Cinco perguntas para Jean Jacques Perrey

Jean Jacques Perrey nasceu em 20 de janeiro de 1929, numa pequena cidade localizada no norte da França. Aos 4 anos de idade, no natal de 1933, o Papai Noel lhe trouxe seu primeiro acordeon e, a partir daí, foi possuído pelo “demoniozinho da música”, como ele mesmo diz. Em 1952, enquanto cursava a faculdade de medicina em Paris, conheceu Georges Jenny, inventor de um instrumento musical inovador chamado “ondioline”. Este contato com Georges Jenny foi somente o primeiro de uma série de encontros com personalidades que passaram pela vida de Jean Jacques Perrey e que, de alguma forma, marcaram toda a sua carreira. Por conta de seu enorme talento ao executar o “ondioline”, acabou sendo convidado pela famosa cantora Edith Piaf para acompanhá-la nos shows shows, como músico, por cerca de um ano. Edith Piaf não só financiou algumas das primeiras gravações de Perrey como o colocou em contato com o empresário norte-americano Carroll Bratman, o que levou o músico a desembarcar na cidade de Nova Iorque, em março de 1960, carregando apenas uma pequena mala de roupas e o seu inseparável “ondioline”.

Carroll Bratman foi quem, além de ajudar Jean Jacques Perrey com toda a documentação necessária para trabalhar nos Estados Unidos, montou para ele seu primeiro laboratório/estúdio de gravação, com vários gravadores e todos os teclados eletrônicos disponíveis até então. E foi neste estúdio que, em 1961, Perrey teve a brilhante idéia de utilizar elementos da “musique concrète” (cujas teorias foram desenvolvidas por Pierre Shaeffer nos anos 40), porém incorporando um elemento até então inexistente e mesmo impensável dentro da visão de Shaeffer: o humor. Com isso Perrey não só deu uma nova vida à “musique concrète” como a introduziu no universo da música pop!


Nos anos seguintes gravou discos e jingles para programas de radio e TV com diversos parceiros, entre eles Harry Breuer (com quem lançou o disco “The Happy Moog”, em 1969), Angelo Badale (hoje conhecido como Angelo Badalamenti, compositor de trilhas sonoras, com quem Perrey compôs a clássica faixa instrumental “Visa to the stars”) e, lógico, Gershon Kingsley. A dupla Perrey-Kingsley gravou dois discos pelo selo novaiorquino Vanguart Record Company, “The in sound from way out” (de 1966, no qual a dupla utilizou a técnica de corte e colagem de fitas magnéticas desenvolvida por Perrey, além do “ondioline”, para criar seus sons espaciais) e “Kaleidoscope Vibrations: spotlight on the Moog” (de 1967, onde os dois agregaram o sintetizador Moog ao “ondioline” para criar suas músicas). Depois da dissolução da dupla, Perrey ainda gravou mais dois discos de igual ou maior impacto pela Vanguard, “The amazing new electronic pop sound of Jean Jacques Perrey” (1969) e “Moog Indigo” (1970), disco que contém a faixa “E.V.A.”, um dos temas mais sampleados por artistas dos mais variados estilo musicais.


Em 1970, por razões familiares, Jean Jacques Perrey voltou a morar em Paris, onde continuou gravando tanto seus discos (sempre com o espírito inovador e bem-humorado dos trabalhos anteriores) quanto trilhas de filmes e programas de radio e tv. Hoje em dia, Jean Jacques Perrey reside na Suíça e foi de lá que ele prontamente atendeu, por email, meu pedido para esta entrevista, o que me deixou muito feliz e muito agradecido. Meus agradecimentos se extendem também a duas pessoas em especial, que me possibilitaram este contato com o grande Jean Jacques Perrey: sua queridíssima filha Patricia Leroy e Dana Countryman, autor da biografia “Passport to the future: the amazing life and music of electronic pop music pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey”, além de parceiro do Perrey em vários discos e shows. Como sempre digo, é muito bom quando nossos ídolos, gênios e super-heróis demonstram ser figuras humanas formidáveis, agradáveis e dispostas a dividir um pouco dos seus conhecimentos e trajetória. E é isto, com a palavra Jean Jacques Perrey, cidadão do mundo (francês por nascimento, novaiorquino por “atração magnetica” e, mais recentemente, suiço por residência)!


