Annette Peacock is an American composer, musician, songwriter, producer, and arranger. She is a pioneer in electronic music who combined her voice with one of the first

Moog synthesizers The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 2014 ...

in the late 1960s.

Biography

Annette Peacock was writing music by the time she was four years old. She is self-taught except for her time as a student at

The Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

in the early 1970s. She grew up in California. She moved to New York to marry jazz bassist Gary Peacock in 1960. During the early 1960s, she was an associate and guest of

Timothy Leary Timothy Francis Leary (October 22, 1920 – May 31, 1996) was an American psychologist and author known for his strong advocacy of psychedelic drugs. Evaluations of Leary are polarized, ranging from bold oracle to publicity hound. He was "a her ...

. and Ram Das at Millbrook, and was among the first to study Zen Macrobiotics with

Michio Kushi (May 17, 1926 – December 28, 2014) was a Japanese educator who helped to introduce modern macrobiotics to the United States in the early 1950s. He lectured all over the world at conferences and seminars about philosophy, spiritual development, ...

, a discipline she continues to uphold. Peacock toured Europe with avant-garde jazz saxophonist

Albert Ayler Albert Ayler (; July 13, 1936 – November 25, 1970) was an American avant-garde jazz saxophonist, singer and composer. After early experience playing R&B and bebop, Ayler began recording music during the free jazz era of the 1960s. Howev ...

while she was married to Gary Peacock, then pianist

Paul Bley Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...

. Her compositions appeared on his album ''

Ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

'' and influenced the style of ECM Records. She was a pioneer in synthesizing electronic vocals after having been given a prototype of the first designed

Moog synthesizer The Moog synthesizer is a modular synthesizer developed by the American engineer Robert Moog. Moog debuted it in 1964, and Moog's company R. A. Moog Co. (later known as Moog Music) produced numerous models from 1965 to 1981, and again from 20 ...

by its inventor,

Robert Moog Robert Arthur Moog ( ; May 23, 1934 – August 21, 2005) was an American engineer and electronic music pioneer. He was the founder of the synthesizer manufacturer Moog Music and the inventor of the first commercial synthesizer, the Moog synthesi ...

. She performed with the Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show at New York's

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

in November 1969 and the next month at Philharmonic Hall which she promoted with late-night TV ads and an appearance on

The Johnny Carson Show ''The Johnny Carson Show'' was a 1955–56 half-hour prime time television variety show starring Johnny Carson. While working as a staff writer on ''The Red Skelton Show'', local Los Angeles television comedian Carson filled in as host when Sk ...

. Her official debut solo album, '' I'm the One'' (

RCA Victor RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also Aris ...

), was released in 1972. During the 1970s and '80s, she worked with

Karlheinz Stockhausen Karlheinz Stockhausen (; 22 August 1928 – 5 December 2007) was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. He is known for his groun ...

Allan Holdsworth Allan Holdsworth (6 August 1946 – 15 April 2017) was a British jazz fusion and progressive rock guitarist and composer. Holdsworth was known for his esoteric and idiosyncratic usage of advanced music theory concepts, especially with respe ...

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Bill Bruford William Scott Bruford (born 17 May 1949) is an English former drummer and percussionist who first gained prominence as a founding member of the progressive rock band Yes. After leaving Yes in 1972, Bruford spent the rest of the 1970s recording ...

Mike Garson Michael David Garson (born July 29, 1945) is an American pianist, who has worked with David Bowie, Nine Inch Nails, St. Vincent, Duran Duran, Free Flight and The Smashing Pumpkins. Early career Garson went to Lafayette High School in Broo ...

Mick Ronson Michael Ronson (26 May 1946 – 29 April 1993) was an English musician, songwriter, arranger, and producer. He achieved critical and commercial success working with David Bowie as the guitarist of the Spiders from Mars. He was a session musici ...

before moving back to the U.S. The album '' An Acrobat's Heart'' (ECM, 2000) took two years to compose and arrange, and broke her twelve-year hiatus from recording.

Critical reception

"Annette Peacock is a stone cold original – an innovator, an outlier, authentically sui generis," said John Doran of ''

The Quietus ''The Quietus'' is a British online music and pop culture magazine founded by John Doran and Luke Turner. The site is an editorially independent publication led by Doran with a group of freelance journalists and critics. Content ''The Quiet ...

