Ree Piztonna- Information
In 1971 a school of musicians, painters, video artists and film directors, scientists, philosophers, poets and writers formed a sub culture now referred to as a second renaissance, parallels to impressionism were apparent and many people saw this as a new era for art, music and literature. The people emerged out of the aftermath of the >swinging sixties= and strived to explore the mind through different art forms. Art was described as streams of consciousness in a visual form, films were equally outlandish but probably the most unique of these the art forms was that of music. The main purveyors were Serge Outre, Fred Bedwell, Jon Stephens and Ree Piztonna all of whom claimed to live inside each other and have the power to communicate with telepathy and therefore could essentially work as one being. Piztonna was viewed as the founder of the musicians and it was him who the compositions were attributed to. His idea was to give each of the musicians a small skeleton score of motives, pictures and sometimes a scale and each of them would stand with their backs to each other improvising on the given themes and apparently communication the ideas of where the music was going through telepathy.
The first product of this method was Camelopardalis (1971) in which Piztonna attempted to introduce the method to a new audience. Unfortunately the response was not as immediate as he had hoped although a small, hardcore group of followers were quickly established.
The work continued in similar vain and in the next five years 3 further works were produced, Your mother and I (1973), Morphrodite (1974) and Short Blip (1976). The latter work was the first to incorporate tape loops, synthesiser and the lush sounds of Piztonna playing records at different speeds and creating new mixes. Short Blip marked a new step for the band who were increasingly trying to express their being within music. All four of them signed a pact to voluntarily make themselves mute, communicating through art, music and telepathy. While Piztonna and Bedwell seemed to live increasingly within themselves finding the situation very much to their liking, Outre and Stephens became reclusive characters appearing only for recordings and concerts of their work.
The next recording took place 2 years later with a further introduction of new techniques with My only friend is a sycophant (1978). This hedonistic piece received much critical acclaim, namely from the Telegraph who named it album of the month.
The success did not suit all members, while Piztonna and Bedwell, although retaining their silent pact, seemed to live with the school they had helped to create, often attending multimedia events and exhibitions containing their peers work; Stephens became reclusive to the point where he could not be relied upon for any sort of commitments. He increasingly conducted experiments on himself and saw drugs as a gateway to a new world. To every bodies regret Stephens was found dead of what is reported to have been a heart attack inside the cave at Elgin at which he had been living at for the past 3 years.
The band decided to carry on as a three piece outfit.
A period of relative quiet followed. The subculture had been formed almost a decade previously seemed to be dwindling away, many of the artists and writers had died in similar ways to Stephens and the small number left were growing old.
The next work featured Stephens playing a muted cornet, captured on tape by Piztonna when he found Stephens playing in his cave the week before his death. The piece was named Vegas *69 was dedicated to Stephens. He was later called a pioneer of modern society by critic Davina Lang.
Just as the second renaissance appeared to be drawing to a close Piztonna reappeared and played a series of concerts to vast acclaim. The spark had not yet burnt out. The new works Delphinus (1980) and the adventurous Line the pacifists up against the wall (1981) were both very well received but it seemed to Piztonna that the world now had to move on. Outre, Bedwell and Piztonna retired from music later in 1981.
Outre moved to Italy where he lives alone still mute now writing poetry, Bedwell and Piztonna remained good friends until both were tragically killed in a car crash in 1983. It is a pleasure to many that their work can live on and they can still be represented beyond the grave.
G. Swez 1986