Synth historical past buffs and followers of ’70s classics like Stevie Marvel’s Superstition and Boogie On Reggae Lady may be conversant in The Unique New Timbral Orchestra or TONTO, the instrument behind many of those iconic tunes.
In a brand new interview, producer and TONTO co-creator Robert Margouleff seems again on the primary time Marvel laid his palms on the legendary synth and the inventive partnership that blossomed following their preliminary collaboration.
Based on Margouleff, Marvel had approached him and fellow TONTO mastermind Malcolm Cecil after listening to their 1971 album, Zero Time.
“Stevie got here in and we confirmed him the instrument [TONTO] and he put his palms throughout it,” says the producer [via Music Radar], recalling the way in which Marvel confirmed up at their studio with a replica of the document in hand. “After which he began attempting to play chords on it and he stated ‘Malcolm! Bob! What’s unsuitable with this instrument? It solely performs one observe at a time!’”
“And Malcolm stated ‘Stevie it’s kind of like a trumpet or a saxophone. You need to use your complete physique simply to get the temper and the sound and it solely performs one observe at a time and it comes out of your mouth.’”
“Stevie acquired it in a second,” he continues. “We began recording that weekend — we recorded like 15 or 16 songs. We went utterly bonkers.”
“We by no means recorded [music] to create an album, so to talk. We simply recorded music and we had an enormous library of music, all in numerous sorts of locations.”
The producer provides that this occurred whereas Marvel was renegotiating his contract with document label Motown: “He was sick of Motown,” Margouleff explains. “Why? As a result of there was a formulation for Motown — it had 4 guys dancing in kind of uniforms and a entrance individual, male or feminine. It was a formulation and Stevie didn’t need to be contained in the formulation. And in addition, his music was so socially important and vital it wasn’t nearly ‘do-bop’ and ‘how I really like you child.’”
Watch the total interview beneath.
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