Henry Jacobs is a sound artist and improviser par excellence. His influential recordings as well as collaborative projects resonate with an irreverent sense of humor and a love for musics of the world. From the early 1950s into the 1970s, Jacobs experimented with tape music, staged the early surround sound and visual spectacle Vortex, and developed an array of absurd characters that would pop up as crank callers, relaxation coaches, or upside-down smiling instructors.
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Henry Jacobs is a sound artist and improviser par excellence. His influential recordings as well as collaborative projects resonate with an irreverent sense of humor and a love for musics of the world. From the early 1950s into the 1970s, Jacobs experimented with tape music, staged the early surround sound and visual spectacle Vortex, and developed an array of absurd characters that would pop up as crank callers, relaxation coaches, or upside-down smiling instructors. A contemporary of Ken Nordine and Lenny Bruce, Jacobs honed an individual style that was droll and laid-back but winked at you at the same time. On his recordings for Folkways, World Pacific, and Fantasy, as well as on his private label MEA, the world of Jacobs is an audio collage that embraces many cultures and sensibilities. This CD/DVD collection pays homage to Jacobs’ creative play, presenting recovered and restored audio as well as rare animated films that will give you a taste of this man’s special talents. •Helped to develop programs for the first TV station in Mexico. Often featured regional ethnic dances and improvisational theater. •Beginning in 1953, he hosted one of this nation's first world music programs for KPFA in Berkeley, CA. This lead to a record deal with Moe Asch of Folkways, who released the LP, “Audio Collage,” in 1955. That release featured early uses of tape manipulation, compound loops, and feedback in compositions, along with tracks comprised of mock interviews and improvised riffs. •Appears on Lenny Bruce’s first record (on Fantasy). •Presented the Vortex Sound Experiments at the Morrison Planetarium in Golden Gate Park, the first multichannel sound and visual spectacle to be shown in the U.S. (May 1957). On the merits of that project, he was invited to present Vortex at the legendary World Expo 1958 in Brussels. •Nominated for an Oscar in 1964 for his work with John Korty on the animated short “Breaking the Habit.” •Hired by fan Walter Murch to contribute to George Lucas’s THX 1138. Murch describes much of his work in film sound since the 1960s as having a “Jacobean twist to it” and he kindly agreed to be interviewed.
