JON HASSELL DISCOGRAPHY

version 2.0 Feb. 10, 1994

I've expanded the Jon Hassell discography from previous version
to include musician credits, track listings and liner notes
when available. I thought that an overview of who he has played
with might help interest some folks who haven't yet heard Jon's
music. The track titles themselves to me carry a sense of
mystery and magic that help convey the diverse ethnicity, magic
and mystery of Hassell's music. Brian Eno, Percy Jones, David
Sylvian, Peter Gabriel, Nana Vasconcelos, Jean-Phillipe Rykiel
and Ayibe Deing are just some of the well known artists he's
worked with over the years, but Jon Hassell still seems to
remain fairly unknown after at least 20 years of composing and
performing music.

Hassell releases are found in my local music stores under jazz,
new age, avant-classical, and electronic sections, depending on
which store, and I have even found his cds in three different
sections of the same store. His music is hard to categorize,
but it has ties to the minimalists and 20th century classical
music, indian classical vocals, ethnic percussion, and
synthesizers and classical and modern electronic music.

Trance music is perhaps one description that helps explain the
connections from Hassell's earliest releases to his latest work
with 808 State doing dance-rave remixes of material from "City:
Works of Fiction". Hassell uses a rich palette of acoustic and
electronic instruments and processing to create textures and
voices which form a mystical musical language where Third world
music blends with minimalists, jazz, and modern electronics
technology to create what he describes as "Fourth World music".

"Fourth World - a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining
features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic
techniques." I'm not sure where the quote came from as I lost
the reference, but Hassell launched his Fourth World Music
ideas some years ago and they seem to be catching on. A winter
1993/94 issue of "i/e" magazine covers a variety of "Fourth
World" music artists. 

Jon Hassell primarily plays trumpet, but it's generally a
highly processed trumpet sound that sounds like no other
trumpet player I've ever heard - it drifts and weaves with an
other-worldly texture that moves his music into another
dimension. Hassell has created his own musical language by
incorporating his processed trumpet and synth textures with
non-western tunings, and rhythms and percussion from many
non-western sources, which makes for a music that sounds like
it's not from any particular culture. Peter Gabriel's Passion
and the solo work of Jeff Greinke are the only artists I can
think of who get anywhere close to the territory Hassell is
exploring. There's a lot of interest in "world music" and
international ethnic music today, but Hassell has been working
in these areas since his first release in 1978. He studied in
India, learning to mimic the sounds of indian classical singing
with his trumpet's voice. He also studied under Karlheinz
Stockhausen. He apparently also worked with early minimalist La
Monte Young. In one sense he could be loosely lumped in with
Terry Riley, Steve Reich, La Monte Young, Lou Harrison, David
Rosenboom, David Behrman and other minimalists of the late 60's
and early 70's who explored alternate tunings and found
inspiration in Indian, African or Malaysian music. Behrman,
Rosenboom and Hassell all played major roles in the realization
of Terry Riley's milestone "In C" recording from 1968.

- Malcolm 

INDEX OF LP and CD RELEASES

Major releases and collaborations:

1977  VERNAL EQUINOX  
1978  EARTHQUAKE ISLAND         
1980  (WITH BRIAN ENO) FOURTH WORLD, VOLUME 1: POSSIBLE MUSICS
1981  (WITH BRIAN ENO) FOURTH WORLD, VOLUME 2: DREAM THEORY IN MALAYA
1982  (VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATION) MUSIC AND RHYTHM          
1983  AKA > DARBARI < JAVA  (MAGIC REALISM)  
1986  POWER SPOT  
1987  THE SURGEON OF THE NIGHT SKY RESTORES DEAD THINGS BY THE POWER OF SOUND
1987  (VARIOUS ARTISTS COMPILATION) MYTHS 3: LA NOUVELLE SERENITE 
1989  JON HASSELL / FARAFINA - FLASH OF THE SPIRIT    
1990  CITY: WORKS OF FICTION        
1990  (12-INCH EP) VOICEPRINT (BLIND FROM THE FACTS) (4 VERSIONS)/STREETFAXX 
1990? (12-INCH EP) JON HASSELL/808 STATE - VOICEPRINT (3 song version) 
1993  (CD) JON HASSELL VS 808 STATE: VOICEPRINT (4 or 5 versions?)

