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Jon Hassell

COMPOSER/TRUMPETER Jon Hassell is the visionary creator of a style of music he describes as Fourth World, a mysterious, unique hybrid of music both ancient and digital, composed and improvised, Eastern and Western.

After composition studies and university degrees in the USA, he went to Europe to study electronic and serial music with Karlheinz Stockhausen. Several years later, he returned to New York where his first recordings were made with minimalist masters LaMonte Young and Terry Riley, through whom he met the Hindustani raga master, Pandit Pran Nath, and embarked on a lifelong quest to transmute his teacher's Kirana vocal mastery into a new trumpet sound and style.

In the last two decades, he has recorded 11 highly influential, category-defying solo albums which have, over the years, become so widely appropriated that many of their innovations have become woven anonymously into the texture of contemporary music high and low.

While the liner notes for his 1983 record Aka-Darbari-Java/Magic Realism describe a technology-tradition balance resulting in a "'coffee-colored' classical music of the future", it was innovators in the field of pop such as Brian Eno and Peter Gabriel who—after collaborations with Hassell—steered the Fourth World idea into the avant-pop sphere where it has since evolved into myriad forms of "electronica", "new age", and "world music."

Notable concert appearances have included The Next Wave at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Serious Fun at Lincoln Center, La Foret Museum in Tokyo, the Berlin Jazz Festival, the Paris Biennale, a Japan tour with Farafina, a traditional group of drummers and dancers from Burkina Faso and a spectacular appearance with eight Moroccan tribal groups at Expo 92 in Seville to celebrate Moroccan Independence Day. A European tour in November 1997 included sold-out performances at L'Opera de Nice and Queen Elizabeth Hall in London.

Theatrical scores include Sulla Strada, created for the Venice Biennale, and Zangezi, directed by Peter Sellars. He has collaborated on presentations by fashion avant-gardists Issey Miyake and Rei Kawakubo and for choreographic works by Merce Cunningham and the Alvin Ailey Dance Company. The Kronos Quartet commissioned and recorded his 'Pano da Costa'. In 1996 the Netherlands Dance Theater commissioned Lurch—a major, evening-length piece choreographed by Australian dance maverick Gideon Obarzanek to the music of Hassell, arranged and remixed for performance by two onstage DJs. Jon both appeared in, and composed the score to the Wim Wenders' film, The Million Dollar Hotel, in collaboration with Bono, Daniel Lanois, and Brian Eno.

His last album, Fascinoma, produced by Ry Cooder, opened a surprising new chapter in Hassell's recording career.

The Dogme-like simplicity of one exceptional microphone, one tape recorder and one beautifully resonant church space reveal a trumpet sound and style unlike any other. The extraordinary jazz pianist Jacky Terrasson, classical Indian bansuri flute master, Ronu Majumdar and Ry's unmistakable guitar sound fill the space in a glorious acoustic sound which has provoked unprecedented critical superlatives.

The current visibility of the "e-jazz" phenomenon ("electronic jazz", integrating collage techniques of hip-hop) has brought renewed appreciation of Hassell's earlier catalog, especially the 1993 recording Dressing for Pleasure. This, along with the release of Fascinoma has inspired a new generation of European trumpet players: Erik Truffaz, Paolo Fresu, and Nils Petter Molvaer who all acknowledge the depth of his influence on their music. A special tribute concert at the 25th anniversary of the Montreal Jazz Festival in July 2004 featured Hassell in "remix" mode with DJ Stratum, Paolo Fresu, Erik Truffaz and guests, Tunisian vocalist, Dhafer Youssef and Norwegian guitarist, Eivind Aarset.

In April 2002, Jon Hassell led a group consisting of Senegalese world music superstar Baaba Maal, top DJ/Producer Howie B, and Miles Davis keyboardist John Beasley in a world premiere of new music at London's Barbican Centre. Recent Montreal, Milan and Paris concerts (with special guests Paolo Fresu and Dhafer Youssef) by Hassell's new group become the raw material for magical transformation in his eagerly awaited 2005 release, Maarifa Street / Magic Realism 2—a record which merges the spontaneity of live concerts with the detailing of a studio recording in yet another piece of musical alchemy in the same universe with the first "Magic Realism" record of 1983.

