Tennessee. He studied classical music in New York and Germany. He worked with famous composers like Terry Riley and La Monte Young. He also learned from an Indian singer named Pandit Pran Nath. Later, he worked with many popular artists like Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, and Tears for Fears.
Life and Music Journey
Jon Hassell was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in the United States. He earned a special degree from the Eastman School of Music in New York. While studying, he became interested in a type of European music called serial music. This was especially the work of Karlheinz Stockhausen.
After his studies, he went to Germany for two years. There, he learned more from Stockhausen. He met Irmin Schmidt and Holger Czukay, who later started the band Can. Jon Hassell came back to the U.S. in 1967. He met Terry Riley and played on the first recording of Riley's important music piece, In C, in 1968. He also played in La Monte Young's music group, Theatre of Eternal Music, in New York City.
In the early 1970s, Jon Hassell discovered the music of Pandit Pran Nath. Nath was an Indian singer known for a special style of singing called Kiranic. Hassell, Young, Marian Zazeela, and Riley all traveled to India to study with Nath. Learning from Nath made Jon Hassell very interested in traditional music from around the world.
On his album Vernal Equinox, he used his trumpet with electronic effects. He made his trumpet sound like the unique singing he learned from Nath. He wanted to create music that blended sounds so well. You couldn't tell where each sound came from.
In 1980, he worked with Brian Eno on the album Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics. He also played on the Talking Heads album Remain in Light. His 1981 album, Dream Theory in Malaya, led him to play at the first World of Music, Arts and Dance (WOMAD) Festival. This festival was started by Peter Gabriel.
Jon Hassell also played and helped write songs for David Sylvian's album Brilliant Trees. In the late 1980s, he contributed to Peter Gabriel's album Passion. This album was the soundtrack for the film The Last Temptation of Christ. In 1989, Hassell also played on the Tears for Fears album The Seeds of Love.
Jon Hassell passed away on June 26, 2021, at the age of 84.
Music Style
Jon Hassell created the term "Fourth World" to describe his music. It means a "unified primitive/futuristic sound." This sound mixes different traditional music styles from around the world. It also uses modern electronic techniques. He used many electronic effects on his trumpet playing.
Music experts have noticed that Jon Hassell's style was influenced by Miles Davis. Davis was a famous trumpet player. Like Davis, Hassell used electronics, special musical scales (called modes), and a smooth, quiet way of playing. In his music, Jon Hassell used regular instruments like keyboards, bass, guitar, and drums. These created steady, repeating rhythms. Over these rhythms, he often played his trumpet. He used special notes that sounded like the Kiranic singing style he learned from Pandit Pran Nath. He could also play long, continuous trumpet notes. This was because he used a special breathing technique called circular breathing.
Main Albums
Here are some of the main albums Jon Hassell released as a leader or co-leader:
- Vernal Equinox (1977)
- Earthquake Island (1978)
- Fourth World, Vol. 1: Possible Musics (1980), with Brian Eno
- Dream Theory in Malaya: Fourth World Volume Two (1981)
- Aka/Darbari/Java: Magic Realism (1983)
- Power Spot (1986)
- The Surgeon of the Nightsky Restores Dead Things by the Power of Sound (1987)
- Flash of the Spirit (1988), with Farafina
- City: Works of Fiction (1990)
- Dressing for Pleasure (1994), with Bluescreen
- Sulla Strada (1995), with I Magazzini
- The Vertical Collection (Sketches) (1997), with Peter Freeman as Bluescreen Project
- Fascinoma (1999)
- Hollow Bamboo (2000), with Ry Cooder, Ronu Majumdar and Abhijit Banerjee
- Maarifa Street: Magic Realism Volume Two (2005)
- Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street (2009)
- Listening to Pictures (Pentimento Volume One) (2018)
- Seeing Through Sound (Pentimento Volume Two) (2020)
Images for kids
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Jon Hassell at Stockholm JazzFest 2009
See also
