Cornelis William Hendrik Fuhler (3 July 1964 – 19 July 2020) was a Dutch/Romani improvisor, composer, and instrument builder associated with

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

experimental music Experimental music is a general label for any music or music genre that pushes existing boundaries and genre definitions. Experimental compositional practice is defined broadly by exploratory sensibilities radically opposed to, and questioning of, ...

and

acoustic ecology Acoustic ecology, sometimes called ecoacoustics or soundscape studies, is a discipline studying the relationship, mediated through sound, between human beings and their environment. Acoustic ecology studies started in the late 1960s with R. Mu ...

. He played piano by manipulating sound with electromagnetic string stimulators like

Ebow The EBow is an electronic device used for playing string instruments, most often the electric guitar. It was invented by the American guitarist Greg Heet in 1969 and introduced in 1976. The EBow uses a pickup and a magnetic feedback circuit to ...

s and motorized actuators. Fuhler also performed on guitar, turntables and synthesizer. He invented the keyolin, a combination of keyboard and violin. Fuhler was a student of

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

of the Instant Composers Pool. He recorded the album ''Corkestra'' (Data, 2005) with

Ab Baars Ab Baars (born November 21, 1955, in Axel, Netherlands) is a Dutch saxophonist and clarinetist who has had an active performance career since the 1970s. He has recorded several albums for the Geestgronden Records, Atavistic Records, and WIG rec ...

, Tony Buck, Tobias Delius, Wilbert de Joode, Anne La Berge, Andy Moor, Nora Mulder, and Michael Vatcher. Fuhler played

prepared piano A prepared piano is a piano that has had its sounds temporarily altered by placing bolts, screws, mutes, rubber erasers, and/or other objects on or between the strings. Its invention is usually traced to John Cage's dance music for ''Works for pr ...

, analog keyboards,

clavinet The Clavinet is an electric clavichord invented by Ernst Zacharias and manufactured by the Hohner company of Trossingen, West Germany, from 1964 to 1982. The instrument produces sounds with rubber pads, each matching one of the keys and respond ...

melodica The melodica is a handheld free-reed instrument similar to a pump organ or harmonica. It features a musical keyboard on top, and is played by blowing air through a mouthpiece that fits into a hole in the side of the instrument. The keyboard usu ...

, and electric

lamellophone A lamellophone (also lamellaphone or linguaphone) is a member of the family of musical instruments that makes its sound by a thin vibrating plate called a lamella or tongue, which is fixed at one end and has the other end free. When the musician ...

. Fuhler played solo prepared piano on his album ''Stengam'' (Potlatch, 2007). In 2016 he attained a PhD in composition at the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

and in 2017 he published his book ''Disperse and Display'' covering modular composing strategies and extended piano techniques. Fuhler "died unexpectedly" at his home in Australia.

Discography

* 1995 ''7 CC in 10'' (Geestgronden) * 1996 ''The Psychedelic Years'' Palinckx (Vonk) * 1998 ''Bellagram'' (Geestgronden) * 1999 ''DJ Cor Blimey and his Pigeon'' (ConundromCD) * 2001 ''The Flirts'' ( Erstwhile), duo with Gert-Jan Prins * 2002 ''The Hands of Caravaggio'', as part of M.I.M.E.O., featuring

John Tilbury John Tilbury (born 1 February 1936) is a British pianist. He is considered one of the foremost interpreters of Morton Feldman's music, and since 1980 has been a member of the free improvisation group AMM. Early life and education Tilbury s ...

( Erstwhile) * 2003 ''Tinderbox'' (Data) * 2005 ''HHHH'' (Unsounds) * 2005 ''ONJO'' (Doubtmusic) * 2005 ''Corkestra'' (Data) * 2007 ''Stengam'' (Potlatch) * 2007 ''The Culprit'', duo with

Keith Rowe Keith Rowe (born 16 March 1940 in Plymouth, England) is an English free improvisation tabletop guitarist and painter. Rowe is a founding member of both AMM in the mid-1960s and M.I.M.E.O. Having trained as a visual artist, his paintings hav ...

(7hings) * 2011 ''Gas Station Sessions'' (Platenbakerij) * 2014 ''Truancy'' (Splitrec) * 2016 ''Mungo'' (Splitrec) * 2017 ''FAN'' (SoundOut) * 2019 ''Fietstour'' (WhirrbooM! Records)

References

External links

Official site
* Whitehead, Kevin.

' (1998). New York: Billboard Books. .
Disperse and Display
Sydney: Giwalo Press, 2017. . 1964 births 2020 deaths People from Emmen, Netherlands Free improvisation Electroacoustic improvisation Dutch experimental musicians Dutch emigrants to Australia University of Sydney alumni {{Netherlands-musician-stub