ASTRONAUTA - Antes de decidir que seguiria a carreira musical, você estudou medicina, é isso mesmo? Naquela época, você chegou a exercer a medicina? Como esses estudos influenciaram sua música?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - Sim, isso mesmo. Eu comecei a estudar medicina (entre 1947 e 1951) em Paris, porque eu queria ajudar as pessoas e também porque meus pais queriam que eu tivesse "uma boa profissão" (eles realmente ficaram surpresos quando eu disse que estava trocando a medicina pela música!).
No início estes estudos médicos não influenciaram na minha música. Foi somente no final dos anos cinqüenta, quando eu me interessei pelo funcionamento do sono e compus um disco para ajudar as pessoas a adormecer que a medicina e a música ligaram-se.


ASTRONAUTA - Você é creditado como o músico responsável pela primeira gravação de um Ondioline (em 1951, na música "L'âme des Poètes", de Charles Trenet). Como foi essa gravação? E como foi seu contato com Georges Jenny (inventor do Ondioline) e sua participação na invenção e desenvolvimento deste instrumento?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - Eu abandonei a medicina quando eu ouvi, em 1951, Georges Jenny falar sobre o instrumento que ele tinha acabado de inventar: o Ondioline. Imediatamente tive a sensação de que eu queria tocar aquele instrumento. Entrei em contato e pedi para ele me demonstrar os conceitos básicos do uso do Ondioline. Em seguida ele concordou em me emprestar um de seus instrumentos. Quando fui devolver o instrumento, depois de algumas semanas, ele ficou muito surpreso ao ver que eu era capaz de tocá-lo fluentemente. Ele estava ainda mais surpreso pelo fato de que eu estava tocando o Ondioline com a mão direita enquanto tocava o piano como acompanhamento, com a mão esquerda. Ele não tinha pensado nisso e achou uma excelente idéia. Daquele dia em diante, ele me contratou como demonstrador do Ondioline em feiras por toda a Europa e, graças a isto, ele pode vender seu instrumento (que ele mesmo construia a mão, um a um!).
No mesmo ano Charles Trenet me pediu para tocar o Ondioline em uma de suas canções "L'âme des Poètes", porque ele queria usar sons novos, que nunca tinham sido ouvidos antes. Eu estava bastante nervoso com a sessão de gravação porque eu não sabia exatamente que tipo de música que ele queria que eu tocasse. Quando Trenet chegou e eu perguntei, ele somente me disse: "Apenas toque alguma coisa"! Aparentemente ele ficou feliz com o resultado pois me convidou para sair em turnê com ele.

ASTRONAUTA - Como você conheceu o Robert Moog e o Gershon Kingsley? E seus parceiros mais jovens, como Luke Vibert e Dana Countryman (também autor de "Passport to the Future", biografia de Jean Jacques da Perrey), como você os conheceu e passou a trabalhar com eles?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - A originalidade dos sons do Ondioline criou muito interesse entre os artistas da época e foi assim que eu conheci não só o Charles Trenet, mas também a Edith Piaf e o Jean Cocteau. Foi graças a eles que eu pude ir para os EUA em 1960, convidado por um patrocinador - Carroll Bratman - que estava interessado em vender o Ondioline nos EUA.
Carroll tinha uma empresa que alugava instrumentos musicais e também possuia estúdios de gravação em Nova York, onde muitas estrelas e músicos trabalharam. Carroll tinha montado um estúdio de gravação especial para mim e muitas vezes ele disse às pessoas que vinham ao seu estúdio para conhecerem aquele "louco francês com seus incríveis e novos sons”. E foi assim que eu conheci o Robert Moog e o Gershon Kingsley.

