Tonto's Expanding Head Band

TONTO’s Expanding Head Band was an early electronic music duo formed by British musician Malcolm Cecil (born January 9, 1937) and American producer, musician, and engineer Robert Margouleff. Before forming the duo, Malcom Cecil had previously worked with many artists in the 1950s and 1960’s including the Jazz Courier, Ronnie Scott, Dick Morrissey, Alexis Korner and Blues Incorporated. In the late 1960s, Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff began piecing together a revolutionary electronic keyboard that began as a Moog modular synthesizer but was expanded using other keyboards. When the duo was finished, they called this new keyboard TONTO, which was an acronym for The Original New Timbral Orchestra. The TONTO was an enormous collection of keyboard components that were arranged in a semi-circle 20 feet in diameter and six feet tall. It remains the largest multitimbral polyphonic analog synthesizer in the world, Calling themselves TONTO’s Expanding Head band, the duo taped a series of recordings and released their first album, Zero Time, in 1971. The album was a ground-breaking release and introduced the music industry to a new sound and style. Stevie Wonder was so impressed that he hired Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff – and TONTO - to work on a series of his albums including Music of My Mind (1972), Talking Book (1972), Innervisions (1973) and Fulfillingness’ First Finale (1974). TONTO’s Expanding Head Band then issued their second album, It’s About Time, in 1974. The duo also worked with the Isley Brothers, Steve Hillage, Weather Report, and others. Several other releases by TONTO’s Expanding Head Band were released but they consisted of tracks taken from the duo’s only two albums. The duo’s recording career was laid to rest when Robert Margouleff sold his share of TONTO to Malcolm Cecil, although the two remained heavily involved behind the scenes. Eventually, TONTO was retired and finally ended up at the National Music Centre in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, where it was restored to working order. Malcolm Cecil died on March 28, 2021 at the age of 84.

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