Malcolm Cecil
Synth wizard BORN 1937
As a young bassist in London, Malcolm Cecil spent the early ’60s playing jazz and blues with the likes of Alexis Korner, Cyril Davies and Ronnie Scott. In 1968, having relocated to New York, he met Moog-owner Bob Margouleff. The two went on to build various analogue synthesizer modules into a semicircular, one-ton wall of polyphonic technology they called The Original New Timbral Orchestra, or TONTO for short. Named TONTO’s Expanding Head Band after a concept glimpsed by Margouleff while tripping on peyote, two pioneering albums followed, and the duo would also play on and co-produce Stevie Wonder’s 1972-74 run of classic LPs. The Isley Brothers, the Doobie Brothers and Randy Newman also called upon their synth expertise, before Margouleff split from the project in 1975. Cecil retained custody of TONTO, and worked with Gil Scott-Heron, Quincy Jones, Steve Hillage and many others. In later life he ran a studio in upstate New York; TONTO was sold to the National Music Centre in Calgary in 2013, where it was fully restored and is still available for use.
Ian Harrison