Musica Orbis was an American electric chamber music quintet based in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

, performing between 1972 and 1979. Instrumentation included voices,

harp The harp is a stringed musical instrument that has individual strings running at an angle to its soundboard; the strings are plucked with the fingers. Harps can be made and played in various ways, standing or sitting, and in orchestras or ...

flute The flute is a member of a family of musical instruments in the woodwind group. Like all woodwinds, flutes are aerophones, producing sound with a vibrating column of air. Flutes produce sound when the player's air flows across an opening. In th ...

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

, acoustic and

electric bass The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an electric but with a longer neck and scale leng ...

, drums,

marimba The marimba ( ) is a musical instrument in the percussion family that consists of wooden bars that are struck by mallets. Below each bar is a resonator pipe that amplifies particular harmonics of its sound. Compared to the xylophone, the mari ...

, vibes, synthesizer,

organ Organ and organs may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a group of tissues organized to serve a common function * Organ system, a collection of organs that function together to carry out specific functions within the body. Musical instruments ...

pump organ The pump organ or reed organ is a type of organ that uses free reed aerophone, free reeds to generate sound, with air passing over vibrating thin metal strips mounted in a frame. Types include the pressure-based harmonium, the suction reed organ ...

, knee harp, wooden

recorder Recorder or The Recorder may refer to: Newspapers * ''Indianapolis Recorder'', a weekly newspaper * ''The Recorder'' (Massachusetts newspaper), a daily newspaper published in Greenfield, Massachusetts, US * ''The Recorder'' (Port Pirie), a newsp ...

, bells, hand percussion,

Fender Rhodes The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, t ...

, and piano. Woodcut of Musica Orbis instruments

Formation and debut

Musica Orbis was founded in late spring 1972 by singer/songwriter Kitty Brazelton and Tom Stephenson (percussion, cello) on the

Swarthmore College Swarthmore College ( , ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, United States. Founded in 1864, with its first classes held in 1869, Swarthmore is one of the e ...

campus. Susan Gelletly (keyboards) and Caroline "Caille" Colburn (harp) then joined, followed by David Clark (percussion), James J. Kelly (guitars) and William Pastuszek Jr. (saxophones & bass). The group debuted as a septet on April 15, 1973, in Bond Hall on the Swarthmore College campus. Before their official debut, they opened for jazz-rock Good God and

Blue Öyster Cult Blue Öyster Cult ( ; sometimes abbreviated BÖC or BOC) is an American rock band formed on Long Island, New York, in the hamlet of Stony Brook, in 1967. They have sold 25 million records worldwide, including 7 million in the United States. ...

in Clothier Hall, Swarthmore College in March 1973. In fall 1973 Musica Orbis reduced from septet to quintet with Brazelton, Clark, Colburn, Gelletly and Stephenson remaining. In the winter of 1974–1975, the quintet accompanied the Group Motion Multimedia Dance Theater and later performed at Wilma Project, the Painted Bride, The Bijou, Annenberg Center on the Penn campus. The Irvin R. Glazer Theater Collection, Philadelphia Athenaeum, shows a photo of the old Bandbox Theatre with a marquee: "CONCERT BY MUSICA ORBIS/NEW YEARS DAY FIVE PM". The song "William" was composed in 1975 for Musica Orbis by Kitty Brazelton.

1976–1977, New York and Boston

Musica Orbis organized a dawn concert on the Delaware River on June 13, 1976. The band then began to play in New York and Boston, drawing reviews in Billboard, The New York Times, Boston Phoenix and elsewhere. Cambridge's

The Real Paper ''The Real Paper'' was a Boston-area alternative weekly newspaper with a circulation in the tens of thousands. It ran from August 2, 1972, to June 18, 1981, often devoting space to counterculture and alternative politics of the early 1970s. The ...

featured Musica Orbis as "Band of the Month" in April 1976. Writer Mike Baron, Mather House Music Society, Harvard University, hosted the band's sold out May 1 appearance at Sanders Theater in Harvard Square, Cambridge. Musica Orbis played in the Chapel at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (New York City), off-off-Broadway Cubiculo Theatre and the downtown club

CBGB CBGB was a New York City music club opened in 1973 by Hilly Kristal in the East Village, Manhattan, East Village in Manhattan, New York City. The club was previously a biker bar and before that was a dive bar. The letters ''CBGB'' were for ''Cou ...

LP "To the Listeners"

In 1977 Musica Orbis released its LP "To the Listeners" on its own label, Longdivity. The original record had a fold-out jacket and, if bought directly from the group, the LP was accompanied by a signed certificate. Because the LP sold 5000 copies independently, "To the Listeners" was picked up for distribution by

Rounder Records Rounder Records is an independent record label founded in 1970 in Somerville, Massachusetts, by Marian Leighton Levy, Ken Irwin, and Bill Nowlin. Focused on American roots music, Rounder's catalogue of more than 3000 titles includes records by A ...

. LPs manufactured by Rounder have a simple sleeve and outer cover art only, no color.

1977–1979, U.S.

National tours

During 1977 and 1978, after the LP's release, the band was booked on four national tours with concert dates in 25 states, as well as TV appearances and radio broadcasts. They traveled in caravan with a mobile home, cook/road manager, sound and lights. Original member keyboardist Susan Gelletly left in 1977 and was replaced by pianist Bob Loiselle and later, guitarist Bill Mauchly added to create a sextet.

Breakup

After a season of farewell concerts, Musica Orbis disbanded in 1979.

References

Citations

Other sources

* Goings On About Town: Nightlife (p. 8), The New Yorker, September 27, 1976. * May 8–10, 1970, The Second Fret Coffeehouse, Philadelphia, PA * Irvin R. Glazer, "Philadelphia Theatres, A-Z: A Comprehensive, Descriptive Record of 813 Theatres Constructed Since 1724." New York: Greenwood Press, 1986, p. 64. * Robert Palmer, "Later Influences Enrich Jazz of New Orleans Band", New York Times, April 13, 1976. * Mike Baron, "Band of the Month," The Real Paper, Boston's weekly newspaper, April 28, 1976, Vol. 5, No. 17 {{authority control Chamber music groups