Jean Jacques Perrey at Transmediale
I wrote this several months ago attending the Transmediale in Berlin. It somehow stayed stuck in my drafts folder. Well here it is, some random notes on the grand old man of electronic music:
Presentation by the pioner in electronic music the Frenchman Jean Jacques Perrey. A very joyful elderly gentleman.
He was a musician already at the age of four - the accordion. French chanson kinda stuff. He shows pictures of his childhood and youth. There is a picture of him meeting the creater of the ondioline. And we hear an example. He played three shows on the luxury steamer France on the Atlantic on the way to USA. He made a record to put people to sleep “and it worked”.
He was also a friend of Django Reinhard.
Around the world in 80 ways was the name of Perrey’s show. His friend Edith Piaf told him to go to America to get the success he deserved. Piaf found him a sponsor. Two weeks later he received planetickets by mail. He had a studio with 4-track recording equipment in New York and his sponsor gave it to him. In 1962 he met Walt Disney. Also Angelo Badalamenti in the sixties, they worked together on doing a commercial for Esso. In two channel stereo.
The In Sound From Way Out. His most famous record. Harry Brewer.
Perrey wanted to be the Spike Jones of electronic music. He did a tour with Bob Moog in Scotland. Lots of humor and he taught Perrey to play the Moog. He did some records with it.
Elektronics. His first sampler was analog. He cut up tapes with a razorblade and spliced them together to construct loops. a full node 8 centimeters.- halfnode four centimeters etc. And then he played along with the loops. The loop made the rhythm.