MUSIC PIONEER TENNEY, 72, DIES.Byline: Daily News VALENCIA -- Former CalArts professor James Tenney James Tenney (August 10, 1934 - August 24, 2006) was an American composer and influential music theorist. Tenney was born in Silver City, New Mexico, and grew up in Arizona and Colorado. , a composer, performer and computer music pioneer, died Thursday in Valencia. He was 72. Tenney held the Roy E. Disney Roy Edward Disney, KCSG, (born January 10, 1930) was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt founded. Family Chair in Musical Composition at the California Institute of the Arts' School of Music. ``Jim Tenney brought the richness of the entire classical tradition to his practice as a composer,'' CalArts President Steven Lavine said Tuesday. ``Not only did this lead to ravishingly rav·ish·ing adj. Extremely attractive; entrancing. rav  ish·ing·ly adv.Adv. 1. beautiful music, but it also made Jim a profound and inspiring teacher. His death is a huge loss to his friends and colleagues and to everyone who cared about the future of music.'' During recent years at CalArts, Tenney taught the works of composers he referred to as American musical mavericks. ``Clearly he was also one of the greats among them,'' said David Rosenboom David Rosenboom (born September 9, 1947 in Fairfield, Iowa) is an American composer and pioneer in the use of neurofeedback. Rosenboom has also worked with cross-cultural collaborations and compositional algorithms. , dean of the School of Music. ``History will remember him as a vitally significant American artist. Jim's mere presence on campus was always inspiring, touching countless lives over the years.'' Tenney worked at the Bell Telephone Laboratories in the early 1960s to develop programs for computer sound generation and composition. An innovator, his early compositions remain contemporary. In the early 1960s, he pioneered what is now referred to as sampling. His electronic Collage #1 (Blue Suede) includes manipulated elements from Elvis Presley's version of Carl Perkins' ``Blue Suede Shoes
"Blue Suede Shoes" is a rock and roll standard written and first recorded by Carl Perkins in 1955. .'' Based on his underground reputation for works composed in the 1960s and '70s, Tenney once was called ``the most famous unknown composer in America.'' Tenney was born in 1934 in Silver City, N.M. He grew up in Arizona and Colorado, where he received his early training as a pianist and composer. He attended the University of Denver Background and rankings The University was founded in 1864 as Colorado Seminary by John Evans, the former Territorial Governor of Colorado, who had been appointed by US President Abraham Lincoln. , the Juilliard School of Music, Bennington College and the University of Illinois University of Illinois may refer to:
Tenney returned to CalArts in the fall of 2000 to take the Roy E. Disney Family Chair in Musical Composition, having taught there when the institute was new, in the early 1970s. Tenney is survived by his wife, Lauren Pratt, sons Nathan and Justin Tenney, daughters Adrian Tenney and Mielle Turner, and grandchildren Sean, Ryan and Chad Turner. Remembrances of his life and work can be found at Kyle Gann's blog. |
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