Writings about Music

Extremes

Music produced by electric, electronic and computer instruments is especially suited for large and small halls. I had the good fortune after moving to Los Angeles to become friends and make music with Ray Manzarek, the keyboardist who formed The Doors. My idea to combine his artistry with Indian and Arabic classical musicians excited Ray, and our second concert was at the House of Blues on Sunset Boulevard, with Ray playing an electronic keyboard triggering a multi-timbral sound module tuned with Just Intonation by myself. Prior to Ray and musicians taking stage, the person in charge of the sound system unexpectedly decided to play my Adorned With Pearl album for a lengthy stretch of time. Hearing my music through their Olympian set-up filling the house’s acoustics was a great thrill for me. Conversely, just last summer, I heard my music on an iPhone for the first time, and was dazzled by that superbly engineered system bringing to life my music in a room of the Sportsmen’s Lodge where Robert Kennedy had slept the night before his tragic death.

- Michael Robinson, June 2016, Los Angeles

© 2016 Michael Robinson All rights reserved

 

Michael Robinson is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer.