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Gene Tyranny

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Robert Nathan Sheff (January 1, 1945 – December 12, 2020[1]), known professionally as "Blue" Gene Tyranny, was an avant-garde composer and pianist.

Robert Nathan Sheff
Birth nameJoseph Gantic
Also known as“Blue” Gene Tyranny
BornJanuary 1, 1945
San Antonio
DiedDecember 12, 2020(2020-12-12) (aged 75)
Long Island City

Early life

Tyranny was born Joseph Gantic in San Antonio on January 1, 1945 to William and Eleanor Gantic. Later that year, after his birth father went missing in the Asian theater of World War II, he was adopted by Dorothy and Meyer Sheff of San Antonio and his name was changed to Robert Nathan.[2][3][4] Tyranny was raised in the Lutheran church.[5] He studied piano with Meta Hertwig and Rodney Hoare, and composition with Otto Wick and Frank Hughes.

Career

Tyranny began his performance career in high school, playing pieces by major composers (such as John Cage) with Philip Krumm in a concert series in San Antonio. He has toured with the Carla Bley Band in 1977[6] and The Prime Movers (which included Iggy Pop and Michael Erlewine) as well as Iggy & The Stooges (in 1973). He has performed on albums by Laurie Anderson (Strange Angels), David Behrman (On the Other Ocean), John Cage (Cheap Imitation and Empty Words), Peter Gordon, and Robert Ashley (Perfect Lives, Dust, Celestial Excursions), with whom he frequently collaborated. Tyranny's albums include Out of the Blue (1977 Lovely Music LML 1061 [LP], 2007 Unseen Worlds UW01 [CD]), The Intermediary (1982 Lovely Music [LP] 1063, 2008 Lovely Music [CD]) Country Boy Country Dog (How To Discover Music in the Sounds of Your Daily Life) (1994 Lovely Music LCD 1065), Free Delivery (1999 Lovely Music LCD 1064), and The Somewhere Songs/The Invention of Memory (2008 Mutable 17529-2 [CD]).

He taught at Mills College from 1971 to 1982, where his students include composer Hsiung-Zee Wong, and also worked at the Center for Contemporary Music at Mills. He moved to New York in 1983 and received a Bessie in 1988 and in 1989 a Composer Fellowship from the NY Foundation for the Arts.

Tyranny was a contributor for Allmusic, reviewing albums and creating biographies for many notable contemporary artists.

According to Kyle Gann in the Village Voice, Tyranny had "Cecil Taylor's keyboard energy, [and] Morton Feldman's ear. The most original aspect of [his] works is the way they create continuity: they're tonal, yet rigorously asymmetrical. They satisfy the ear without letting it take anything for granted. They evolve...with the labyrinthine irreversibility of deep psychic forces."

In October 2020, Just For the Record: Conversations With and About "Blue" Gene Tyranny, a documentary film directed by David Bernabo, premiered at the TUSK Festival 2020.[7] In a review of the film for The Wire, Joshua Minsoo Kim writes, "Hearing Tyranny talk and learning how he lived his life encourages one to go the same way."[8]

Tyranny's death was announced on the 12th of December 2020 by the record label Unseen Worlds via a post on their Instagram account.[9]

References

  1. ^ "Steve Smith, "'Blue' Gene Tyranny, Whose Music Melded Genres, Dies at 75"". New York Times. Retrieved 2020-12-22.
  2. ^ ""Blue" Gene Tyranny". lovely.com. Retrieved 2018-02-07.
  3. ^ ""Blue" Gene Tyranny (1945–2020)". www.artforum.com. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  4. ^ ""Blue" Gene Tyranny Was Texas's Greatest Piano Prodigy". Texas Monthly. 2021-06-26. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  5. ^ ""Blue" Gene Tyranny: Degrees of Freedom Found". Pitchfork. Retrieved 2021-08-02.
  6. ^ Fred Seibert. "On the road with Carla Bley (and a big band of musical geniuses and misfits)". Fred Seibert Dot Com. Retrieved September 12, 2021.
  7. ^ "FILM PROGRAMME - TUSK Festival". tuskfestival.com. Retrieved 2020-09-10.
  8. ^ Kim, Joshua Minsoo(February 2021). "Just For the Record: Conversations with and about “Blue” Gene Tyranny". The Wire. No. 444. p. 75 – via Exact Editions. (subscription required)
  9. ^ "@unseen_worlds "Rest in Power "Blue" Gene Tyranny, Robert Sheff, Joe Gantic. 1945-2020". instagram.com. Retrieved 2020-12-13.

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