Dana Countryman escrevia e era dono de uma revista mensal de música eletrônica. Ele me entrevistou várias vezes e mantivemos contato para conversar sobre música. Descobri que nós dois concordavamos em muitas coisas e, pouco a pouco, a idéia de fazer um CD juntos foi surgindo em nossas mentes.
Quanto a Luke Vibert, foi por acaso que nos conhecemos, em um festival em Londres, no qual nós dois tocariamos. Conversamos, trocamos idéias e rapidamente decidimos criar algo juntos.

ASTRONAUTA - Eu vejo você como um dos inventores de técnicas de sampleagem e edição de áudio (ou pelo menos um dos primeiros artistas a utilizar estas técnicas na música popular, especialmente nos seus álbuns com Gershon Kingsley). Vocês fizeram isso pelo menos 30, 40 anos antes do surgimento dos instrumentos, ferramentas e softwares modernos, que agora estão a disposição de todos. Você pode nos contar um pouco sobre isso e se o trabalho do compositor Pierre Schaeffer (o principal nome da "musique concrète") teve influência no seu trabalho?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - Eu conheci o Pierre Schaeffer em 1959. Ele fazia uma "música séria". Perguntei-lhe se ele achava que a técnica de sampleagem poderia ser usada na música popular. Ele achava que não, mas eu estava convencido do contrário e foi por isso que comecei a cortar e colar fitas para criar loops.
Era um trabalho muito demorado na época (levei cerca de 70 horas para fazer as abelhas em "The flight of the Bumblebee"), pois eu tinha que cortar pequenos pedaços de fita gravada e depois colá-los para criar uma sequência de sons para serem usados como ritmo - ou até mesmo para uma pequena melodia - em uma canção.

ASTRONAUTA - No final dos anos 90 o DJ e músico Fatboy Slim lançou um remix de sua música "EVA" que foi tocado em todo o mundo e fez muitos jovens que nunca tinham ouvido falar do seu trabalho ouvissem (e dançassem) sua música pela primeira vez. O que você acha sobre os novos artistas que mencionam você como influência e utilizam partes das suas músicas como samples ou mesmo remixam suas músicas? Você chegou a samplear outros artistas nos anos 60 ou criou todas os seus próprios "samples"?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - Eu criei todos os meus próprios samples.
Me sinto muito honrado quando os jovens músicos sampleiam ou remixam minha música (contanto que me dêem os devidos créditos). Acho que é uma prova de reconhecimento, que o que eu fiz valeu a pena e eu sou grato a eles por manterem minha música viva desta maneira.


Obrigado por suas mensagens! Por favor, transmita o meu amor a todos os meus amigos do maravilhoso Brasil.
Com o meu abraço para você.
Jean-Jacques Perrey, 3 de março de 2012



Para maiores informações sobre o Jean Jacques Perrey, acesse: www.jeanjacquesperrey.com

Maiores informações sobre o livro do Dana Countryman, "Passport to the Future: the amazing life of electronic music and pop music pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey" on website do Dana!




Outra foto do Jean Jacques Perrey com sua filha Patricia Leroy:



Fotos de Mal Meehan (capa do livro "Passport to the future" e foto de Jean Jacques & Patricia Leroy), John Rubino (Patricia com Jean Jacques tocando teclado), Randy Yau (Jean Jacques Perrey tocando ao vivo com Dana Countryman), Lisa Haugen (Perrey vestindo camisa azul e segurando uma fita).

...e aqui Perrey vestido como Papai Noel, na capa do álbum "Switched on Santa", de Sy Mann!!!!!!!

Five questions to Jean Jacques Perrey

Jean Jacques Perrey was born on January 20, 1929 in a small village in the north of France. When he was 4 years old, Santa Claus brought him his first accordion (on Christmas Eve, 1933) and, after that, he was possessed by a "little demon of music", as he says. In 1952 while attending medical school in Paris he met George Jenny, inventor of an innovative musical instrument called Ondioline. This contact with Georges Jenny was only the first of a series of meetings with personalities who passed through the life of Jean Jacques Perrey and that somehow have marked his whole career. Because of his enormous talent to play the "ondioline", he was invited by the famous singer Edith Piaf to take part in her shows - as a musician, playing the Ondioline - for about a year. Edith Piaf not only financed some of the earliest recordings of Jean Jacques Perrey but also she had put him in contact with the american music businessman Carroll Bratman, who led Perrrey to go to New York City in March 1960, carrying only a small suitcase of clothes and his inseparable Ondioline.

