Mutantrumpet creator Ben Neill Proposes a Democratization of Music: The Echoes Interview
Ben Neill has been on the bleeding edge of new and electronic music for decades. He created his own instrument, the Mutantrumpet, which has three bells, two valve sets, a mini-trombone slide and all kinds of electronics to create a music that references Miles Davis and lounge music, urban jungle beats and space music overdrive. Now he has a book, Diffusing Music – Trajectories of Sonic Democratization, that follows music from the early 20th century Futurists to Marcel Duchamp, John Cage, Minimalism, electronic artists and now, Artificial Intelligence. And Neill was in the thick of a lot of this. From a personal perspective he takes us on a journey where he proposes that now, anyone can make music. We talk to him about it today on Echoes from PRX.