Annette Peacock
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Annette Peacock
- Genres: Jazz
Biography
Annette Peacock's work as a vocalist, pianist, and composer is austere, cryptic, laconic, minimalistic, and relentlessly individual. Her dry delivery and penchant for stark, stripped-down musical "environments" have made her something of a cult figure and an icon of the avant-garde. An early participant (1961-1962) in Dr. Timothy Leary's psychedelic culture experiments and a longtime adherent of Zen Macrobiotics, Peacock has been releasing albums since 1968. But her career has been marked by fairly long periods of silence; this partly explains her relative obscurity.Aside from a brief period of formal study at Juilliard during the 1970s, Peacock is entirely self-taught. Born in Brooklyn, she began composing by the time she was five. Her first professional association was with saxophonist Albert Ayler, with whom she toured Europe in the 1960s. She soon began to write in an idiom she calls the "free-form song," which emphasizes the use of space in contrast to the busy, cacophonous tendencies of free jazz. During this period she met and married her first husband, the double bass virtuoso Gary Peacock. She also began to write material specifically for the avant-garde pianist Paul Bley and his trio. For decades, Bley has remained one of her most devoted interpreters.
Among her other accomplishments, Peacock is an unsung pioneer of electronic music. Years before the commercial emergence of synthesizers, she received a prototype from inventor Robert Moog. This prompted her to synthesize her own voice, which according to most reports had never been done before. Ultimately these experiments brought about an innovative 1971 album, The Bley/Peacock Synthesizer Show.
Despite her decidedly unorthodox profile, Peacock has had several interesting points of contact with mainstream culture. In 1978 she sang three songs on Feels Good to Me, a minor classic by progressive rock drummer Bill Bruford. Her song "My Mama Never Taught Me How to Cook" appears on the soundtrack of Kevin Smith's 1997 film Chasing Amy. And a sample from Peacock's song "Survival" crops up in "Tell 'Em Yu Madd" by Militant the Madd Rapper featuring Busta Rhymes. Most notably, David Bowie has shown interest in Peacock's work over the years. On his 1999 album Hours, the rock legend makes a fairly explicit reference to Peacock's song "I'm the One." Bowie subsequently invited Peacock to collaborate.
Pianist Marilyn Crispell saluted Peacock with a 1997 ECM disc titled Nothing Ever Was, Anyway: The Music of Annette Peacock. Peacock's one-track guest performance on the album ended a 12-year recording hiatus (her longest yet). But her official return to the studio came in 2000 with her own An Acrobat's Heart, also on ECM. Although many of her compositions appeared on Paul Bley's ECM titles through the years, Peacock had never herself previously recorded for the German-based label. ~ David R. Adler, Rovi
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Annette Peacock
Annette Peacock - composer, arranger, producer, musician, writer, singer.
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Biography
Annette Peacock began composing at the age of four. Her mother was a violist in the San Diego and Philadelphia Philharmonic Orchestras.
At 19, Annette married jazz bassist Gary Peacock who was working with Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Bill Evans, Sonny Rollins, and currently Keith Jarrett. At the beginning of the 60's she toured with Albert Ayler, studied Zen Macrobiotics with Michio Kushi, and was a close associate of Timothy Leary at the psychedelic center in Millbrook.[1]
In 1964, pianist Paul Bley first began featuring her avant-garde compositions - ultimately on over 60 records. At the end of the 1960s she and Bley became strongly associated with the musical possibilities of the newly-emerging synthesizer. Given a prototype by Robert Moog, Annette invented a way to externally process and augment her voice through the synthesizer[1], as well as playing electric bass, elec. piano and elec. vibraphone - most notably at Town Hall, and a concert produced by Annette at Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center (New York City) which she promoted with spots on late night TV and a guest appearance on the Johnny Carson Show.
In 1968 she recorded Revenge for Polydor, and 1971 recorded I'm The One (voted by the journalists of WIRE magazine as one of the top 100 records that "set fire to the world") released by RCA in 1972; and appeared as a "Hologram" in a collaboration and show with Salvador Dalí. After which began her first gap of six years until her next release X-Dreams, when she was also recording with Allan Holdsworth on Bill Bruford's first solo project, the prog-rock classic Feels Good to Me.[1]
She started her own indie label ironicrecords in the UK and issued four albums from 1981 to 1988 (see discography) distributed by Rough Trade.
Producer Manfred Eicher commissioned Ms. Peacock in 1997 to compose a project for string quartet and herself on piano and voice. After 3 years working on the compositions and arrangements, and a recording silence of 12 years, "An Acrobat's Heart" was released in 2000 by ECM.[2] This followed ECM's 1997 double CD tribute to Annette's 1964 - 1969 compositions: "Nothing Ever Was, Anyway - Music of Annette Peacock".[2]
Her song My Mama Never Taught Me How to Cook was included in the soundtrack of director Kevin Smith's classic 1998 indie film Chasing Amy.
At the beginning of 2006, she started-up her own label again ironic US with an unpromoted release 31:31. At the same time the result of her collaboration with Coldcut, Just for the Kick, was released on their current album Sound Mirrors distributed by Ninja Tune.
Her music has also been recorded by David Bowie, Busta Rhymes, J-Live, RZA. Brian Eno, Morcheeba, Pat Metheny, Al Kooper, Mick Ronson.
Selected discography
Albums
- Bley-Peacock Synthesizer Show: Revenge - "The Bigger the Love the Greater the Hate" (Polydor, 1968)
- I'm the One (RCA, 1972; CD reissue 2010 on Ironic)
- Annette & Paul Bley: Dual Unity (Freedom, 1972)
- Paul Bley: Improvisie (America, 1972)
- X-Dreams (Aura UK, 1978)
- The Perfect Release (Aura UK, 1979)
- Sky-skating (Ironic, 1981)
- Been in the Streets Too Long (Ironic, 1983)
- I Have No Feelings (Ironic, 1986)
- Abstract-Contact (Ironic, 1988)
- An Acrobat's Heart (ECM, 2000)
- 31:31 (Ironic, 2006)
Compilations
- The Collection (Aura UK, 1982)
- Back to Mine Volume 7, mixed by Morcheeba, only first track (Pony) by Peacock (DMC, 2001)
- My Mama Never Taught Me How to Cook ... (The Aura Years 1978 - 1982) (Sanctuary, 2004)
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)
References
- ^ a b c Adler, David. "Annette Peacock: Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/artist/annette-peacock-p11396/biography. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
- ^ a b Williamson, Don (2000-11-01). "An Acrobat's Heart". All About Jazz. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=27554. Retrieved 2011-01-09.
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Mentioned in
Paul Bley With Gary Peacock
(1963 Album by Paul Bley With Gary Peacock)
An Acrobat's Heart
(2000 Album by Annette Peacock)
Felder's Orioles
(Rock Band, '60s)
Alone, Again
(1974 Album by Paul Bley)
As
(1981 Album by Ralph Simon)
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