Other collaborations, guest appearances and session work:

1968  TERRY RILEY - IN C
1973  LA MONTE YOUNG    - DREAM HOUSE 78'17"  
1980  THE TALKING HEADS - REMAIN IN LIGHT   
1982  BRIAN ENO         - ONLAND (AMBIENT 4)     
1984  DAVID SYLVIAN     - BRILLIANT TREES       
1985  DAVID SYLVIAN     - WORDS WITH THE SHAMAN  CD-Single/12" EP 
1985  PETER GABRIEL     - BIRDY (SOUNDTRACK)
1987  LOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS - MAINSTREAM    
1989  PETER GABRIEL     - PASSION 
1989  TEARS FOR FEARS   - THE SEEDS OF LOVE
1991  LES NOUVELLES POLYPHONIES CORSES 
1992  MARC BEACCO       - THE CROCODILE SMILE                

COMPLETE LIST OF KNOWN RECORDINGS WITH LABELS,
MUSICIANS & TRACK TITLES:

For some releases I may be lacking full information on
musicians and track listings. If you can offer any assistance
in filling in the gaps please do.



 JON HASSELL
 VERNAL EQUINOX
 1977       US        LOVELY MUSIC              LML 1021 (LP)
 1978?                LOVELY MUSIC              LCD 1021 (CD) 

1) Toucan Ocean                       3:50
2) Viva Shona                         7:03
3) Hex                                6:23
4) Blues Nile                         9:54
5) Vernal Equinox                    21:58
6) Caracas Night September 11, 1975   2:11

Jon Hassell - trumpet, Fender Rhodes Piano ("altered" by Buchla
              and Arp Synthesizers, and specially tuned)
Nana Vasconcelos - congas, shakers, ocean,talking drum, bells,
                   tropical birds
David Rosenboom -  mbira, rattles, tabla, dumbek
Miguel Frasconi -  claves, bells
Nicolas Kilbourn - talking drum, mbira
William Winant - kanjira, rattles
Drone - Serge Synthesizer, Motorola Scalatron
Night Creatures of Altamira
Perrasita - distant barking

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 JON HASSELL
 EARTHQUAKE ISLAND
 1978       US        TOMATO                    TOM 7019 (LP)
                      TOMATO                      269612 (CD)

1) Voodoo Wind         9:29
2) Cobra Moon          4:49
3) Sundown Dance       4:43
4) Earthquake Island  10:07
5) Tribal Secret       3:44
6) Balia               4:32
7) Adios Saturn        1:52

Jon Hassell      - trumpet, Arpstrings, Arp, Polymoog
Nana Vasconcelos - drums, tabla, percussion, voice, cuica,
                   congas, berimbau, handclaps
Miroslav Vitous  - bass
Claudio Faereira - guitars, bass, handclaps
Ricardo Silveira - guitar
Badal Roy        - tabla
Dom Um Romao     - percussion
Clarice Taylor   - vocals

Liner notes to EARTHQUAKE ISLAND: JH was born in Memphis,
Tennessee. He earned degrees in music at teh Eastman School of
Music in Rochester and at Catholic University in Washington,
DC, and studied with Karlheinz Stockhausen in Europe. In the
mid-sixties he performed and recorded with LaMonte Young and
Terry Riley. He also began composing his own work, developing a
collection of plans for "sound monumemnts" called the Landmusic
Series. One of these was 'Solid State', an electronic work
which combined the aestheitc of minimalism with the notion of
the sculptural presence of sound; a tuned mass of sound
surrounded the audience with vibrational forms evoking the
imperceptible shift of sand dunes. 

Since 1972 Hassell has studied classical Indian music of the
Kirani tradition with the great vocal master Pandit Pran Nath.
Hassell adapted vocal techniques to the trumpet and developed a
new style of playing which forms the basis of teh musical
setting he describes as "Fourth World - a unified
primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic
styles with advanced electronic techniques."

