Don Preston

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Don Preston (born Donald Ward Preston on September 21, 1932 in Flint , Michigan ) is an American rock and fusion musician and film music composer . He plays the double bass , piano and keyboard , and is considered a pioneer in the field of synthesizers . He became known through his collaboration with Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention .

Don Preston at a concert by The Grandmothers in Turin (2005)

Life

Don Preston grew up in the American car city of Detroit . He comes from a musical family. From his parents he received not only piano lessons, but also the advice: “Don't be a musician!” Father Donn played the trumpet, was the house composer of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra and had thus achieved some wealth. At the age of twelve, the son had to leave Catholic school because he had hypnotized several students and a teacher (a nun). It was around this time that his parents divorced. The nuns also taught him how to play the piano exactly - for incorrectly played notes they would hit him on the fingers with a ruler as a punishment. That sparked his interest in strange, dissonant music, Preston later stated in a tour booklet of the Grandmothers . Preston played exclusively classical music in his youth; He only got to know playing with other musicians during his military service in Italy.

Don Preston owes his pseudonym "Dom DeWild" to the maiden name of his first wife Roena - she was born DeWild. Today he is married to actress Tina Preston. His second pseudonym "Biff Debris" is an invention by Frank Zappa that was made in connection with his film Uncle Meat .

Don Preston is a member of the non-denominational Agape Church and has also found edification in his yoga practices for decades . The convinced vegetarian keeps himself physically fit with regular tennis. He also has a bizarre hobby: Don Preston is fascinated by terrors because they are "the only insects that can turn their heads". He breeds these animals and sells their eggs.

Five decades of music

Don Preston names the composers Toru Takemitsu , György Ligeti , Krzysztof Penderecki , Morton Feldman , Iannis Xenakis and John Cage as important musical influences - all representatives of New Music . The free jazz and modern creative musician Paul Bley , the bebop saxophonist Charlie Parker and the spiritual father of the modern jazz piano, Bud Powell, were also important for Preston's work . Preston also lists the funk metal band Extreme , the synthesizer project Front Line Assembly , the industrial group Throbbing Gristle and also the British experimental rockers Art Bears as essential sources of inspiration.

After more than half a century in the music business, two main directions can be identified in Don Preston's work. Originally coming from jazz, he soon turned to experimental rock music. Later, his focus was again on jazz, from which he should turn to rock again.

The 1950s - the beginning of jazz

In the 1950s Don Preston's main interest was jazz. He played in Detroit as bassist with drummer and band leader Elvin Jones and with ethno-jazz founder Yusef Lateef . He also played for the pianist Tommy Flanagan and for the jazz experimenter Don Ellis . During his military service in Trieste, Italy, he worked as a pianist for the jazz flutist Herbie Mann . In the barracks he shared the room with Buzz Gardner , with whom he would play in Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention about 15 years later. Gardner aroused Preston's interest in the twelve-tone composers Arnold Schönberg , Anton Webern and Alban Berg as well as in the classical composers of Russia. In the late 1950s he played in Los Angeles for the jazz bassist Charlie Haden (1959), for the free jazz player Paul Bley and the jazz musician Carla Bley (1957-1958). He went on tour with jazz legend Nat King Cole in 1958.

Synthesizer pioneer

In the early 1960s, Preston turned to the emerging electronic music and began experimenting with artificially created sounds. Don Preston built his first synthesizer himself in 1965 - because "you couldn't buy one back then," as he said in an interview. The device was equipped with 50 oscillators , three filters , two ring modulators , a tape echo device and a mixer . Preston says he was the first musician ever to use a synthesizer in a band. Only two years later, the Moog, the world's first mass-produced synthesizer, came onto the market. From his first “home-made” oscillator and filter inventions to the gradually prevalent synthesizers of different manufacturers to the software synthesizers of today, Preston used all the possibilities available to him to create sounds.

Preston was referred to by the composer John Carter as the "father of modern synthesis". Preston made the electronic sound sources his own and adapted them to jazz, he was one of the pioneers in this field, even if he received nowhere near enough recognition for his contributions and the extensive knowledge he had acquired in relation to electronic music.

Don Preston reports that while listening to a recording of Preston's solo on "Waka / Jawaka" (album Waka / Jawaka by Frank Zappa, 1972), the Minimoog's designer, Bob Moog , said, "That's impossible on a Minimoog. " impossible with a Minimoog). Preston himself saw it similarly, he told interviewer Roy Harper: "My best solo can be found on the album Waka / Jawaka ."