Also coming in 2005: The North and South of You, a book of ideas toward creating a personal and social paradise rooted in the musical paradise of the Fourth World paradigm.

Other Activity: Jon Hassell's theme for the Emmy Award winning ABC television drama series, The Practice, was recently chosen by TV Guide as one of the fifty greatest themes in television history. Solo appearances on records reveal an amazing range of artists, from the new Buenos Hermanos of Ibrahim Ferrer (Cuban superstar of Buena Vista Social Club) to Ani DiFranco's Reveling, to k.d. lang and Manhattan Transfer, a remix with Björk and producer Guy Sigsworth's new group, Frou Frou. Film scores and performances include The Million Dollar Hotel, Wild Side, Owning Mahowney, Primary Colors, The End of Violence, Angel Eyes, and Love and Death in Long Island.

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Jon Hassell: Maarifa Street

by Geno Thackara
September 7, 2024

A little technology and a lot of imagination can go quite a long way. With an uncanny knack for bending and warping sounds slightly out of phase with the way they sound in the real world, Jon Hassell had a way of turning the trumpet (or indeed any piece of the soundscape) into something nobody had ever heard of on Earth. ...

Year in Review

Chris May’s Best Releases Of 2020

by Chris May
December 7, 2020

Not the best year for live gigs in London, but Dele Sosimi's Afrobeat Orchestra just made it under the wire, lighting up the Jazz Cafe in late January. Rather like Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, Sosimi's band has form as an incubator of young talent. A recent star in the making was trumpeter Ife Ogunjobi, who has since been picked up by Ezra Collective and by drummer and bandleader Moses Boyd. Tonight's new name to watch was singer Sahra Gure. Topmost ...

Album Review

Jon Hassell: Seeing Through Sound: Pentimento Volume Two

Read "Seeing Through Sound: Pentimento Volume Two" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
August 5, 2020

Visionary trumpeter-composer Jon Hassell presents another gift from his late career. The third release on his own Ndeya label, it follows the re-release of his debut album Vernal Equinox (Ndeya, 2020) and is a sequel to Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One) (Ndeya, 2018). The structure is a bit different, still eight tracks, but organized as a series of Scenes. The personnel is more diverse as well. In addition to a core group of Rick Cox (electric guitar, bass clarinet, ...

Album Review

Jon Hassell: Seeing Through Sound: Pentimento Volume Two

Read "Seeing Through Sound: Pentimento Volume Two" reviewed by Chris May

by Chris May
July 13, 2020

By the time even the most radical musicians reach their ninth decade, few are any longer making cutting-edge work. But trumpeter, electronicist and composer Jon Hassell, a collaborator with Terry Riley and La Monte Young in the 1960s and the creator of Fourth World music in the 1970s, remains as venturesome as ever. Much of Seeing Through Sound: Pentimento Volume Two was recorded during the sessions for Hassell's lustrous Listening To Pictures: Pentimento Volume One (Ndeya, 2018). ...

Reassessing

Vernal Equinox

by Doug Collette
May 10, 2020

In making Vernal Equinox available on vinyl for the first time in forty-two years and on CD for the first time in three decades, Jon Hassell's 1977 album has been fully remastered for its updated release on the artist's own Ndeya label. This first commercially released work by Hassell was, by many accounts, an early glimpse into a sound that would later go on to be known as 'Fourth World,' a mix of electronics, jazz, classical Indian music field recordings ...

Interview

Jon Hassell: Words with the Shaman

by Chris May
April 21, 2020

Jon Hassell is best known as the creator of Fourth World music, an acoustic-electronic blend of jazz, minimalism, drone, ambient, traditional African and Asian instruments and harmolodic signatures. Hassell has defined Fourth World as “serious music with transcultural appeal and a smile." He unveiled the concept on his debut album, Vernal Equinox (Lovely Records), in 1977. In March 2020, Hassell reissued Vernal Equinox on his own Ndeya Records label. Hassell's roots go back to ...

