RIP Producer Malcolm Cecil

[humprof]

His TONTO analog synth, developed with Robert Margouleff, gave a distinctive to sound to Stevie Wonder's classic mid-70s albums, as well as albums by the Isley Brothers, Billy Preston, Quincy Jones, Minnie Riperton, Mandrill, Gil Scott-Heron, Randy Newman, the Doobies, James Taylor, Weather Report, and others. According to @steelydave, Cecil & Margouleff actually did a quad mix of Talking Book. (Footage of them recording Innervisions in this post.)

Obits: LA Times | Pitchfork | Billboard | and NPR:
https://www.npr.org/2021/03/30/9825...uential-producer-malcolm-cecil-who-died-at-84

 

[steelydave]

I think in the course of venerating Stevie Wonder (as the genius he is, unquestionably) both Cecil and Margouleff's contributions to the quartet of albums they worked on with him have been diminished as a result. Obviously the songwriting came from Stevie's mind, but everything beyond that was a collaboration - Cecil wasn't just a knob-twiddling techno-wizard either, as a bass player of some renown in the UK before he emigrated to the US in the late '60s.

This half-hour BBC radio documentary from about 10 years ago, Stevie's Wonder Men, really gives you a good sense of the working relationship that Cecil and Margouleff formed with Stevie, and just how crucial their contributions were to his sound in that period:



Cecil also had a small (but pivotal) role in quad history, aside from the aforementioned unreleased Talking Book quad mix. He and Margouleff co-produced and engineered the Isley Bros. albums 3 + 3, Live It Up and The Heat is On, and Cecil on his own co-produced and engineered Harvest for the World, all of which were released in quad (well, The Heat is On is debatable, but I believe the quad mix was definitely done) and feature dynamite quad mixes - there's a good reason that the SACD of 3 + 3 that features the Cecil/Margouleff quad mix continues to fetch big bucks in the secondary market.

 

[quicksrt]

This is sad. I studied record production and engineering in Hollywood 89-90, and one of the classes I took was Electronic Music which covered not just synths but MIDI, Digital Processing, etc. The instructor was Malcolm Cecil. Very witty and fun to be in that class. I think I had him the whole year which was 9 months. He told us lots of stories about Stevie, Marc Bolan (he worked on Electric Warrior), and lots of others. I've kept up with him and what he's been up to. I kind of thought he was the type to live to 100. Just very positive and full of smiles, and in Hollywood and Los Angeles, that is not the norm.

 

[humprof]

This is sad. I studied record production and engineering in Hollywood 89-90, and one of the classes I took was Electronic Music which covered not just synths but MIDI, Digital Processing, etc. The instructor was Malcolm Cecil. Very witty and fun to be in that class. I think I had him the whole year which was 9 months. He told us lots of stories about Stevie, Marc Bolan (he worked on Electric Warrior), and lots of others. I've kept up with him and what he's been up to. I kind of thought he was the type to live to 100. Just very positive and full of smiles, and in Hollywood and Los Angeles, that is not the norm.

That's amazing, @quicksrt--what good fortune to have had that experience.

As to @steelydave 's initial point: one of the obits mentions that Cecil & Margouleff felt that, given the depth of their collaboration on those Stevie Wonder albums, they should have been able to "participate in the royalties." Stevie didn't agree.

 

[quicksrt]

Yes, Malcolm even brought up that topic in class (divorce from Stevie Wonder). They just wanted a percentage point or two that producers often get on records. And they were co-producers there.

I got to talk to him a lot one on one too. I told him that quad was coming back now that CDs have taken off. he had doubts only because of the cost of additional speakers, and seeing music going so "portable" but agreed with me that it was wonderful when it worked. He called quad playback giving the listener a "fresher" mix when it comes together in a room. And that is true.

As to @steelydave 's initial point: one of the obits mentions that Cecil & Margouleff felt that, given the depth of their collaboration on those Stevie Wonder albums, they should have been able to "participate in the royalties." Stevie didn't agree.

The song "Superstition" was one highlight where the keyboard patch used was created 100% by Cecil & Margouleff. And Stevie loved it obviously.

That's amazing, @quicksrt--what good fortune to have had that experience.

I've had some great (for me) and amazing experiences being a music buff and living in Los Angeles. I've reached a certain age where I am reflecting back on many of them in recent months. With lockdown and being home so much, I've thought about these experiences and people I have met. And recalling the conversations. In my work and being around the industry, I have had one on one conversations with Keith Richards, Clapton, Page, Beck, Townshend, Waters, Bowie, Jagger, Ringo, etc.

But sometimes the most interesting ones are people like Malcolm Cecil and Michael Kamen (arranger, producer on The Wall, and The Final Cut, etc. etc.)