The 1960s - "Mother" Preston

Don Preston (back, right) with Frank Zappa & The Mothers (1968)

In the summer of 1961 Preston auditioned for the first time with Frank Zappa, who was still a dance musician in the Los Angeles area. After a few appearances, the two paths parted again. In 1963 he founded the group “Aha!” (Aesthetic Harmony Assemblage) with Emil Richards , in which his wife Roena, the dancer, Paul Beaver and the painter Michael Craden were also involved. The aim of the group was to combine the various art forms in a single concept. The group was not very successful and broke up in 1964. Preston and Craden then founded the Craden-Preston Ensemble, with which they gave many concerts. In doing so, they improvised on abstract forms such as colors that were displayed on a screen. They experimented - based on Harry Partch  - with self-constructed " microtonal instruments" which divided an octave into up to 43 parts. In addition, "a poet and a bunch of percussionists were also used."

In 1967 Preston joined the band The Mothers of Invention, founded by Frank Zappa, who at the time had already released their highly acclaimed album Freak Out! had published. Here, on the one hand, he benefited from his years of experience as a jazz musician, on the other hand, his willingness to experiment and his preference for weird and dissonant things. Preston can be heard on a record for the first time on the Mothers album Absolutely Free . Further albums followed, including Trout Mask Replica by Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band and Permanent Damage by the GTO’s group .

When Zappa broke up the Mothers in early 1969, it was like a slap in the face for Preston. When asked how he felt after the band broke up, he replied to interviewer Roy Harper, "... as if my wife had left me and taken the children and the furniture with her". According to Preston, the live concerts of the time consisted of three or four pieces - “everything else was improvised” - that suited his tendencies towards experimentation and free play.

Nevertheless, Preston's collaboration with Zappa did not end there. From then on he was only an irregular member of his live band, but up to 1974 he could be heard on a total of twelve albums. His penchant for the bizarre can not only be heard in the Zappa music films 200 Motels and Uncle Meat , but also seen: Don Preston plays there, among other things, the role of a monster named Biff Debris .

Music critic Ben Watson raises the Minimoog solos of Preston in "Lonesome Electric Turkey" on the album Filmore East (1972) and in "Waka / Jawaka" ( Waka / Jawaka , 1972) and "The Grand Wazoo" ( The Grand Wazoo , 1972) as “extraordinary”. Preston has shown himself to be an innovator with the Mothers because of his musical background. The “Post- Stockhausen ” style of his improvisations had been picked up by Zappa and had influenced him even after the collaboration had ended.

The 1970s

From 1970 Don Preston worked on a variety of projects. So he founded a quartet called "Raw Milk". From the electronic music of the three synthesizer players Don Preston, Christy Rundquist and Phil Davis as well as the drummer Sandy Reiner, only one song has been released: This Preston track "I can't Breathe", recorded in 1970, only appeared on the debut album of 1981 Group The Grandmothers. Preston took on the role of musical director in the band of American singer Meredith Monk and played again with Carla Bley on Escalator over the Hill . He also went on tour with big band innovator Gil Evans in 1971 and played several times during this decade (tour 1972, recordings in 1973) with cellist and jazz bassist Buell Neidlinger . In 1972, not only was the album Some Time released in New York City - a bizarre stage happening with Zappa, the Mothers, John Lennon and Yoko Ono  - but also The Phlorescent Leech & Eddie , the first solo album by the Ex- Turtles - and Ex-Mothers- Members Flo & Eddie . In 1977 Preston finally helped the Doors guitarist Robbie Krieger on his solo debut Versions . Preston's name also appeared in the credits for the film music in Francis Ford Coppola's Oscar-winning Vietnam War epic " Apocalypse Now ".

He followed his still existing experimental friends when he went into the studio with the avant-garde band The Residents to contribute some synthesizer soundtracks for their album Eskimo . Don Preston formed a jazz band in the late 1970s with bassist Arthur Barrow (who had just been hired by Zappa at the time) and former Mothers trombonist Bruce Fowler . Under the name "Loose Connection", this ensemble performed a few appearances in the Los Angeles area; they also met in Echo Park , a district of Los Angeles, for recordings in a recording studio. Further studio sessions were set up in Hollywood in December 1978 , this time with drummer Vinnie Colaiuta , whom Zappa had also recently signed. He also went on tours abroad with the composer and band leader Michael Mantler and the musician and film composer Michael Hoenig .