Vernal Equinox, released in 1978 by Lovely music, is considered
to be Hassell's frist "Fourth World" work. Hassell integrated
his Kirani style trumpet with electronic effects and with
subtley shifting synthesizer drones similar to those of ocean
and birds and simple, evocotive rhythhm tracks. 

(I think this is not the complete liner notes, I need to
check.)

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 JON HASSELL
 (WITH ENO) FOURTH WORLD, VOLUME 1: POSSIBLE MUSICS
 1980       UK        EDITIONS EG               EGED 7

1) Chemistry                         6:50
2) Delta Rain Dream                  3:26
3) Griot  (over "Contagious Music")  4:00
4) Ba-Benzele                        6:15
5) Rising Thermal  14 degrees 16' N; 32 degrees 28' E   3:05
6) Charm  (over "Burindi Cloud")    21:29

Jon Hassell - trumpet, prophet 5 touches (2), Arp loops (6),"Aular" loop (5) 
Brian Eno - background cloud guitars (2), prophet 5 "Starlight"
background (4) high altitude prophet (5), rare minimoog & treatments (6)
Percy Jones - bass (1)
Nana Vasconcelos - ghatam (1,6), low congas (2), congas (4), loop drum (6)
Ayibe Deing   - ghatam (1), low congas (2), congas (6)
Michael Brook - bass (3)
Paul Fitzgerald - electronics (3)
Jerome Harris - bass (4)
Night Creatures of Altamira - (5)
Gordon Philips, Andrew Tomar, Tina Pearson - handclaps (3)

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 JON HASSELL
 (WITH ENO) FOURTH WORLD, VOLUME TWO: DREAM THEORY IN MALAYA
 1981       US        EDITIONS EG               EGM 114
 
1) Chor Moire               2:21
2) Courage                  3:38
3) Dream Theory             5:15
4) Datu Bintung at Jelong   7:05
5) Malay                   10:12 
6) These Times...           2:53
7) Gift of Fire             5:01

Jon Hassell - trumpet, pottery drums (5,7) Prophet 5, (4), bowl gongs (4), 
mix (2,7) 
Brian Eno   - drums (2,3), bowl gongs & bells (5,6), mix (1,3,5,6) 
Michael Brook   - bass (2,3)
Miguel Frasconi - bowl gongs (5)
Walter DeMaia   - distant drum (2)
Daniel Lanois   - mix (4) 
All compositions by Jon Hassell. Produced by Jon Hassell.

Liner notes by Jon Hassell: DREAM THEORY IN MALAYA is titled
after a paper by visionary anthropologist, Kilton Stewart, who
in 1935 visited a remarkable highland tribe of Malayan
aborigines, the Senoi, whose happiness and well-being were
linked to their morning custom of family dream-telling - where
a child's fearful dream of falling was praised as a gift to
learn to fly the next night and where a dream-song or dance was
taught to a neighboring tribe to create a common bond beyond
differences of custom. The Semelai are another tribe not far
from the Senoi but who live in the largest swamp area of
Malaya. A recorded fragment of their joy-filled watersplash
rhythm was re-structured and became the generating force for
the composition, Malaya, as well as providing a thematic guide
for the entire recording.

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 MUSIC AND RHYTHM (WOMAD?) (COMPILATION OF VARIOUS ARTISTS)
 1982       UK                                  WEA K 68045     
 2-LP set which includes Hassell's 'Ba benzele' (4.46)

 Jon Hassell - trumpet
 Brian Eno   - synth, treatments
 Michael Brook - mbira
 Ayib Dieng - talking drum  
       
 Recorded at Ontario College of Art, Toronto, November 14, 1981  

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 JON HASSELL
 AKA > DARBARI < JAVA (MAGIC REALISM)
 1983       US        EDITIONS EG               EGED 31

1) Empire  i ii iii iv v
2) Darbari Extension  i ii

Jon Hassell - trumpet, keyed voices and instruments, mixing and treatments
Dan Lanois  - engineering, mixing and treatments
Abdou Mboup - drums 
All compositions by Jon Hassell, except for EMPIRE II by Hassell/Lanois. 
Produced by Jon Hassell with Dan Lanois. 