''.

Discography

As leader

* 1972 '' I'm the One'' (

) (reissued in 2010 on ironic US, and in 2012 on Future Days) * 1978 '' X-Dreams'' (Aura Records) * 1979 '' The Perfect Release'' (Aura) * 1982 ''Sky Skating'' (ironic) * 1983 ''Been in the Streets Too Long'' (ironic) * 1986 ''I Have No Feelings'' (ironic) * 1988 ''Abstract-Contact'' (ironic) * 2000 '' An Acrobat's Heart'' ( ECM) * 2005 ''31:31'' (ironic US) * 2014 ''I Belong to a World That's Destroying Itself'' ka ''Revenge''(ironic US)

Singles

* "Don't Be Cruel" / "Dear Bela" (Aura, 1978) * "Love's Out to Lunch" / "Rubber Hunger" (Aura, 1979) * "Sky-skating" / "Taking It as It Comes" (ironic, 1981)

Compilations

* 2004 ''My Mama Never Taught Me How To Cook... (The Aura Years 1978 -1982)'' (Sanctuary Records)

As co-leader or sidewoman

* 1971 ''Revenge: The Bigger The Love The Greater The Hate'', Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show * 1971 ''

The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show ''The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show'' is an album by Paul Bley performing compositions by Annette Peacock which was released on the Milestone label in 1971.Paul Bley Paul Bley, CM (November 10, 1932 – January 3, 2016) was a jazz pianist known for his contributions to the free jazz movement of the 1960s as well as his innovations and influence on trio playing and his early live performance on the Moog and ...

(composer only) * 1971 ''

Improvisie ''Improvisie'' is a live album by Paul Bley with Annette Peacock and Han Bennink which was released on the French America label in 1971.Dual Unity ''Dual Unity'' is a live album by Annette Peacock and Paul Bley (credited as Annette & Paul Bley) which was released by Freedom Records in 1972.Feels Good to Me'',

* 2006 ''

Sound Mirrors An acoustic mirror is a passive device used to reflect and focus (concentrate) sound waves. Parabolic acoustic mirrors are widely used in parabolic microphones to pick up sound from great distances, employed in surveillance and reporting of o ...

'',

Coldcut Coldcut are an English electronic music duo composed of Matt Black and Jonathan More. Credited as pioneers for pop sampling in the 1980s, Coldcut are also considered the first stars of UK electronic dance music due to their innovative style, ...

Compositions appeared on

*1965: Paul Bley Trio - '' Touching'' ("Touching", "Both" & "Cartoon") *1966: Paul Bley Trio - '' Closer'' ("Cartoon") *1967: Paul Bley - '' Ramblin''' ("Both", "Albert's Love Theme" & "Touching") *1967: Paul Bley, Gary Peacock,

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea. Biography Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...

- '' Virtuosi'' (all compositions: "Butterflies" & "Gary") *1968: Paul Bley - '' Mr. Joy'' (all compositions: "Kid Dynamite", "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway", "El Cordobes", "Touching", "Blood" & "Mr. Joy") *1968: Paul Bley - ''

Turning Point A turning point, or climax, is the point of highest tension in a narrative work. Turning Point or Turning Points may refer to: Film * ''The Turning Point'', a 1914 silent film starring Caroline Cooke * ''The Turning Point'' (1920 film), an Ame ...

'' ("Mr. Joy" & "Kid Dynamite") *1968: Karin Krog and Friends - ''Joy'' ("Mr. Joy") *1970: Paul Bley & Gary Peacock - '' Paul Bley with Gary Peacock'' (all compositions: "Gary" & "Albert's Love Theme") *1971: Paul Bley - ''

The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show ''The Paul Bley Synthesizer Show'' is an album by Paul Bley performing compositions by Annette Peacock which was released on the Milestone label in 1971.Ballads A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads derive from the medieval French ''chanson balladée'' or '' ballade'', which were originally "dance songs". Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and ...

'' (all compositions:"Ending", "Circles" & "So Hard It Hurts") *1972: Paul Bley - ''

Open, to Love Open, to Love is a jazz album by Paul Bley. It features Bley performing seven solo piano pieces and is considered not only one of his best albums, but a defining album in the history of the ECM record label. Three of the tracks were composed by e ...