The 1980s

In 1985 Preston recorded the duo album Alien with Michael Mantler - it was not the only collaboration between the two. The way he had become in demand as a studio musician was shown by his involvement in projects by clarinetist John Carter , jazz bassist John Patitucci , Weather Report drummer Peter Erskine and Gil Evans . He also played in a trio with Art Davis (bass) and Tootie Heath (drums). He also recorded the jazz album Comin 'On with John Carter and cornet player Bobby Bradford . In 1989 he played with the Brazilian saxophonist Ivo Perelman .

Preston's involvement with the Mothers of Invention led to arguments with Frank Zappa in January 1985. At that time he was planning to re-release the early Mothers albums in a collector's box ( The Old Masters Box One ). Preston and ex-Mothers members Jimmy Carl Black and Bunk Gardner found out about this and sued Zappa for payment of $ 13 million in compensation for royalties outstanding since 1969. This lawsuit was joined by other members of the early Zappaband in the form of Ray Collins, Art Tripp and Jim Motorhead Sherwood, which increased the total amount to 16.4 million dollars. Zappa's attempts to avoid a lawsuit failed insofar as he ultimately agreed to an out-of-court settlement. Nothing is known about the result, the parties have agreed not to disclose.

The 1990s

Around 40 years would pass after the beginning of his musical career before Don Preston released his first solo album: Vile Foamy Ectoplasm was released in 1993; he was followed in 1997 by the second solo album Hear Me Out . Between 1996 and 1997 Preston sang in the avant-garde opera The School of Understanding (libretto Michael Mantler ). With John Carter there was another collaboration on Fields , Preston also worked for Jefferson Airplane and Yoko Ono (on Ono Box ). Above all, however, he now concentrated on "Ant-Bee", the group of the studio musician and journalist Billy "Ant-Bee" James, who mainly worked in the Zappa environment, with whom five albums were created in just three years.

In the new millennium

Don Preston, after a concert by Project / Object, at Effenaar , Eindhoven, 9 August 2009

In the past few years, Don Preston has mainly taken care of his own projects. In 2001 alone he released five more albums: the solo albums Io Landscapes , Corpus Transfixum , Music from Blood Diner & other films and Trans Form as well as the CD Transformation with the "Don Preston Trio" .

As "The Don & Bunk Show" he became active with his friend Bunk Gardner and brought out the albums Necessity Is ... (2000) and Joined at the Hip (2002). With his group "The Akashic Ensemble", with which he was still on tour in 2006, he released The Inner Realities of Evolution in 2003 ; Not only Bunk Gardner was involved in the recordings, but also his wife Tina Preston as a singer. In 2003, the former Zappa bassist Arthur Barrow played the album On Time with Preston . Finally, Preston was heard on Heavy Lightning in 2004 , a release by Italian guitarist Sandro Oliva.

In 2002 Don Preston came to Bad Doberan in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania on the Baltic Sea. At the " Zappanale " festival there, he played compositions by Frank Zappa in various line-ups.

"Grandmother" Preston

Don Preston at a concert by The Grandmothers in Turin (2005)

Together with ex-Mothers members Jimmy Carl Black and Bunk Gardner, Don Preston founded the band The Grandmothers in 1980. Until 2003, the group played not only compositions by the band members but also many Zappa / Mothers songs exclusively from the years 1965 to 1969. Preston then left this ensemble to form the group "Grandmothers Re: Invented" with Bunk Gardner, Roy Estrada and Napoleon Murphy Brock . From then on, this should be dedicated to Zappa's creative period from 1964 to 1983. Other bands linked to the Zappa oeuvre with the participation of Don Preston are Jimmy Carl Black's group Geronimo Black and Billy James' group "Ant-Bee".

Film music

Preston's contribution to the soundtrack of the aforementioned film Apocalypse Now was originally supposed to be limited to renting out his synthesizer to other musicians. However, when the producer heard who owned this instrument, Preston was hired immediately. According to his own statements, he orchestrated about a quarter of the film music composed by Francis Ford Coppola's father Carmine and recorded all of the synthesizer tracks.

