Occupation(s) MusicianArtist Role Musician Name Charles Cohen | Website ColorIsLuxury.org Instruments Buchla Easel Music group The Valerie Project | |
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Albums Brother I Prove You Wrong, A Retrospective, The Middle Distance, Redose - 3 Similar Senyawa, Metasplice, Morphosis, Greg Weeks, Pauline Oliveros | ||
Charles cohen at the buchla music easel
Charles Cohen is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania area-based free jazz musician and composer. Creating music since 1971, his music is entirely improvisational and produced solely on a vintage Buchla Music Easel synthesizer, an extremely rare integrated analog performance instrument made by synthesizer pioneer Don Buchla. He has been increasingly recognized for his artistry performing internationally and is one of a handful of musicians who has mastered the Buchla Music Easel, an extremely rare instrument. Only twenty-five of the instruments were produced in the early 1970s and only a few have survived. He is also considered a pioneer in synthesizers and performance music.
Contents
- Charles cohen at the buchla music easel
- Charles cohen artist profile
- Synthesizer usage
- LPs
- Reworks
- The Ghostwriters
- Collaborations
- Compilations
- Performances
- Arrest and child sex charges
- References
He says he was inspired by free jazz pianist Cecil Taylor. Cohen worked for many years with musician Jeff Cain in their group The Ghostwriters. He works with other media artists in improvisational settings such as the Red Room, Knitting Factory and Tonic. Cohen concentrates on creating electronic music in the setting of the live performance space. He is openly gay and has performed in LGBT-specific performances, events and venues.
In September 2015, Cohen was arrested and charged with crimes including criminal attempt of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 16. Cohen was released on $100,000 bail, and in August 2016, Cohen pleaded no contest to the charges.
Charles cohen artist profile
Synthesizer usage
Buchla's instruments, such as the Music Easel (pictured), use a different method of timbre generation than Moog synthesizers. Moog units use oscillators with basic function generator type waveshapes and rely heavily on filtering with 24 dB resonant low-pass filters, while Buchlas are geared toward complex oscillators using frequency modulation, amplitude modulation, and dynamic waveshaping to produce other forms of timbre modulation. Many of Don Buchla's designs, including the Low-Pass Gates (later called Dynamic Managers) contain vactrols (photoresistive opto-isolators used as voltage-controlled potentiometers) that contributed to a very "natural" perception of Buchla sound.
I've been playing the Buchla Music Easel since 1976. With its color-coded slide pots, its musically logical panel layout, and its almost sculptural patching system, I can comprehend the state of the instrument with a fleeting glance.
LPs
Reworks
The Ghostwriters
Collaborations
Compilations
Performances
Arrest and child sex charges
In September 2015, Cohen was arrested in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania during a police sting operation when he allegedly sought to have sex with a 14-year-old, after corresponding online with an undercover police detective. He was charged with criminal attempt of involuntary deviant sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 16, unlawful contact with a minor and criminal use of a communication facility. On August 12, 2016, Cohen pleaded no contest to the felony charges against him and is awaiting sentencing.