Carroll Bratman was the person who helped Jean Jacques Perrey with all the necessary documentation to work in the United States and he also set up what would be Perrey's first laboratory and recording studio, with several tape recorders and all electronic keyboards available at that time. It was in this studio that, in 1961, Perrey had the brilliant idea of using elements of "musique concrète" (whose theories were developed by Pierre Schaeffer in the early 40's), but incorporating an element hitherto non-existent and even inconceivable within the vision Shaeffer had about music: humor. Perrey not only gave new life to "musique concrète" but also introduced it in the world of pop music!


In the following years Jean Jacques Perrey recorded albums and jingles for radio and TV shows with several partners, such as Harry Breuer (with whom he released the album "The Happy Moog" in 1969), Angelo Badale (now known as Angelo Badalamenti, composer of soundtracks. Perrey wrote the classic instrumental track "Visa to the Stars" with him) and, of course, Gershon Kingsley. The duo Perrey-Kingsley recorded two albums on the NY label Vanguart Record Company, "The in sound from way out" (1966, in which Perrey and Kingsley used the techniques of cutting and pasting tapes - developed by Perrey - and the Ondioline to create their space sound) and "Kaleidoscope Vibrations: spotlight on the Moog" (1967, where they added the Moog synthesizer as well as the Ondioline to create their music). After the dissolution of the duo, Perrey recorded another two albums of equal or greater impact on Vanguard, "The amazing new electronic pop sound of Jean Jacques Perrey" (1969) and "Moog Indigo" (1970) - this one contains the track "E.V.A.", one of the most sampled songs, by artists of many different musical styles.


In 1970, for family reasons, Jean Jacques Perrey returned to live in Paris, where he continued to record his albums - always with the innovative spirit and good humor of the previous works - and also movie soundtracks and music for radio and TV shows. Today, Jean Jacques Perrey lives in Switzerland with his daughter and it was in his new home that he promptly answered - via email - my request for this interview (what makes me very happy and very grateful to him). My thanks are also to another two people in particular, who made my contact with the great Jean Jacques Perrey possible: his lovely daughter and manager Patricia Leroy and Dana Countryman (author of his biography "Passport to the Future: the amazing life of electronic music and pop music pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey". Dana is also his long time partner in several records and shows). As I always say, it's very good when our idols, genius and superheroes show that they are also great and lovely human beings and are willing to share a little of their knowledge and career. So, spotlight on Jean Jacques Perrey, citizen of the world (French by birth, New Yorker by "magnetic attraction" and, more recently, a Swiss resident)!


ASTRONAUTA - Before you decided to follow your musical career you studied medicine, that's right? At that time, did you come to practice medicine? How these studies influenced your music?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - Yes, that's right. I started to study medicine (from 1947 to 1951) in Paris because I wanted to help people and also because my parents wanted me to have "a good profession" (they were really surprised when I told them I was quitting medicine for music!).
At first, these medical studies did not influence my music. It was only in the late fifties, when I got interested in the functioning of sleep and composed a record to help people fall asleep that medicine and music were linked.

ASTRONAUTA - You're credited as the musician responsible for recording the first Ondioline on a song (in 1951, on "L'âme des poètes" by Charles Trenet). How was this recording? And how was your contact with Georges Jenny - inventor of the "ondioline" - and your participation in the invention and development of this instrument?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - I quit medicine when I heard in 1951 Georges Jenny speak about the instrument he had just invented: the Ondioline. I immediately felt I wanted to play this instrument. I contacted him and asked him to show me the basics of the use of the Ondioline. He then agreed to lend me one of his instruments. When I went back to return it to him after a few weeks, he was very surprised to see that I was able to play it fluently. He was even more surprised by the fact that I was playing the Ondioline with the right hand while I played piano as accompaniment with the left hand. He hadn't thought of it and found it an excellent idea. From that day on, he hired me as a demonstrator of the Ondioline in fairs all over Europe, thanks to which he was able to sell his instrument (which he built himself by hand one by one!).
The same year, Charles Trenet asked me to play the Ondioline for one of his songs "L'âme des poètes" because he wanted to use new sounds that had never been heard before. I was quite nervous at the recording session because I didn't know exactly what kind of music he wanted me to play. When he arrived and I asked him, he only said: "Just play something" ! Apparently he was happy with the result because he asked me to come on tour with him.