Over the years he has also been able to gain a foothold in the film music business. According to his own account, he wrote the music for 20 films. These include works such as the science fiction film Der Android (1982), the comedies Police Patrol - Die Chaotenstreife vom Nachtrevier (1984), Blood Diner (1987) and Night Academy (1987), the horror film The Being (1983) or even the action film Tiger (1986). In 1995 French producers hired him to set three soft sex films from the Emmanuelle series to music .

style

His way of “attacking the keys with intense passion”, describes the English Wikipedia Preston's keyboard playing is characteristic. Preston's solos also combined intellect, technical ability and a way of developing the melody typical of storytellers. The game as well as the structure reflected the whole range of moods and feelings - all colored by the freedom that results from the remarkable musical possibilities of this musician. And in March 2006 a BBC reviewer praised Don Preston's “inimitable keyboard style” in connection with a concert by the “Akashic Ensemble” in Belfast, Northern Ireland: Sometimes his classic playing technique shines, then again he is open to experiments, with his hands moving moved like a theremin astronaut.

Finale

Preston also passes on his knowledge and experience to the next generation of musicians: He gave and continues to teach at the "Institute Of The Arts" in Woodstock , at the "Wind College" in Los Angeles, at the "Berklee School of Music" in Boston and at the " Laguna School of Music ”in Laguna Beach, California.

Shortly before his 74th birthday, Don Preston returned to Europe in March 2006 to give five concerts with his “Akashic Ensemble” in London, Belfast and Rotterdam. In September 2006 an eleven gig tour through America and Canada followed.

Awards

Don Preston has received numerous awards from various quarters for his work during his long career. His previous homepage provides an overview.

  • Silver Award - Best Film 1993 for Believe in Eve
  • Philadelphia's Silver Reel Award - Scoring for the film Apocalypse Now directed by Francis Ford Coppola
  • LA Weekly Award - Music Writing for The Kid Takes A Shot
  • LA Weekly Award - Sound Design for I Hate
  • LA Weekly Award - Sound Design for Black Hole In Space
  • Dramalogue Award - Sound Design for My Crime
  • Dramalogue Award - Sound Design for Taxi Dance
  • Award of Excellence - Jazz Concert - Mayor Bradley
  • Down Beat Jazz Poll - Electronic Keyboard - 1969
  • Down Beat Jazz Poll - Synthesizer - 1989

Discography (selection)

Solo albums

  • Vile Foamy Ectoplasm - 1993
  • Hear Me Out - 1997
  • Music From Blood Diner & Other Films - 2001 (CD-R)
  • Io Landscapes - 2001 (CD-R)
  • Corpus Transfixum - 2001 (CD-R)
  • Trans Form - 2001 (CD-R)

Ensembles

  • Bobby Bradford - John Carter Quintet: Comin 'On - 1989
  • Don Preston Trio: Transformation - 2001
  • Don Preston's Akashic Ensemble: The Inner Realities Of Evolution - 2003

with Frank Zappa & Mothers of Invention

with Carla Bley

with The Residents

  • Eskimo - 1979

with Michael Mantler

  • Alien - 1985

with John Carter

  • Dance of the Love Ghosts - 1986

with The South

  • Hot Air Through a Straw - 1969

literature

So far there are no monographs on Don Preston alone. Under Frank Zappa # Literature you can find a selection of works that also deal with Don Preston.

Articles in dictionaries and magazines:

