Roger Powell
Encyclopedia
Roger Powell is a musician, computer programmer and magazine columnist best known for his membership with the rock band Utopia
.
(who created the Moog synthesizer), as well as Moog's competitor ARP, contributing designs and demonstrating systems.
Powell played keyboards
and synthesizer
s with the rock band Utopia
, led by Todd Rundgren
and featuring players Kasim Sulton
and Willie Wilcox, among others, from 1974 until its disbanding in 1985, playing, writing, and singing on ten of the band's eleven albums. For Utopia's live shows, Powell created the Powell Probe; the first remote, hand-held polyphonic synthesizer controller, which featured a custom-made shell used to access a complex stack of sequencer
s and other peripherals offstage, a device also used in a modified form by Jan Hammer
.
His first solo album Cosmic Furnace was released in 1973 and described by Billboard magazine's reviewer as "...a fascinating, demanding LP that has all the hypnotic eeriness of the recent Miles Davis approach". He produced several additional solo albums, and was a touring musician with David Bowie
and others.
In October 2006, after a long absence from music recording, Roger released Fossil Poets with musicians Gary Tanin
and Greg Koch
. The music is described as electronic / prog rock 'retro-futuristic'.
In March 2009, Roger released Blue Note Ridge with producer Gary Tanin. The music is described as solo piano improvisations. He occasionally performs with Bay Area folk musician and friend David Elias, plus other local, roots musicians. Informal live performances have been hosted and recorded at the San Gregorio
General Store.
On September 7, 2009 Powell once again shared the stage with Rundgren as part of a re-constituted Utopia, with Tubes
drummer Prairie Prince
replacing Willie Wilcox. The band played an opening set for an album-length concert of Rundgren's A Wizard/A True Star
. Powell was able to participate in the short tour after leaving Apple and before starting at Electronic Arts.
and the Amiga
and utilized the Roland MPU-401
MIDI interface. Its celebrity users included Stevie Wonder
and Bob James
. Much of Powell's computer work pre-dated MIDI. He gave the first performance on an all digital synthesizer while working with Hal Alles and Gregory Sims at Bell Laboratories. Powell's talents led eventually to positions with WaveFrame (an "audio mainframe" synthesizer used by Peter Gabriel
), Silicon Graphics
and Alias/Wavefront.
From 1997 to May 2009, he worked for Apple Computer
as a senior programmer and technical lead for audio within Apple Professional Applications. He currently works at Electronic Arts
as a Senior Producer on emerging music technologies.
column on synthesizer technique for a number of years which were included in several books published by Hal Leonard - Synthesizer Basics, Synthesizer Technique and Synthesizers and Computers
Utopia (rock band)
Utopia was an American progressive rock band, led by Todd Rundgren that toured and recorded from 1973 to 1986.-History:The first two albums, Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Another Live featured lengthy, complex and highly arranged progressive rock pieces, performed by a six-piece multi-instrumentalist...
.
Musician
Powell's musical career started in the late 1960s, programming analog synthesizers for commercials. Powell was the protege of Robert MoogRobert Moog
Robert Arthur Moog , commonly called Bob Moog was an American pioneer of electronic music, best known as the inventor of the Moog synthesizer.-Life:...
(who created the Moog synthesizer), as well as Moog's competitor ARP, contributing designs and demonstrating systems.
Powell played keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
and synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
s with the rock band Utopia
Utopia (rock band)
Utopia was an American progressive rock band, led by Todd Rundgren that toured and recorded from 1973 to 1986.-History:The first two albums, Todd Rundgren's Utopia and Another Live featured lengthy, complex and highly arranged progressive rock pieces, performed by a six-piece multi-instrumentalist...
, led by Todd Rundgren
Todd Rundgren
Todd Harry Rundgren is an American multi-instrumentalist, songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP Something/Anything? in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings...
and featuring players Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton
Kasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States...
and Willie Wilcox, among others, from 1974 until its disbanding in 1985, playing, writing, and singing on ten of the band's eleven albums. For Utopia's live shows, Powell created the Powell Probe; the first remote, hand-held polyphonic synthesizer controller, which featured a custom-made shell used to access a complex stack of sequencer
Music sequencer
The music sequencer is a device or computer software to record, edit, play back the music, by handling note and performance information in several forms, typically :...
s and other peripherals offstage, a device also used in a modified form by Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer
Jan Hammer is a composer, pianist and keyboardist. He first gained his most visible audience while playing keyboards with the Mahavishnu Orchestra in the early 1970s, as well as his film scores for television and film including "Miami Vice Theme" and "Crockett's Theme", from the popular 1980s...
.
His first solo album Cosmic Furnace was released in 1973 and described by Billboard magazine's reviewer as "...a fascinating, demanding LP that has all the hypnotic eeriness of the recent Miles Davis approach". He produced several additional solo albums, and was a touring musician with David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
and others.
In October 2006, after a long absence from music recording, Roger released Fossil Poets with musicians Gary Tanin
Gary Tanin
Gary Tanin is a veteran Milwaukee musician/producer/engineer with a career spanning decades and reflecting two central themes: music and technology.-Biography:...
and Greg Koch
Greg Koch
Greg Koch is a former American football tackle and guard who played eleven seasons in the National Football League, mainly with the Green Bay Packers. In 2010, Koch was inducted into the Green Bay Packers Hall of Fame...
