Jerry Edward Hunt (November 30, 1943 – November 27, 1993) was an American composer who created works using live electronics partly controlled by his ritualistic performance techniques which were influenced by his interest in the occult. He was considered a pioneer of live, electronic and computer-aided audio and video. Hunt lived his entire life in Texas, living in a house he built himself on his family's ranchland. Hunt was often described as "hyperactive" and always on the move. and a relative of his was a Freemason. As a teenager, Hunt put ads in the local newspapers, offering mail-order instructions "in the path of the infinite." When a Dallas couple visited and asked for "Master Jerry," his parents became very concerned about his mental health. As a young adult, Hunt worked as a pianist for various nightclub acts in Texas.

Work and artistic vision

Jerry Hunt briefly taught at Southern Methodist University. Hunt rarely used traditional instruments in his work. He was a self-taught inventor of electrical and computer-aided musical devices. Hunt's live performances were considered unique and honest by art-critics. Others have referred to his work as "wonderfully disorienting" because the audience couldn't tell from where the sounds or images were coming from.

In the 1990s he collaborated with other artists, including Karen Finley, Mike Patton, 77 Hz, Michael Schell, Paul Panhuysen, and Philip Krumm. Hunt was also the founder of IRIDA Records, which released recordings with works by Larry Austin, James Fulkerson, Dary John Mizelle, Rodney Waschka II, and others, as well as recordings of his own music.

Performances

"Diverse Works" (1985) performed in Houston, Texas.

"Birome (Zone): Cube" (1988) was a performance that consisted of multi-layered, computer-generated sound and where Jerry Hunt stomped back and forth, clapping his hands and shining lights and shaking artifacts at the audience. Funds were released in 1991, after being rejected the year before.

Suicide

Jerry Hunt committed suicide at his home near Canton, Texas after suffering from long-term terminal lung cancer and emphysema.

Partial discography

Other Places—Lois Svard performs Elodie Laten, Jerry Hunt, Kyle Gann, Lois Svard, piano. New York: Lovely Music Ltd., 1997. Audio CD.

  • "Trapani (Stream)"

Gay American Composers Composers Recordings, Inc., 1997. Audio CD.

  • "Transform (Stream)"

Jerry Hunt: Lattice. New York: New World Records, 2007. (Rerelease of CRI recording from 1996 which was a rerelease of the IRIDA recording listed below from 1979, with the addition of "Lattice".)

  • "Lattice"
  • "Transform (Stream)"
  • "Cantegral Segment 18.17"
  • "Transphalba"
  • "Volta (Kernel)"

Jerry Hunt works by Hunt and Barton Workshop. Tzadik, 2004. Audio CD.

  • "Phalba (Ila Multiplex)"
  • "Chimanzzi (Variant)"
  • "Cantegral Segment No. 19"
  • "Chimanzzi (Olun)"

Ground : Five Mechanic Convention Streams Bridgeport, CT: O.O. Discs, 1992. Audio CD.

  • "Chimanzzi (Olun): core"
  • "Lattice (stream): ordinal"
  • "Transform (stream) monopole"
  • "Talk (slice)"
  • "Bitom (stream)"

Jerry Hunt, performed by Michael Schell. St. Paul, CT: Innova 114

  • "Song Drape No. 2"

Jerry Hunt works by Hunt, performed by Hunt. Canton, Texas: Irida 0032, 1979.

  • "Transform (Stream)"
  • "Cantegral Segment 18.17"
  • "Transphalba"
  • "Volta (Kernel)"

The Aerial, Volume 1. Santa Fe, New Mexico: Nonsequitur Foundation, 1990.

  • "Babylon (string)"

Fluxus – works by Jerry Hunt / Philip Krumm / Mama Baer / Kommissar Hjuler. Germany: Psych. kg 263. 2016. LP.

  • "Fluud"

References

  • The Jerry Hunt Home Page