  • Preston, Don (Donald W.). In: Leonard Feather, Ira Gitler: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz. University Press, Oxford 1999, ISBN 0-19-507418-1 , p. 584.
  • Barry Kernfeld: Preston, Donald Ward. In: Barry Kernfeld (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz. Volume 3. 2nd edition. Macmillian, New York 2002, ISBN 1-56159-284-6 , p. 324.
  • Lee Underwood: Profiles. Buell Neidlinger & Don Preston. In: Down Beat . No. 7. Mahler, Elmhurst 1977, ISSN  0012-5768 , pp. 28-29.
  • Josef Woodard: Don Preston. In: Down Beat . Volume 54, Issue 8. Mahler, Elmhurst 1987, ISSN  0012-5768 , pp. 25-27.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i about Don Preston (as of September 18, 2006)
  2. ↑ Interview with Don Preston ( Memento of the original from September 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of October 4, 2006)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.stevemoore.addr.com
  3. ↑ a b about Don Preston ( Memento of the original from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of October 4, 2006)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.laweekly.com
  4. ↑ a b c Interview with Don Preston ( Memento of the original from May 12, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of October 4, 2006)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.idiotbastard.supanet.com
  5. ↑ Agape Church (as of November 5, 2006)
  6. ↑ TV party (as of October 4, 2006)
  7. ↑ Lee Underwood: Profile: Buell Neidlinger & Don Preston , in Downbbeat , Mahler, Elmhurst 1977, No. 7, p. 28.
  8. ↑ a b Barry Miles : Zappa . Rogner & Bernhard, 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , p. 161
  9. ↑ Biography Buzz Gardner
  10. ↑ Moogmusic (as of November 5, 2006)
  11. ↑ Josef Woodard: Don Preston , in Down Beat , Mahler, Elmhurst 1987, Volume 54, Issue 8, page 26.
  12. ↑ Trevor Pinch and Frank Trocco: Analog Days: The Invention and Impact of the Moog Synthesizer , Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA & London, England 2002, ISBN 0-674-00889-8 , page 233
  13. ↑ Barry Miles : Zappa . Rogner & Bernhard, 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , p. 82.
  14. ^ Lee Underwood: Profiles. Buell Neidlinger & Don Preston . In: Downbbeat , Mahler, Elmhurst 1977, issue 7, page 28.
  15. ↑ Barry Miles : Zappa . Rogner & Bernhard, 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , pp. 217ff.
  16. ↑ Zappas Livebands (as of September 18, 2006)
  17. ↑ Frank Zappa's 200 motels . United Artists 1971
  18. ↑ Uncle Meat . Honker Home Video 1988
  19. ↑ Ben Watson: Frank Zappa. The negative dialectics of pool de play . Paperback, reprint 1996, Quartet Books, London 1996, ISBN 0-7043-0242-X , pages 77-78.
  20. ↑ first Grandmothers album (as of November 11, 2006)
  21. ↑ Raw Milk (as of November 11, 2006)
  22. ↑ a b biography on All Music (as of September 18, 2006)
  23. ↑ a b c Don Preston in the Notable Names Database (English)
  24. ↑ Apocalypse Now (as of September 18, 2006)
  25. ↑ a b Zappa chronology (as of October 31, 2006)
  26. ↑ Arthur Barrow ( Memento of the original from October 10, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of October 31, 2006) @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / home.netcom.com
  27. ^ Preston, Don (Donald W.) , In: Leonard Feather and Ira Gitler: The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz , page 583, University Press, Oxford 1999. ISBN 0-19-507418-1 .
  28. ↑ a b c Don Preston in the English language Wikipedia (as of September 18, 2006)
  29. ↑ Bobby Bradford - John Carter Quintet (as of November 5, 2006)
  30. ↑ Barry Miles : Zappa . Rogner & Bernhard, 2005, ISBN 3-8077-1010-8 , p. 377
  31. ↑ Barry Kernfeld: Preston, Donald Ward ., In: Barry Kernfeld (Ed.): The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz . 2nd edition, Volume 3, Macmillian, New York 2002, ISBN 1-56159-284-6 , page 324
  32. ↑ Ant-Bee ( Memento of the original from September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of September 18, 2006)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.handymusician.net
  33. ↑ The Grandmothers (as of September 18, 2006)
  34. ↑ The Grandmothers (as of September 18, 2006)
  35. ↑ Grandmothers Re: Invented (as of September 18, 2006)
  36. ↑ Geronimo Black (as of September 18, 2006)
  37. ↑ Ant-Bee (as of September 18, 2006)
  38. ↑ Short biography (as of September 18, 2006)
  39. ↑ Movies. In: Two thousand and one lexicon of international film
  40. ↑ BBC review  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of November 4, 2006)@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.bbc.co.uk  
  41. ↑ a b Laguna School of Music ( Memento of the original from March 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (As of November 4, 2006)  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lagunaschoolofmusic.com
  42. ↑ former Don Preston homepage ( Memento from October 15, 2004 in the Internet Archive ) ( archive.org )
  43. ^ LA Weekly in the English language Wikipedia
  44. ↑ Tom Bradley in the English language Wikipedia
This version was added to the list of articles worth reading on November 12, 2006 .
personal data
SURNAME Preston, Don
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Preston, Donald Ward (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American fusion musician, keyboardist and synthesizer specialist
DATE OF BIRTH September 21, 1932
PLACE OF BIRTH Flint