ASTRONAUTA - How did you meet Robert Moog and Gershon Kingsley? And how about your younger partners like Luke Vibert and Dana Countryman (also author of "Passport to the Future", Jean Jacques Perrey's biography), how did you meet them and came to work with them?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - The originality of the sounds of the Ondioline created much interest among artists of that time, and this is how I met Charles Trenet, but also Edith Piaf and Jean Cocteau. It is thanks to them that I was able to go the USA in 1960, invited by a sponsor – Carroll Bratman - who was interested in selling the Ondioline in the USA.
Carroll had a music instrument renting company and also owned recording studios in New York where many stars and musicians came to work. Carroll had set up a special recording studio for me, and very often he told the people who came to his studio to go and meet this "crazy Frenchman with his incredible new sounds". This is how I met Robert Moog and Gershon Kingsley.

Dana Countryman owned and wrote in a monthly electronic music magazine. He interviewed me several times and we were often in touch to discuss music. I discovered that we agreed on many things, and, little by little, the idea of making a CD together made its way into our minds.
As for Luke Vibert, it is by chance that we met at a festival in London where both of us were performing. We talked and exchanged ideas, and rapidly decided to create something together.

ASTRONAUTA - I see you as one of the inventors of techniques of sampling and audio editing (or at least one of the first artists to use it in the popular music, especially on your albums with Gershon Kingsley). You did it at least 30, 40 years before the advent of modern tools and software that are now available to everyone. Can you tell us a little about it and if the work of composer Pierre Schaeffer (the main name of "musique concrète") had an influence on yours?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - I met Pierre Schaeffer in 1959. He did "serious music". I asked him if he thought one could use the sampling technique for popular music. He didn't think so, but I was convinced of the contrary and that is why I started to splice tape to create loops.
It was very long work at that time (it took me about 70 hours to do the bees in "The flight of the Bumblebee"), since I cut tiny bits of recorded tape and glued them together to create a succession of sounds that could be used as recurrent rhythm – even a short melody – in a song.

ASTRONAUTA - In the late '90s, the DJ and musician Fatboy Slim released a remix of your song "EVA" that was played all around the world and made many young people who had never heard of your work listen to - and dance to - your music for the first time. What do you think about new artists that mention you as an influence and use parts of your songs as samples or even remix your music? Did you sampled other artists in the 60's or did you created all your own "samples"?

JEAN JACQUES PERREY - I created all my own samples.
I am very honored that younger musicians sample or remix my music (as long as they credit my name properly!). I find it is a proof of recognition that what I did was worth doing and I'm grateful to them for keeping my music alive like that.

Thank you for your message ! Please give my love to all my friends from wonderful Brazil.
With my warmest regards to you.
Jean-Jacques Perrey, March 3, 2012



For more infos about Jean Jacques Perrey: www.jeanjacquesperrey.com

You can find more infos about Dana Countryman's book, "Passport to the Future: the amazing life of electronic music and pop music pioneer Jean Jacques Perrey" on Dana's website!




Another photo of Jean Jacques Perrey and his daughter Patricia Leroy:



Photos by Mal Meehan ("Passport to the future" book cover and Jean Jacques & Patricia Leroy), John Rubino (Patricia with Jean Jacques playing the keyboard), Randy Yau (Jean Jacques Perrey playing live with Dana Countryman), Lisa Haugen (Perrey with blue shirt holding a tape).

...and here we can see Perrey as Santa Claus on Sy Mann's "Switched on Santa"!!!!!!!

