Ghédalia Tazartès Remembered

The Feb. 12 edition of Duck, You Sucker! spotlighted the experimental French musician Ghédalia Tazartès who died Feb. 10 in Paris. He was 73.

Tazartès, who is not widely known outside the world of Parisian experimental music, released 25-plus records during his 30 years of recording.

While he was heavily influenced by the earlier experiments of the Parisian Groupe de Recherches Musicales, which included François Bayle, Pierre Henri and Michel Chion among others, Tazartès went a step farther. With Judeo-Spanish parents of Greek descent, he tapped into traditional Mediterranean music — particularly with regard to vocal dissonant harmonies and rhythmic structures — along with an early fascination with American jazz, to create a style that was more viscerally expressive and improvisational than his predecessors.