RIP-Gil Melle....artistic visionary legend.
TEP251Sax
awful news about a mutual friend and influence-Gil Melle.
Gil died yesterday at his home in Malibu Cal of a heart attack.
This man was a brilliant genius. He recorded ;
"Tome VI"
(The first all-electronic jazz album ever recorded, 1968!!! )
with Forrest Westbrook, Ben Matthews, Fred Stofflet
Verve Records in 1968...this was a work of genius as well as some of the most
vivid electronic soprano sax playing and conceptual jazz in it's time.
Album covers for MONK...MILES...as well as many BlueNote legends.
Take a look and see if these look familar
:)http://www.gilmelle.com/albumcovers.htm
For those who need to know;
Born in 1931 in Jersey City, New Jersey, Gil Mellé displayed an early,
precocious talent for art in all its forms. A winner of several national
painting competitions while still in his teens, Mellé was also playing the jazz
clubs of Greenwich Village before he was old enough to drive.
An aggressive innovator, Gil Mellé is constantly searching for new means of
expression---in painting he was one of the first artists to incorporate
collaged pieces of glass, metal, plastic and computer cards into his pictures;
in music, he is credited with introducing electronic instruments into jazz.
When synthesizers were not available commercially, Mellé built them from
scratch, and played the tenth Monterey Jazz Festival with the world's first
all-electronic jazz group, "Gil Mellé and the Electronauts."
Relocating to Los Angeles over thirty years ago, Mellé continued his dual
careers as professional painter and musician. His current fame is the result of
successful accomplishments in the field of motion pictures; Mellé has written
scores for over 125 movies.
On a computer that he built himself, Gil Mellé now applies his intuitive
command of harmony, balance and structure to the creation of digital paintings,
or "e-paintings". This is an entirely new form of art, absolutely true to the
times in which we live. Not computer-generated, this art is artist-generated,
using the computer as a tool. Mellé's vast experience lends a rare integrity to
these mostly traditional images, and his life-long experience as a serious and
professional painter makes him uniquely prepared to fully utilize this
revolutionary medium.
A passionate microscopist and open-cockpit pilot, Gil Mellé has absorbed
visions of the natural world that greatly increase his inner library of forms
and colors. Mellé's expertise extends even to physical structures, having
designed and built additions to his Malibu home, as well as working fountains,
monumental sculptures, cast-iron gates and intricate leaded-glass windows.
These pictures, which Gil Mellé describes as "Cybercloissonism," (referring
both to the computer he uses as a tool and to the effect of the light
transmitted through his colors) are typically output one at a time as digital
tranparencies (it can take weeks for a single perfect output and no two are
alike) and are then mounted in light box enclosures of exotic hardwoods and
stainless steel. The enclosures are designed and constructed by the artist, by
hand, utilizing the finest materials available. Like the antique motor-cars
that he collects, these artworks are built to last, with color integrity
guaranteed for 200 years, and illumination systems that will shine for
thousands of hours without ever changing a bulb.
Info~Via... http://www.gilmelle.com/
Check it for more about Gil.
WORDS DO NOT DO JUSTICE TO THIS MANS EFFORTS!!!
Gil was also a friend and inspiration to me. Words do not describe this mans
vision or the depth he had as an artist. 125 film scores!!! WOW~
His vision was beyond just music or art. I am lucky to have known him in the
manner I did. He was a fantastic person to guys like me or Clive Stevens. It's
a bummer he's gone. A very sad day.
~ Plus a career...in NyC recording for BlueNote records in the day..with Max
Roach etc. This guy is someone everyone should know of....sadly few do.
At one point I did a " private lesson" column in JAZZ PLAYER mag- and used Gil
as the subject. It might of been one of the mosy unique articles I ever did.
That " lesson" was deep.
Hopefully more people will find out who he is.
He will be missed. - Tim Price
TEP251Sax
http://www.gilmelle.com/instruments/tomev1.htm
Pre-wind synth...pre-anything. LOL-
- if I'm correct...
http://www.gilmelle.com/instruments/whitenoise.htm
Used in ;The Andromeda Strain"
(directed by Robert Wise, written by Michael Crichton. The first synthesizer
score ever written for a
movie, 1969)
This guy Gil Mellé...left a benchmark for us.
Unique as well as...as Duke said
" Beyond Category".
- Tim Price
TEP251Sax
And _maybe_someone in LA saw this premier of the digital saxophone :)
-
1996 The Jazz Bakery, performed improvisational interpretations of electronic
paintings (projected
on stage !! ) leading an all-star acoustic quartet with digital saxophone !!
-
I 've heard it...the sax via digital interface
and...I _NEVER_ ever forgot it.
Anyhow- may he rest in peace- Tp
Filthy McNasty
> P.S-
>pardon snip<
thanks Tim,interesting reading.
RIP Gil.
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