Liner notes by Jon Hassell: MAGIC REALISM * Like the video
technique of "keying in" where any background may be
electronically inserted or deleted independently of foreground,
the ability to bring the actual sound of musics of various
epochs and geographical origins all together in the same
compositional frame marks a unique point in history. * A
trumpet, branched into a chorus of trumpets by computer, traces
the motifs of the Indian raga DARBARI over Senegalese drumming
recorded in Paris and a background mosaic of frozen moments
from an exotic Hollywood orchestration of the 1950's (a sonic
texture like a "Mona Lisa" which, in close up, reveals itself
to be made up of tiny reproductions of the Taj Mahal), while
the ancient call of an AKA pygmy voice in the Central African
Rainforest - transposed to move in sequences of chords unheard
of until the 20th century - rises and falls among gamelan-like
cascades, multiplications of a single "digital snapshot" of a
traditional instrument played on the Indonesian island of JAVA,
on the other side of the world. * Music which is to this degree
self-referential, in which larger parts are related to and/or
generated from smaller parts, shares certain qualities with
"white" classical music of the past. AKA/DARBARI/JAVA is a
proposal for a "coffee-colored" classical music of the future -
both in terms of the adoption of entirely new modes of
structural organization (as might be suggested by the computer
ability to re-arrange, dot-by-dot, a sound or video image) and
in terms of the expansion of the "allowable" musical vocabulary
in which one may speak this structure - leaving behind the
ascetic face which Eurocentric tradition has come to associate
with serious expression.

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 JON HASSELL
 POWER SPOT
 1986       GERMANY   ECM                       1327

1) Power Spot                    7:07
2) Passage D.E.                  5:25
3) Solaire                       6:49
4) Miracle Steps                 4:21
5) Wing Melodies                 7:33
6) The Elephant and the Orchid  11:08
7) Air                           5:20

Produced and Engineered by Brian Eno/Daniel Lanois.
All composed by Jon Hassell. Recorded December 1984 and October
1983 at Grant Avenue Studio, Hamilton Ontario, Canada.

Jon Hassell - trumpet 
J.A. Deane  - acoustic and electronic percussion, alto flute 
Jean-Phillipe Rykiel - electronic keyboards (facsimile bass,      
                       percussion, strings, etc.)  
Richard Horowitz - electronic keyboards (1,2,6)
Brian Eno        - electric bass (3,5)
Michael Brook    - guitar, electronic treatments  (1,2)
Richard Armin & Paul Armin - RAAD electro-acoustic strings (2,4)
Miguel Frasconi  - flute (7) 

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 JON HASSELL
 THE SURGEON OF THE NIGHT SKY RESTORES DEAD THINGS BY THE POWER OF
SOUND
 1987       US        CAPITOL/INTUITION         C1-46880

1) Ravinia/Vancouver    20.53
2) Paris 1               5:46
3) Hamburg               7:07
4) Brussels             10:54
5) Paris II              8:39

(track listing for european release may shift 1st track to follow
Paris II)

Jon Hassell - trumpet, keyboards
J.A. Deane  - electric and acoustic percussion
Jean-Phillipe Rykiel - synthesizers (2-5)
Richard Horowitz     - synthesizer (1)
Michael Brook        - guitar (2-5)

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 MYTHS 3: LA NOUVELLE SERENITE
 (COMPILATION WITH JON HASSELL, HAROLD BUDD, GAVIN BRYARS)
 1987       HOL/BEL   SUB ROSA                  SUB 33003-5

 Map of Dusk(10'50)
 
 Jon Hassell: trumpet, el. kbds.
 J.A.Deane: electro-perc., digital kbds.
 
 recorded on the Day of Winter Solstice, 1985, N.Y.

