Robert Nathan Sheff (January 1, 1945 – December 12, 2020), known professionally as "Blue" Gene Tyranny, was an American

avant-garde The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...

composer and pianist. "His memorable pseudonym, coined during his brief stint with Iggy and the Stooges, was derived partly from Jean, his adoptive mother’s middle name," wrote Steve Smith, in his New York Times obituary for Tyranny. "It also referred to what he called 'the tyranny of the genes' — a predisposition to being 'strongly overcome by emotion,' he said in Just for the Record: Conversations With and About ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny, a documentary film."

Early life

Tyranny was born Joseph Gantic in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , subdivision_t ...

on January 1, 1945 to William and Eleanor Gantic. Later that year, after his birth father, an Army paratrooper, went missing in the Asian theater of World War II, his mother put him up for adoption. He was adopted by Dorothy and Meyer Sheff of

, who changed his name to Robert Nathan Sheff. Tyranny was raised in the

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and Protestant Reformers, reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Cathol ...

church. He studied piano with Meta Hertwig and Rodney Hoare, and composition with Otto Wick and Frank Hughes.

Career

Tyranny began his performance career in high school, playing pieces by major composers (such as John Cage) with Philip Krumm in a concert series in

. He toured with the Carla Bley Band in 1977 and the Prime Movers (which included Iggy Pop and

Michael Erlewine John Michael Erlewine (; born July 18, 1941) is an American musician, astrologer, photographer, TV host, publisher and Internet entrepreneur who founded the music online database site AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide) in 1991. Car ...

) as well as Iggy &

The Stooges The Stooges, originally billed as the Psychedelic Stooges, also known as Iggy and the Stooges, was an American rock band formed in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 1967 by singer Iggy Pop, guitarist Ron Asheton, drummer Scott Asheton, and bassist Da ...

. "After releasing the album Raw Power in 1973, opinvited his former bandmate to join him on tour," Steve Smith noted in his New York Times obituary for Tyranny. "Mr. Tyranny accepted, performing with red LED lights woven into his hair." He performed on albums by

Laurie Anderson Laurel Philips Anderson (born June 5, 1947), known as Laurie Anderson, is an American avant-garde artist, composer, musician, and film director whose work spans performance art, pop music, and multimedia projects. Initially trained in violin and ...

(''Strange Angels''),

David Behrman David Behrman (born August 16, 1937) is an American composer and a pioneer of computer music. In the early 1960s he was the producer of Columbia Records' ''Music of Our Time'' series, which included the first recording of Terry Riley's ''In C''. ...

('' On the Other Ocean''), John Cage (''

Cheap Imitation ''Cheap Imitation'' is a piece for solo piano by John Cage, composed in 1969. It is an indeterminate piece created using the '' I Ching'' and based, rhythmically, on ''Socrate'' by Erik Satie. History of composition Like numerous other works by ...

'' and ''Empty Words''), Peter Gordon, and

Robert Ashley Robert Reynolds Ashley (March 28, 1930 – March 3, 2014) was an American composer, who was best known for his television operas and other theatrical works, many of which incorporate electronics and extended techniques. His works often involve i ...

('' Perfect Lives, Dust, Celestial Excursions''), with whom he frequently collaborated. He taught at

Mills College Mills College at Northeastern University is a private college in Oakland, California and part of Northeastern University's global university system. Mills College was founded as the Young Ladies Seminary in 1852 in Benicia, California; it was ...

from 1971 to 1982, where his students included composer

Hsiung-Zee Wong Hsiung-Zee Wong (born October 24, 1947) is a composer, artist, and designer who was born in Hong Kong. She moved to the United States in 1966, where she worked as a freelance graphic designer and illustrator. Wong studied at the University of Hawaii ...

, and also worked at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills. He moved to New York in 1983 and received a Bessie in 1988 and in 1989 a Composer Fellowship from the NY Foundation for the Arts. Tyranny was a contributor for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

, reviewing albums and creating biographies for many notable contemporary artists. According to

Kyle Gann Kyle Eugene Gann (born November 21, 1955, in Dallas, Texas) is an American professor of music, critic, analyst, and composer who has worked primarily in the New York City area. As a music critic for ''The Village Voice'' (from 1986 to 2005) an ...

in the ''Village Voice'', Tyranny had " Cecil Taylor's keyboard energy nd

Morton Feldman Morton Feldman (January 12, 1926 – September 3, 1987) was an American composer. A major figure in 20th-century classical music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School ...

's ear." "The most original aspect of isworks," wrote Gann, "is the way they create continuity: they're tonal, yet rigorously asymmetrical. They satisfy the ear without letting it take anything for granted. They evolve...with the labyrinthine irreversibility of deep psychic forces." In another Voice article, Gann was lyrical in his evocation of Tyranny's virtuosity: "God plays the piano through this man. Science cannot explain the speed with which trillions of inspired brain impulses zip through his...hands, resulting in note-perfect works...the 1988 Kitchen improv-with-delay he Intermediary Following Traces of the Song..I called 'the most inspired piano performance I've ever heard.' It still is. At his schmaltziest ("Sunrise or Sunset in Texas") he's like Keith Jarrett on an extremely good day. At his best, it's like listening to Ives improvise 'Hawthorne' from the Concord Sonata." In October 2020, ''Just for the Record: Conversations With and About "Blue" Gene Tyranny'', a documentary film directed by David Bernabo, premiered at the TUSK Festival 2020. In a review of the film for ''The Wire'', Joshua Minsoo Kim wrote, "Hearing Tyranny talk and learning how he lived his life encourages one to go the same way." Tyranny died in hospice in Long Island City, Queens, on December 12, 2020, of complications of

diabetes Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ...

. In David Bernabo's documentary film Just for the Record: Conversations With and About ‘Blue’ Gene Tyranny, Tyranny said music was a source of solace, but also a means “of deeply informing myself that there’s another world. Music is my way of being in the world.”

Discography

* ''Out of the Blue'' (1977 Lovely Music LML 1061 P 2007 Unseen Worlds UW01 D, * ''The Intermediary'' (1982 Lovely Music P1063, 2008 Lovely Music D * ''Country Boy Country Dog (How To Discover Music in the Sounds of Your Daily Life)'' (1994 Lovely Music LCD 1065) * ''Free Delivery'' (1999 Lovely Music LCD 1064) * ''The'' ''Somewhere Songs/The Invention of Memory'' (2008 Mutable 17529-2 D.

References

External links

"Blue" Gene Tyranny's Homepage

88 Keys to Freedom: Segues Through the History of American Piano Music
by 'Blue' Gene Tyranny

Listening

Art of the States: "Blue" Gene Tyranny
''Meditation: Nothing's Changed, Everything's Changed'' (1961/2002)

''A Letter From Home'' (1974) 1945 births 2020 deaths AllMusic Musicians from San Antonio 20th-century classical composers American male classical composers American classical composers Contemporary classical music performers Protopunk musicians 20th-century American composers Classical musicians from Texas 20th-century American male musicians Deaths from diabetes {{US-keyboardist-stub