ARP PRO-DGX (text in english)

ARP Instruments, Inc. was founded by electrical engineer Alan R. Pearlman in 1969 and within a little more than 10 years of existence the company manufactured more than 20 different models, some very famous like the ARP 2600, ARP Odyssey, ARP Solina String Ensemble and the ARP Pro-soloist, all in the early 70's. ARP PRO DGX is a kind of re-editing - or update - of ARP Pro-soloist and was manufactured between 1977 and the end of the company (in 1981). There were two versions of the PRO-DGX (Mk1 and Mk2) and the changes from Pro-soloist to PRO-DGX Mk1 are essentially on the outside of the keyboard and just a few components but the differences from Pro-soloist to to PRO-DGX Mk2 (the model I have) were several changes in its electronic part (the filter is very different from that first one), as well as the visual aesthetics on the instrument, that incorporated the now classic ARP synthesizers look, in orange and black colors on its chassis.


ARP PRO-DGX has 30 preset sounds (selected by switchers), sliders for controlling volume, filter cutoff (here called "Brilliance"), portamento and aftertouch (which can be adjusted to control volume, vibrato, "wow", "growl", filter and the pitch bend). It also has a knob to adjust the speed of the vibrato and repeat. Its extension is 3 octaves and its 37 keys are from C to C. The keyboard can be transposed a whole octave up or down via a switcher located beside the bass keys. On the rear there are two audio outputs jacks (one XLR and one P10) and another jack for connecting foot-switch to on and off the portamento.


The sound presets are divided into two banks (A and B) and in sessions of wind instruments, strings and effects. A interesting thing is that to trigger a preset of bank A you shall press the switcher related to its sound but to select presets from the bank B you shall press two switchers at the same time. A light (green to the left and right presets and red for the central ones) indicates the corresponding sound. The presets are: Bassoon, English Horn, Oboe, Clarinet, Flute, Tuba, Trombone, French Horn, Trumpet, Cello, Violin, Bass, Piano, Banjo and Fuzz Guitar 1 (bank A) and Buzz Bassoon, Sax, Space Reed, Telstar, Song Whistle, Noze , Pulsar, Comic Wow, Mute Trumpet, Steel Guitar, Harpsichord, Space Bass, Steel Drum, Country Guitar and Fuzz Guitar 2 (bank B). Like any factory pre-programmed synth, some sounds are very nice and others aren't!


Some of the main artists who used the ARP Pro-DGX were Linda McCartney (she appears playing a PRO-DGX Mk2 on the song "So Bad", from the movie "Give my regads to the Broad Street", 1984), Steve Walsh of Kansas (on the live album "Two for the show," 1978), the 80's french electronic duo Elli et Jacno (on their videoclip "Main das la main", 1980) and the duo formed by my friend Brian Kehew and Roger Manning Jr. (responsibles for "The Moog Cookbook" project, in the 90's).


The ARP Pro-DGX that is mine nowadays I swapped, in 2008, with my friend Emilio Benvenutti. He needed a tube amp to his studio and I wanted the keyboard, so it was very simple to swap. This synthesizer was his for almost 10 years, as far as I remember. We found it in a music store in São Leopoldo (Rio Grande do Sul), along with a with a Roland Juno-60. I bought the Roland (unfortunately I had the stupid idea of selling it in the late 90's) and Emilio bought the ARP and kept it in his room since! Because of the fact that it had been standing for a long time, I had to clean all the contacts, but only that. All the sliders, switches and the vibrato/repeat knob are originals from the factory and the keyboard doesn't have even a single scratch on the chassis. Even the sticker that says to "beware of electric shock" when you repair the instrument, it is intact! This synth serial number is 2731 - a number that identifies only the model - 0257 so, I believe, it was one of the first of this model to be manufactured.


photos: Kay Mavrides


I recorded this demonstration video on February 15, 2011!




Here you can watch Linda McCartney and her ARP PRO-DGX with Paul McCartney on "So Bad" (she is playing a solo on it at 2:01 and on the end of the song):


Elli et Jacno - Main dans la main (1980):


And I used many presets of my ARP PRO-DGX on "The garden on earthly delights", from my new album, "Zeitgeist/propaganda" (all the orchestra-like soloing sounds on this track were recorded with this instrument!!!):