 Map of Dusk(10'50)
 this track also appears on a CD-sampler of the Myths series

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 JON HASSELL / FARAFINA
 FLASH OF THE SPIRIT
 1989       US        CAPITOL/INTUITION         CDP 7 91186 2
                      EMI-Intuition             IC 066 7 91186-1  
1) Flash of the spirit (Laughter) (5.44)  
2) Night moves (Fear) (2.23)  
3) Air afrique (Wind) (3.59)  
4) Out pours (Kongo) blue (Prayer) (7.10)  
5) Kaboo (Play) (2.52)  
6) (Like) Warriors everywhere (Courage) (4.43)  
7) Dreamworld (Dance) (4.52) (-1)  
8) Tales of the near future (Clairvoyance) (4.17)  
9) A vampire dances (Symmetrie) (4.00)  
10) Masque (Strength) (11.43)
   

 Jon Hassell(tp,k) J.A.Deane(synt-perc) Mahama Konate(balafon) Paco  
 Ye(djembe) Soungalo Coulibaly(vcl,fl,perc) Tiawara Keita(tama,soucou)  
 Beh Palm,Seydou Ouattara(bara-drum) Baba Diarra(balafon,perc)  
 Souleyname Sanou(shekere) Daniel Schwartz(el-b-1)  
   
 Recorded at Media Sound Studios, New York City, August 1987  
 Overdubs & mixing at the Wilderness Studio, Woodbridge, UK,  
 September/October 1987 & February 1988  
 Produced by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois & Jon Hassell  
   

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 JON HASSELL
 CITY: WORKS OF FICTION 
 1990       US        OPAL/WARNER BROTHERS      9 26153-2

Jon Hassell     - trumpet, keyboards
Gregg Arreguin  - guitar
Jeff Rona       - keyboards, sampled percussion
Adam Rudolph    - acoustic and sampled percussion
Daniel Schwartz - bass

1) Voiceprint (Blind From The Facts)    5:46
2) Pagan                                6:26
3) Mombassa                             8:03
4) Tikal                                3:06
5) In The City Of Red Dust              5:37
6) Rain                                 6:28
7) Ba-Ya                                6:02
8) Warriors                             9:22
9) Out Of Adedara                       5:07

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 JON HASSELL
 (12-INCH) VOICEPRINT (BLIND FROM THE FACTS) (4 VERSIONS)/STREETFAXX (PROMO)
 1990       US        OPAL/WARNER BROTHERS      PRO-A-4301
 "Promotion Only -- Not for Sale" (33.3 rpm)
 
1) Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts) (808 Mix One)  6:37
2) Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts) (Radio Mix)    4:36
    -
3) Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts) (808 Mix Two -- Latin in It Mix) 4:42
4) Streetfaxx                                       3:57
5) Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts) (LP Version)   4:42

   "Streetfaxx" by Jon Hassell
   "Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts)" by Hassell and Jeff Rona
   Produced by Jon Hassell Remix by 808 State
   Edits and Engineering: Massey, Executive Producer: Kevin Laffey

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 JON HASSELL/808 State  
 (12") Voiceprint  3 song version
 1990?   UK    Land Records                         LANDT03
1) Voiceprint (808 Mix Two -- Latin in It Mix)
2) Voiceprint (808 Mix One)
  -
3) Voiceprint (Blind from the Facts)  
   side A: Produced by Hassell, Remix by 808 State, Engineering: Massey
   side B: Produced by Jon Hassell
   Art: Cipher Design,  Photo: Dennis Keeley

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JON HASSELL vs 808 State: Voiceprint (All Saints ASCD 17; 1993)
  contains all remixes from the 12" release plus an extra track

COMPILATION APPEARANCES:

The items listed blew are all lifted from other releases and are
not unique in matrial or mixes. 

 BRIAN ENO   "SELECTED PIECES FROM THE EDITIONS EG LIBRARY"  
 Jon Hassell/Brian Eno: Delta rain dream       (EG Records EGED 7) 
 7" EP.  
   
"ANGELS IN THE ARCHITECTURE"                     EG Records EGED 47 
 Jon Hassell/Brian Eno: Delta rain dream      (EG Records EGED  7) 
 p. 1985  
   
 "CASTAWAY"                         EMI EMC 3529  
  Jon Hassell/Brian Eno: Chemistry            (EG Records EGED 7) 
 Soundtrack LP, p. 1987.  
   