. The music is described as electronic / prog rock 'retro-futuristic'.
In March 2009, Roger released Blue Note Ridge with producer Gary Tanin. The music is described as solo piano improvisations. He occasionally performs with Bay Area folk musician and friend David Elias, plus other local, roots musicians. Informal live performances have been hosted and recorded at the San Gregorio
San Gregorio, California
-History:Named after Pope Gregory I , San Gregorio was a booming town in the 1850s, when wealthy San Franciscans would travel to the San Gregorio House by stagecoach to enjoy fishing, hunting, sea bathing, and boat races. The building still stands, but is no longer a functioning hotel. However, the...
General Store.
On September 7, 2009 Powell once again shared the stage with Rundgren as part of a re-constituted Utopia, with Tubes
The Tubes
The Tubes are a San Francisco-based rock band, whose 1975 debut album included the hit single, "White Punks on Dope". During its first fifteen years or so, the band's live performances combined quasi-pornography with wild satires of media, consumerism, and politics...
drummer Prairie Prince
Prairie Prince
Prairie Prince is a rock drummer. He was a member of The Tubes and a founding member of Journey...
replacing Willie Wilcox. The band played an opening set for an album-length concert of Rundgren's A Wizard/A True Star
A Wizard, a True Star
A Wizard, a True Star is a progressive rock recording by Todd Rundgren, released in 1973.The album, and especially the first side of the vinyl recording, is an extended medley after the fashion of the Beatles' late recordings; brief songs segue into one another, and the lyrics are frequently...
. Powell was able to participate in the short tour after leaving Apple and before starting at Electronic Arts.
Programmer
A talented computer programmer, Powell developed one of the first PC MIDI sequencers, Texture. Originally developed for the Apple II, Texture allowed the user to manipulate patterns of notes and store them on disk. Soon after the MIDI protocol was introduced, Texture was ported to the IBM PCIBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer, commonly known as the IBM PC, is the original version and progenitor of the IBM PC compatible hardware platform. It is IBM model number 5150, and was introduced on August 12, 1981...
and the Amiga
Amiga
The Amiga is a family of personal computers that was sold by Commodore in the 1980s and 1990s. The first model was launched in 1985 as a high-end home computer and became popular for its graphical, audio and multi-tasking abilities...
and utilized the Roland MPU-401
MPU-401
The MPU-401, where MPU stands for MIDI Processing Unit, was an important but now obsolete interface for connecting MIDI-equipped electronic music hardware to Personal Computers...
MIDI interface. Its celebrity users included Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
and Bob James
Bob James (musician)
Robert McElhiney James is a jazz keyboardist, arranger and producer.-Biography:During the 1970s, Bob James played a major role in establishing the smooth jazz genre. "Angela", the instrumental theme from the sitcom Taxi, is probably Bob James' most well-known work to date...
. Much of Powell's computer work pre-dated MIDI. He gave the first performance on an all digital synthesizer while working with Hal Alles and Gregory Sims at Bell Laboratories. Powell's talents led eventually to positions with WaveFrame (an "audio mainframe" synthesizer used by Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
Peter Brian Gabriel is an English singer, musician, and songwriter who rose to fame as the lead vocalist and flautist of the progressive rock group Genesis. After leaving Genesis, Gabriel went on to a successful solo career...
), Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics
Silicon Graphics, Inc. was a manufacturer of high-performance computing solutions, including computer hardware and software, founded in 1981 by Jim Clark...
and Alias/Wavefront.
From 1997 to May 2009, he worked for Apple Computer
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
as a senior programmer and technical lead for audio within Apple Professional Applications. He currently works at Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts, Inc. is a major American developer, marketer, publisher and distributor of video games. Founded and incorporated on May 28, 1982 by Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer games industry and was notable for promoting the designers and programmers...
as a Senior Producer on emerging music technologies.
Writer
Powell wrote a Keyboard MagazineKeyboard Magazine
Keyboard Magazine is a magazine that originally covered electronic keyboard instruments and keyboardists, though with the advent of computer based recording and audio technology, they have added digital music technology to their regular coverage, including those not strictly pertaining to the...
column on synthesizer technique for a number of years which were included in several books published by Hal Leonard - Synthesizer Basics, Synthesizer Technique and Synthesizers and Computers
Solo discography
- Cosmic Furnace (Atlantic, 1973 — CD reissue on Wounded Bird, 2005)
- Air PocketAir Pockett (album)Air Pocket is the second album by American keyboardist Roger Powell released on Bearsville Records in 1980. It includes 11 tracks all written, performed, and sung by the artist, and features Todd Rundgren on ebow guitar on one track. Other credits include John Holbrook, Cleve Pozar, and Mark Styles...
(BearsvilleBearsville RecordsBearsville Records was founded in 1970 by Albert Grossman. Artists included Todd Rundgren, Elizabeth Barraclough, Foghat, Halfnelson/Sparks, Bobby Charles, Randy VanWarmer, Paul Butterfield's Better Days, Lazarus, Jesse Winchester, and NRBQ. The label closed in 1984, two years before Grossman's...
, 1980 — CD reissue w/bonus track on Wounded Bird, 2006) - Fossil Poets (Inner Knot, 2006 Digipak CD)
- Fossil Poets (Inner Knot, 2007 Ltd. Ed. clear blue vinyl LP)
- Blue Note Ridge (Fossil Poet Records, 2009 CD and digital download)