Album Review

Jon Hassell: Vernal Equinox

Read "Vernal Equinox" reviewed by Mark Sullivan

by Mark Sullivan
April 3, 2020

Visionary trumpeter-composer Jon Hassell is one of the architects of what has come to be called World Music: his own preferred term is Fourth World, which he described as “a unified primitive/futuristic sound combining features of world ethnic styles with advanced electronic techniques." Vernal Equinox was his first commercial album release, originally on Lovely Music in 1977. The second release on Hassell's own Ndeya label—following the 2018 Listening To Pictures (Pentimento Volume One)—this reissue makes the album available on vinyl ...

Book / Magazine

Holiday Gift Idea: New Book Features Kronos Quartet, Brian Eno, Ryuichi Sakatmoto, Arvo Pärt, Jon Hassell, Michael Price And The Art Ensemble Of Chicago

Source: All About Jazz
December 12, 2018

The Moderns vol.2 explores the world’s great avant-garde artists. BADD PRESS announces the launch of The Moderns vol. 2, the second installment of a series dedicated to the world’s great avant-garde artists. Featuring more than 200 reviews and interviews, the book introduces readers to established and emerging music leaders from around the world. “The first volume was so warmly received,” says author Kevin Press. “Since its publication at the beginning of this year, I’ve been sent music from all over ...
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Website

Download Three Free MP3s by Composer / Trumpeter Jon Hassell

Source: All About Jazz
May 6, 2009

Learn more about Jon Hassell, then download three free tracks (see below), including one from his latest release Last Night the Moon Came Dropping Its Clothes in the Street on ECM Records. Enjoy! About Jon Hassell Composer/trumpeter Jon Hassell is the visionary creator of a style of music he describes as Fourth World, a mysterious, unique hybrid of music both ancient and digital, composed and improvised, Eastern and Western. In the last two decades, his connoisseur recordings, built around ...
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Interview

Trumpeter/Composer Jon Hassell Interviewed at AAJ... And Much, Much More!

Source: All About Jazz
May 4, 2009

He may well be one of the most insidious influences in modern music. Trumpeter, composer and deep thinker Jon Hassell may not have the same name recognition as, say, Miles Davis, but his unmistakable approach to music--he calls it Fourth World music--has affected musicians around the globe, ranging from now friend/co-conspirator Brian Eno, British post-rock crooner David Sylvian and singer/songwriter Tim Elsenburg (aka Sweet Billy Pilgrim), to jazz-centric artists including trumpeters Arve Henriksen, Nils Petter Molvær and Matthias Eick, as ...
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Birthday

Jazz Musician of the Day: Jon Hassell

Source: Michael Ricci
March 22, 2009

All About Jazz is celebrating Jon Hassell's birthday today!

JAZZ MUSICIAN OF THE DAY Jon Hassell

Composer/trumpeter Jon Hassell is the visionary creator of a style of music he describes as Fourth World, a mysterious, unique hybrid of music both ancient and digital, composed and improvised, Eastern and Western. In the last two decades... more

Website | Videos | Articles

Follow Jon Hassell @ AAJ

Put AAJ's Musician of the ...
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Event

Jon Hassell & Maarifa Street with Dhafer Youssef at Royce Hall (LA) on February 13th

Source: All About Jazz
February 11, 2009

Jon Hassell Brings his Unclassifiable Music to Royce Hall on Feb. 13 as Part of his First U.S. tour in Twenty Years. On the heels of his newest album release, Last night the moon came dropping its clothes in the street, Jon Hassell brings his unclassifiable musical colors and a unique electro-acoustic ensemble, with special guest Tunisian vocalist and oud player Dhafer Youssef, to Royce Hall on Feb. 13 as part of his first U.S. tour in two decades. With ...
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"Almost all of the musicians I meet at the moment seem to regard Jon Hassell as one of the God-like geniuses of contemporary music." —David Toop, The Wire

"Work of quite extraordinary beauty... This pan-cultural music swirls and rises like smoke... Hassell blends his experiences in such a way that the components—African drumming, Indian microtonality, Balinese tranquility-make a new palette while forfeiting none of the individual colors." —LONDON TIMES

"Extraordinary, otherworldly music..." —ROLLING STONE