"FIRST EDITION"                                  EG Records EGED 15 
 Jon Hassell: Courage                         (EG Records EGED 13) 
 Comment: p. 1982  

 MYTHS ???  COMPILATION FROM THE "MYTHS" SERIES, on SUB ROSA
 Jon Hassell: Map of Dusk   

 "AI CONFINI/INTERZONE" (New Tone Records NT 6716-2; Italy 1993)
  contains contributions by St. Reich, J.Hassell,M.Nyman, Peter Gordon,
 Wim Mertens,The Durutti Column, Harmonia Ensemble,Bebo Baldan,
 Antinomia, Eddy De Fanti, Arturo Stalteri, Alessandro Pizzin.
   It is a 'collaboration of unissued, or rare tracks of artists active
 in the New Music field in Europe, America and Italy'.

Jon Hassell also performs on, or was involved as noted:

 TERRY RILEY - IN C  
 1968       US       COLUMBIA                    MS 7178
 Jon Hassell plays trumpet on sides 1 and 2.

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 LA MONTE YOUNG - DREAM HOUSE 78'17"
 1973      FR        SHANDAR                    83.510  
 Jon Hassell is on one side only.  

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 THE TALKING HEADS - REMAIN IN LIGHT
 1980       US        SIRE                      SRK 6095

 David Byrne(vcl,g,k)Jerry Harrison(g,bg,k,perc)Tina Weymouth(bg,k,
 perc)Chris Frantz(k,d,perc)Brian Eno(k,bg,perc,vcl)Adrian Belew(g)

 Jose Rossy,Robert Palmer(perc)Nona Hendrix(vcl)  
 Jon Hassell(tp)  
   
     Houses in motion (4.30)   
   
 Basic tracks recorded at Compass Point Studios, Nassau,  
 Bahamas, July & August 1980  
 Further recordings at Sigma Sound Studios, New York City, and  
 Eldorado Studios, Los Angeles  
 Produced by Brain Eno  

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 BRIAN ENO - ONLAND (AMBIENT 4) 
 1982   US/UK     EG                           EGED 20 
 On the track 'Shadow' (3:03)    Produced by Brian Eno    
 Brian Eno   - synth, treatments, etc.
 Jon Hassell - trumpet  
   
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 DAVID SYLVIAN - BRILLIANT TREES      
 1984 
 three tracks co-composed for the music (DS-JH): "Weathered Wall",
 "Brilliant Trees", and (I forgot to write it down)

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 DAVID SYLVIAN - WORDS WITH THE SHAMAN  CD-Single/12" EP
 1985    
 3 tracks maxi-single was released by Virgin in 1985. Some years
 later Virgin released it as a CD-single (CDT 23).
 It also includes some radio-voices by Holger Czukay and David's  
 brother Steve Jansen on percussion.
 also co-composed DS-JH, featuring Percy Jones
 also issued as a limited-edition numbered cassette, with on side 2 
 "Steel Cathedrals" featuring Robert Fripp.
 
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 PETER GABRIEL - BIRDY (SOUNDTRACK)
 1985     US    Geffen                         24070
 1985     UK    Charisma                       CD 1167
 "remixes" or instrumental versions from PG's fourth album

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 LOYD COLE AND THE COMMOTIONS - MAINSTREAM                        
 1987         
 UK      POLYDOR                 833 691 - 1
 Jon Hassell plays on one song: BIG SNAKE

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 PETER GABRIEL - PASSION 
 (music for the film THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST)   
 1989        Real World                    LP 1  (LP)
 1989  US    GEFFEN                        9  24206-2 (CD)  
 Jon Hassell plays on the title track only. 
 
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 TEARS FOR FEARS - THE SEEDS OF LOVE
 1989                  FONTANA
 Jon Hassell plays on "Standing on the Corner of the Third World"
 and "Famous Last Words" (maybe these came out on singles?; JH can
 be heard alright on these songs, but still, he's on the    
 background)

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 TERRY RILEY - IN C 
 1989     US           Celestial Harmonies    13026-2   
 performed by the Shanghai Film Orchestra. Hassell was only  
 involved in the mixing of this version (together with Eno  
 and Terry Riley) 
   
 The Shanghai Film Orchestra; Wang Yongji(cond)  
   
     In C (28.24)  
   
 Recorded in Shanghai, China, January 13, 1989  
 Mixed by Brian Eno, Jon Hassell and Terry Riley  
 at Sunset Sound Factory, Hollywood, March 1989  
 Produced by David Mingyue Liang  
 -Note: Eno is not implicated in the other 2 tracks on this CD.  
 