'' ("Open, to Love" & "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway") *1973:

Al Kooper Al Kooper (born Alan Peter Kuperschmidt; February 5, 1944) is a retired American songwriter, record producer and musician, known for organizing Blood, Sweat & Tears, although he did not stay with the group long enough to share its popularity. ...

- ''

Naked Songs ''Naked Songs'' is the sixth album by American singer-songwriter Al Kooper for Columbia Records, released in 1973. Two singles were released in the fall of 1972, preceding the album. Background A contract-fulfilling release, coming months after ...

'' ("Been and Gone") *1973: Paul Bley &

Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen Niels-Henning Ørsted Pedersen (, 27 May 1946 – 19 April 2005), also known by his abbreviated nickname NHØP, was a Danish jazz double bassist. Biography Pedersen was born in Osted, near Roskilde, on the Danish island of Zealand, the son of ...

- '' Paul Bley/NHØP'' ("Gesture Without Plot") *1974:

- '' Slaughter on 10th Avenue'' ("I'm the One") & (7 Days) *1974: Paul Bley &

Jaco Pastorius John Francis Anthony "Jaco" Pastorius III (; December 1, 1951 – September 21, 1987) was an American jazz bassist, composer and producer. He recorded albums as a solo artist and band leader and was a member of Weather Report from 1976 to 1981. ...

- '' Jaco'' ("Blood") *1975: Paul Bley – '' Alone, Again'' ("Dreams") *1978:

- '' Feels Good to Me'' ("Back to the Beginning", "Seems Like a Lifetime Ago (Part One)", "Adios A La Pasada (Goodbye to the Past)") *1986: Paul Bley - '' Fragments'' ("Nothing Ever Was, Anyway") *1992: Paul Bley, Franz Koglmann, Gary Peacock - ''

Annette Annette may refer to: Film and television * '' Walt Disney Presents: Annette'', 1950s television series * ''Annette'' (film), a 2021 musical film Other * Annette (given name), list of people with the name * Annette Island, Alaska * Tropical Stor ...

'' ("Touching" (2 takes), "El Cordobes", "Cartoon", "Albert's Love Theme", "Kid Dynamite", "Miracles", "Blood (2 takes), "Both", "Mister Joy") *1996:

Marilyn Crispell Marilyn Crispell (born March 30, 1947) is an American jazz pianist and composer. Scott Yanow described her as "a powerful player... who has her own way of using space... She is near the top of her field." Jon Pareles of The New York Times wrot ...

, Gary Peacock &

Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...

- '' Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: Music of Annette Peacock'' (all compositions: "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway", "Butterflies That I Feel Inside Me", "Open, to Love", "Cartoon", "Albert's Love Theme", "Dreams (If Time Weren't)", "Touching", "Both", "You've Left Me", "Miracles", "Ending" & "Blood") *2006:

- "Just For The Kick" ft. Annette Peacock *2014: Eric Plandé, Uwe Oberg, Peter Perfido - ''Touching'' ("Touching") *2015: Uwe Oberg - '' Twice, At Least'' ("Touching") *2016:

Nels Cline Nels Courtney Cline (born January 4, 1956) is an American guitarist and composer. He has been the guitarist for the band Wilco since 2004. In the 1980s he played jazz, often in collaboration with his twin brother Alex, a percussionist. He has w ...

- '' Lovers'' medley of ("So Hard It Hurts/Touching") arranged by

Michael Leonhart Michael Leonhart (born April 21, 1974) is an American jazz trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist. Solo career In 1992 Leonhart was honored with the first Grammy Award for outstanding high school musician in the US (he attended Fiorello H. LaGuardia ...

*2016: Uwe Oberg & Silke Eberhard - '' Turns'' ("Both", "Mr. Joy")

References

External links

Official website
- offline (Nov. 13, 2017) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Peacock, Annette Living people Musicians from Brooklyn American contraltos American jazz composers American women composers American women jazz musicians American women jazz singers American jazz singers American women in electronic music 1941 births Jazz musicians from New York (state) ECM Records artists 21st-century American women