The Tonto’s Expanding Head Band component contributed to works by Stevie Wonder, The Isley Brothers, Minnie Riperton and many more.
English musician, producer and electronic musical instrument designer Malcolm Cecil has passed away.
A social media post shared from the Bob Moog Foundation Twitter account reports that the musician’s passing occurred on Sunday following an unconfirmed, long-standing illness.
Cecil was most notably known for his innovations in the world of synthesizers. His expansive multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer named The Original New Timbral Orchestra – or TONTO – would shape the sonic palette of a number of albums released throughout the 1970s and 1980s.
Born in London, England in 1937, Cecil spent his formative years studying music and physics before becoming established as an upright bassist of revered stature within the jazz scene of his hometown. During the 1950s Cecil’s early accolades included several years spent as a section principal within the BBC Orchestra and a residency at famed Soho music venue Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club.
In 1968 Cecil emigrated to the United States and shortly thereafter forged a friendship with engineer Robert Margouleff that would lead to the creation of TONTO. Whilst initially centred around a Moog Series IIIc modular synthesizer, Cecil and Margouleff’s towering device would soon begin incorporating additional modules from Oberheim, Serge, Roland and ARP to conjure the esoteric and far-reaching sounds eventually heard on their groundbreaking 1971 collaborative debut album as TONTO’s Expanding Head Band entitled Zero Time.
Among fans of TONTO’s Expanding Head Band was a young Stevie Wonder who swiftly and famously employed the pair’s pioneering use of electronics to colour the comprising works of his golden run of 1970s albums from Music Of My Mind to Fulfillingness’ First Finale. For their collaborative efforts on 1973’s Innervisions Wonder, Cecil and Margouleff won a Grammy award under the best engineered non-classical recording category. Elsewhere within the ensuing decade Cecil and his creation also contributed to albums from The Isley Brothers, Minnie Riperton, Weather Report, Ravi Shankar and Gil-Scott Heron.
Today TONTO remains the largest synthesizer of its kind in the world and is now housed in Calgary, Alberta’s National Music Centre following a full refurbishment in 2018.
See the Bob Moog Foundation Twitter account’s original post below.
Words by Sam Wilkinson.
Like this article? Follow us on Facebook and Twitter for more.
Fruit and Grooves Collective 