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 KRONOS QUARTET - WHITE MAN SLEEPS
 1987   US     ELEKTRA-NONESUCH
 contains 'Pano da costa', a Hassell composition for string quartet.   
 As far as I remember Hassell is, however, not personally involved 
 in this record.

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 LES NOUVELLES POLYPHONIES CORSES
 1991   France    Philips (Phonogram)          848515 - 2
 performers include Hector Zazou, Jon Hassell and John Cale.
 It is an album of some singers from Corsica.  
  
> JH plays on 3 tracks, co-composes 2. also featured: Sakamoto, Manu Dibango.
> 
> It has a subtitle: "avec Hector Zazou", but is not really a Zazou release.
> It is actually folkloric singing from Corsica (might be compared to le
Mystere > des Voix Bulgares: several voices a-capella, with strange
harmonization 
> effects, ...) but with a backgroud (sometimes very present) by modern
> musicians.

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MARC BEACCO: THE CROCODILE SMILE (Changes 513 416-2; France 1992)
 with Marc Beacco(vcl) Dominik Bertram(b) Bruce Grainger(bassoon)
      Jon Hassell(tp) Manu Katche(d) Didier Lockwood(vln) Martial
      Solal(p) Mike Stern(g) Steve Swallow(b) Toots Thielemans 
      (harmonica)
 recorded in Paris 1991

LIVE RECORDINGS:

I wouldn't really call these bootlegs because no one has
pressed them on lp or cd or pirated profits off of these, but
there are a few concert recordings of Jon Hassell that I'm
aware of which are something that one might come across in
collections of folks who trade live tapes:

Ontario College of Art, 11/14/1981.  Approximately 90 minutes. 

Jon Hassell live at the Ontario College of Art, 4/12/82    
approximately 60 minutes, audience recording.

Jon Hassell     Sens, France            May 28, 1983       60

Jon Hassell     Rennes, France          Feb. 3, 1988       90

Jon Hassell live at the World Financial Center (mixed by Eno?)
New York City,  9/18/89.   90 minute audience recording.

FM broadcast from the Moers Jazz Festival, Germany, May 1989 
with the Farafinas. Approximately 40 minutes.  

BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS:

JON HASSELL BIO, FROM 1969:

Jon Hassell was born in 1937 in Memphis, Tennessee. After
studying both composition and trumpet at Eastman School of
Music, he began work in electronic music at studios in New
York, Milan and Cologne. He received a German Government Grant
(1965-67) for study with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Henri
Pousseur. While in Cologne he composed and heard performances
of his 'Vibe Music', for two vibraphones and tape, and 'Scan',
for ten stringed instruments and contact mikes. Returning to
the U.S., Mr. Hassell was invited to become a Creative
Associate in residence at the Center of the Creative and
Performing Arts in Buffalo, New York, where, during 1967-68, he
composed 'Blackboard Piece With Girls and Loops', for two girls
and two pitch-producing blackboards, and 'Super Ball', for four
players with handheld tape heads. Most recently, his attention
has focused on a number of environments, objects, etc., whose
principle features are acoustic (Maps 1 and 2), but whose
presentation is outside the usual concert situation. These
pieces have been presented at the Albright-Knox Gallery in
Buffalo during the second Festival of the Arts and in the
recent Experiments in Art and Technology show at the Brooklyn
Museum. 

- from _Music of the avantgarde_ Volume 3, No. 1, Jun 1969

JON HASSELL BIO, FROM 1986:

Hassell, Jon (b Memphis, TN, 22 March 1937)

Composer and trumpeter. He was trained as a trumpeter and later
studied composition with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Henri
Pousseur in Cologne (1965-7) and with Rogers at the Eastman
School (BM 1969, MM 1970). In the late 1960s he began
performing with ensembles led by Terry Riley and La Monte
Young, key figures in the emerging minimalist school. 