 

[quicksrt]

This is sad. I studied record production and engineering in Hollywood 89-90, and one of the classes I took was Electronic Music which covered not just synths but MIDI, Digital Processing, etc. The instructor was Malcolm Cecil. Very witty and fun to be in that class. I think I had him the whole year which was 9 months.

That's amazing, @quicksrt--what good fortune to have had that experience.

I'm going to dig out my old school books which i kept and see if his class teaching outline is still in there. I tend to save stuff, but this is going back a ways. It would be interesting to see exactly what he taught back then.

 

[blue.monk]

Even though I‘ve been a fan of those Stevie LPs for ages I didn’t really learn of Cecil and Margouleff until reading the book Analog Days (link below). There is a full chapter devoted to the two of them and it does address their frustration in having their contributions marginalized. The program notes to their first collaboration, Music of My Mind, state “This album is virtually the work of one man.” Ouch. I certainly recognize and appreciate their work every time I Ilisten to those classic albums.

https://www.amazon.com/Analog-Days-...1617137943&sprefix=Analog+days,aps,154&sr=8-1

 

[humprof]

Even though I‘ve been a fan of those Stevie LPs for ages I didn’t really learn of Cecil and Margouleff until reading the book Analog Days (link below). There is a full chapter devoted to the two of them and it does address their frustration in having their contributions marginalized. The program notes to their first collaboration, Music of My Mind, state “This album is virtually the work of one man.” Ouch. I certainly recognize and appreciate their work every time I Ilisten to those classic albums.

https://www.amazon.com/Analog-Days-...1617137943&sprefix=Analog+days,aps,154&sr=8-1

I mean, given the history of exploitation of Black artists by (usually white) record companies and producers, you can understand where Wonder was coming from--and he'd only just gotten out from under the thumb of Berry Gordy, after all. (There's a plotline in one episode of the latest season of Genius where Aretha Franklin is fighting Jerry Wexler for "co-producer" credit on Young, Gifted and Black.) But it's still sort of a shame.

 

[blue.monk]

I mean, given the history of exploitation of Black artists by (usually white) record companies and producers, you can understand where Wonder was coming from--and he'd only just gotten out from under the thumb of Berry Gordy, after all. (There's a plotline in one episode of the latest season of Genius where Aretha Franklin is fighting Jerry Wexler for "co-producer" credit on Young, Gifted and Black.) But it's still sort of a shame.

Indeed. And I hope it’s clear that I in no way meant to diminish what Stevie himself accomplished during that golden period. His output 1972-76 remains perhaps my favorite 4-year stretch for any artist save the Beatles. Absolutely brilliant.

 

[quicksrt]

I recall - like it was yesterday that Malcolm Cecil said that Stevie Wonder wrote "He's Misstra Know-It-All" (from Innervisions) about Berry Gordy.

 

[knifeman]

I knew of Malcolm Cecil from his involvement with Steve Hillage's Motivation Radio album back in the late 70's. One of my favorite Hillage records which I still listen to. RIP

 

[modwerks]

This is sad. I studied record production and engineering in Hollywood 89-90, and one of the classes I took was Electronic Music which covered not just synths but MIDI, Digital Processing, etc. The instructor was Malcolm Cecil. Very witty and fun to be in that class. I think I had him the whole year which was 9 months. He told us lots of stories about Stevie, Marc Bolan (he worked on Electric Warrior), and lots of others. I've kept up with him and what he's been up to. I kind of thought he was the type to live to 100. Just very positive and full of smiles, and in Hollywood and Los Angeles, that is not the norm.

I had the chance to take a class from him, at a jazz camp(Cazadero) I attended in the late 70s.
I've always regretted not going . I remember he brought some version of TONTO there.. RIP

 

[newslane]

Yes, Malcolm even brought up that topic in class (divorce from Stevie Wonder). They just wanted a percentage point or two that producers often get on records. And they were co-producers there.

I got to talk to him a lot one on one too. I told him that quad was coming back now that CDs have taken off. he had doubts only because of the cost of additional speakers, and seeing music going so "portable" but agreed with me that it was wonderful when it worked. He called quad playback giving the listener a "fresher" mix when it comes together in a room. And that is true.


The song "Superstition" was one highlight where the keyboard patch used was created 100% by Cecil & Margouleff. And Stevie loved it obviously.


I've had some great (for me) and amazing experiences being a music buff and living in Los Angeles. I've reached a certain age where I am reflecting back on many of them in recent months. With lockdown and being home so much, I've thought about these experiences and people I have met. And recalling the conversations. In my work and being around the industry, I have had one on one conversations with Keith Richards, Clapton, Page, Beck, Townshend, Waters, Bowie, Jagger, Ringo, etc.

But sometimes the most interesting ones are people like Malcolm Cecil and Michael Kamen (arranger, producer on The Wall, and The Final Cut, etc. etc.)

Thanks for these very interesting comments and for sharing your experiences.