has anybody ever played jazz theremin?

[Bright Moments]

successfully, i mean!

and how does that thing work any way?

[Shrdlu]

Yusef Lateef used it on one track on his "A Flat, G Flat and C" album - a great album by the way.

It makes a kind of pure tone whistle sound. You hold a hand near it and the pitch varies according to the distance of your hand from the device. It's just a noise as far as I'm concerned. Yusef has a penchant for trying odds and ends like that, lol.

[7/4]

It sounds like a sine tone with extra harmonics.

.

[7/4]

You hold a hand near it and the pitch varies according to the distance of your hand from the device.

The other hand controls the volume.

[AllenLowe]

I played Over the Rainbow on one once, but it wasn't your standard Theremin - it was some weird cylindrical thing I saw at a local Theremin festival, kind of a simplified version -

[Chas]

How do you tell when someone's playing air theremin ?

[DukeCity]

successfully, i mean!

I don't know about "successfully", but

a guy playing "Satin Doll" on a Theremin. The model? It's a B3, of course!!!

And

a rather painful version of Monk's "Ruby, My Dear". Tough melody to play on any instrument, and this version is woefully out of tune.

Edited June 2, 2008 by DukeCity

[Shrdlu]

How do you tell when someone's playing air theremin ?

Easy. It looks like they are wanking.

There are not many harmonics apart from the fundamental sine wave, if any at all. It just sounds like one of those sine wave generators that they used to have in Physics labs.

They also make a Bb soprano theremin, and a contrabass one in C with a kink in the neck.

[7/4]

There are not many harmonics apart from the fundamental sine wave, if any at all. It just sounds like one of those sine wave generators that they used to have in Physics labs.

The theremins I've heard sound a bit bright to have no harmonics. That's why they sound bright - the harmonics.

I don't need to go to a Physics lab, I can just turn on a synthesizer to hear a sine tone.

[47 West 63rd N.Y.C.]

This cat has got the theremin technique down cold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUmJ2Wg_hR4

[RDK]

This cat has got the theremin technique down cold

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUmJ2Wg_hR4

Sounds like some of the more a/g jazz my wife's always asking me to turn off!

[bertrand]

Try hunting down the very interesting and very rare Theremingus album. The version of 'Pithecanthropus Erectus' alone is worth the price of admission.

[johnlitweiler]

successfully, i mean!

and how does that thing work any way?

Joseph Jarman played it -- around 40 years ago, IIRC, at an Art Ensemble concert. Pretty wild.

[AllenLowe]

greatest contemporary therminist is Lydia Kovina, a nice Russian lady - she has a web site and a great CD she made about 10 years ago -

[Teasing the Korean]

I don't need to go to a Physics lab, I can just turn on a synthesizer to hear a sine tone.

A skilled theremin player is able to control pitch, dynamics, vibrato, and portamento with only two hands. To (accurately) recreate a theremin part on the synthesizer, you would need one person twiddling knobs while another plays the part, and they have to coordinate their movements.

Trust me - I have two monophonic synthesizers and a theremin.

Check out Clara Rockmore and Theremin's niece (forget her name offhand) to hear what a theremin is really capable of. A bitch of an instrument to play well.

[Kevin Bresnahan]

I saw Scott Robinson use a theremin extensively at a recent concert at UNH. It was interesting for about 30 seconds, then it just sounded like the soundtrack to an old Sci Fi movie, which, BTW, was what he was trying for.

[JohnS]

The only place for the theremin is in 50s sci-fi movies.

[7/4]

or maybe Led Zeppelin cover bands.

aw...they're OK, just maybe misused.

[AllenLowe]

I saw KOVEEEENNNNNNNAAAAAA play with a string quartet in the 1990s - she was incredible - check out her CD, it'll open your eyes -

Edited June 3, 2008 by AllenLowe

[Alexander Hawkins]

I believe it's Lydia Kavina!

There's also Pamela Kurstin, who has an album out on Tzadik IIRC.

[AllenLowe]

actually, since she's Russian, and they use a different alphabet, there's no correct way -

[AllenLowe]

I could edit my original post to show Kavina but I'm too classy a guy -

[Alexander Hawkins]

actually, since she's Russian, and they use a different alphabet, there's no correct way -

You got me!

[Teasing the Korean]

The only place for the theremin is in 50s sci-fi movies.

Yeah, and such scores by the likes of Bernard Herrmann, Miklos Rozsa, and others rank among the best music I own. I'll take a great sci-fi soundtrack over a mediocre jazz record any day.

[BruceH]

The only place for the theremin is in 50s sci-fi movies.

...And 60's pop songs, apparently.