Hassell's early works reflect both his interests in advanced
electronic composition and minimal music. In 'Solid State'
(1969), a work which earned him an NEA grant in 1977, a mass of
pitched sound surrounds an audience with "the vibrational forms
evoking the . . . shifting of sand dunes" (Hassell). In 1972
Hassell began studying Indian classical music with the singer
Pandit Pran Nath; by imitating his vocal style, Hassell
developed a new technique for trumpet playing, creating a
"curved" melodic line by controlling the pitch with his lips
and removing or loosening the mouthpiece. He also processed
these sounds electronically to produce other new effects.
Continuing his interest in ethnic music, he began to mix and
combine electronically various elements and idioms of different
musics with his own trumpet playing. The final result was what
Hassell called "Fourth World music," a unification of
third-world musics with advanced techniques of Western
electronic composition. By 1983 Hassell had released five
recordings in this genre, working sometimes in collaboration
with the rock performer Brian Eno.

WORKS Stage: Sullia strada (music theater, after J. Kerouac: On
The Road), collaboration with M. Criminali, 1982, Venice, May
1982

Other works: Music for Vibraphones, 1965; Blackboard Piece with
Girls and Loops, 2 girls, 2 pitch-producing blackboards, 1968;
Goodbye Music, mixed media, 1969; Map nos. 1-2, hand-held
magnetic playback heads, 1969; Solid State, 2 Synth, 1969;
Superball, 4 players with hand-held magnetic tape heads, 1969;
Landscape Series, mixed media, 1969-72

- Charles Passy, from _The New Grove Dictionary of American
Music_ 1986

Also, JH did a String quartet, Pano de Costa, commissioned by
Kronos.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jon Hassell bio:

 _Music of the avantgarde_ Volume 3, No. 1, Jun 1969
L. Stathis: 
 "Jon Hassell, Fourth World Musician," Future, xxiv (Feb 1981), 26
R. Palmer: 
 "An Explorer on Music's Borderlands," New York Times (20 Nov 1981)
J. Sullivan: 
 "In Search of Future Music," Boston Globe  (2 Dec 1982)
G. O'Brien:
 "Jon Hassell," Interview, xii/5 (1982), 66
R. Palmer:
 "Jon Hassell seeks Balance," New York Times (11 May 1983)
C. Passy:
 Jon Hassell bio, _The New Grove Dictionary of American Music_ 1986

NOTES AND COMMENTS:

Associates: Many of the performers who have recorded with Jon
Hassell have prolific recording careers of their own. I won't
go into Eno or Peter Gabriel much, except to strongly recommend
Gabriel's Passion as a wonderful release that explores a lot of
world music. Nana Vasconcelos is a master percussionist with at
least a couple of releases out; I'm fond of RAIN DANCES?, which
is not too far in sound from Hassell's EARTHQUAKE ISLAND. Nana
has also done some interesting duets with guitarist Egberto
Gismonti. Jean-Phillipe Rykiel has worked with Cyrille Verdeaux
of Clearlight, and I've also seen his name on a release by a
French- African musician whose name I can't recall. J.A. Deane
has some solo material on a cd on EAR-RATIONAL (a german label)
which also has music by Art Zoyd and Jeff Greinke. Jeff Greinke
has never worked with Hassell (yet), but in my opinion deserves
a brief mention here his because lps and cds are often in a
neighborhood that sounds very close to Hassell or Eno, and I'd
strongly recommend hearing any of Greinke's music, especially
his more recent works like CHANGING SKIES or his new one on
Silent records (I forget the title). 

* J.-P. Rykiel has made a solo record in France in the early
eighties. Unfortunately I don't have any further information on
this one. 

Possible sources of more information about or contact with Jon
Hassell might be found through Opal or Sub Rosa:

Opal Information, P.O. 141, Leigh-On-Sea, Essex, England Sub
Rosa, P.O. Box 808, 1000 Brussels, Belgium

This discography was compiled by Malcolm Humes. Many thanks are
due to Eric Rutten, Johann Haidenbauer, ToreM and a couple of
other folks on Usenet who contributed information but whose
names I've lost. Additions, corrections or comments? >>>-->
malcolm@wrs.com

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