Biography
Engineers Malcolm Cecil and Robert Margouleff joined synthesizer designer Robert Moog in 1969 to create further modules for the flagship instrument of his keyboard line. The outcome was T.O.N.T.O., or the Original New Timbral Orchestra, installed inside gracefully arched wooden housings and established as the largest Moog synthesizer in existence.
While Robert Moog turned his attention to the Mini-Moog, Cecil and Margouleff took the instrument into recording studios, supplying Moog textures for an extensive range of album sessions and film scores. T.O.N.T.O. shared the well-known instability of most Moog instruments and needed continual recalibration, with accounts of Cecil working deep inside the machine to adjust oscillators and circuits. Its size eventually prompted the substitution of original Moog components with Serge Modular units.
In 1971 Cecil and Margouleff began recording under the name T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band. Their album Zero Time examined the synthesizer's full range without reference to commercial expectations and is still regarded as a landmark in the instrument's integration into modern music. A second release, credited simply to Tonto and titled It's About Time, appeared briefly in 1972 and later commanded high prices among collectors because of its limited availability.
Studio work with T.O.N.T.O. continued, the instrument used for tasks ranging from discreet bass replacements to broad atmospheric layers. The duo formed a sustained collaboration with Stevie Wonder on Music of My Mind, the album he made at age 21 after securing a new Motown agreement that gave him complete creative control. Their contribution to the evolution of Black American music is frequently overlooked; once Wonder set the direction, numerous artists adopted similar methods, reshaping production techniques, album construction, and overall sonic character. Jazz and R&B musicians of the 1970s and early 1980s who enlisted Cecil and Margouleff included the Isley Brothers, Gil Scott-Heron, the Crusaders, the Gap Band, Quincy Jones, David Sanborn, Wilson Pickett, and the Rippingtons.
T.O.N.T.O. was retired in the 1980s and acquired by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. In 1996 the Viceroy label released the single-disc CD Tonto Rides Again, which combined both albums. Co-founder Malcolm Cecil died on March 28, 2021, at the age of 84 after a prolonged illness.
While Robert Moog turned his attention to the Mini-Moog, Cecil and Margouleff took the instrument into recording studios, supplying Moog textures for an extensive range of album sessions and film scores. T.O.N.T.O. shared the well-known instability of most Moog instruments and needed continual recalibration, with accounts of Cecil working deep inside the machine to adjust oscillators and circuits. Its size eventually prompted the substitution of original Moog components with Serge Modular units.
In 1971 Cecil and Margouleff began recording under the name T.O.N.T.O.'s Expanding Head Band. Their album Zero Time examined the synthesizer's full range without reference to commercial expectations and is still regarded as a landmark in the instrument's integration into modern music. A second release, credited simply to Tonto and titled It's About Time, appeared briefly in 1972 and later commanded high prices among collectors because of its limited availability.
Studio work with T.O.N.T.O. continued, the instrument used for tasks ranging from discreet bass replacements to broad atmospheric layers. The duo formed a sustained collaboration with Stevie Wonder on Music of My Mind, the album he made at age 21 after securing a new Motown agreement that gave him complete creative control. Their contribution to the evolution of Black American music is frequently overlooked; once Wonder set the direction, numerous artists adopted similar methods, reshaping production techniques, album construction, and overall sonic character. Jazz and R&B musicians of the 1970s and early 1980s who enlisted Cecil and Margouleff included the Isley Brothers, Gil Scott-Heron, the Crusaders, the Gap Band, Quincy Jones, David Sanborn, Wilson Pickett, and the Rippingtons.
T.O.N.T.O. was retired in the 1980s and acquired by Devo's Mark Mothersbaugh. In 1996 the Viceroy label released the single-disc CD Tonto Rides Again, which combined both albums. Co-founder Malcolm Cecil died on March 28, 2021, at the age of 84 after a prolonged illness.
Albums
