Jerry Hunt was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 composer

Composer

A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...

 who created works using live electronics

Electronic music

Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...

 partly controlled by his ritual

Ritual

A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....

istic performance techniques, influenced by his interest in the occult

Occult

The word occult comes from the Latin word occultus , referring to "knowledge of the hidden". In the medical sense it is used to refer to a structure or process that is hidden, e.g...

. He committed suicide

Suicide

Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...

 in response to terminal cancer

Cancer

Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...

. He used carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide

Carbon monoxide , also called carbonous oxide, is a colorless, odorless, and tasteless gas that is slightly lighter than air. It is highly toxic to humans and animals in higher quantities, although it is also produced in normal animal metabolism in low quantities, and is thought to have some normal...

.

His collaborators included Karen Finley

Karen Finley

Karen Finley is an American performance artist, whose theatrical pieces and recordings have often been labelled "obscene" due to their graphic depictions of sexuality, abuse, and disenfranchisement...

, Mike Patton

Mike Patton

Michael Allan "Mike" Patton is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, and actor, best known as the lead singer of the metal/experimental rock band Faith No More. He has also sung for Mr...

, Paul Panhuysen

Paul Panhuysen

Paul Panhuysen is a Dutch composer, visual and sound artist. He founded and directed Het Apollohuis, an art space that functioned during the 80's and 90's having artists doing sound installations, sound sculptures, and concerts about free improvisation, experimental music, and electronic...

, and Philip Krumm

Philip Krumm

Philip Krumm is an American composer who was "a pioneer of modal, repetitive pattern music". Krumm studied orchestration and composition with Raymond Moses in high school, with Frank Sturchio at Saint Mary's University, with Ross Lee Finney at University of Michigan, and with Karlheinz Stockhausen...

. Hunt was also the founder of IRIDA Records

IRIDA Records

IRIDA Records was an American classical music record label focusing particularly on contemporary classical music. It was established by Jerry Hunt in 1979, and was based in Canton, Texas. The label released at least seven sound recordings featuring works by Hunt, James Fulkerson, Larry Austin,...

, which released recordings with works by Larry Austin

Larry Austin

Larry Austin is a United States composer noted for his electronic and computer music works. He was a co-founder and editor of the avant-garde music periodical Source: Music of the Avant Garde...

, James Fulkerson

James Fulkerson

James Fulkerson is an American composer, now living in the Netherlands, of mostly stage, orchestral, chamber, vocal, piano, electroacoustic, and multimedia works...

, Dary John Mizelle

Dary John Mizelle

Dary John Mizelle is an American composer.Mizelle studied trombone as well as composition and participated in the New Music Ensemble at the University of California, Davis, where he participated in a course led by Karlheinz Stockhausen...

, Rodney Waschka II

Rodney Waschka II

Rodney Waschka II is an American composer known for his algorithmic compositions and his theatrical works.-Biography:Waschka studied at Brooklyn College, at the Institute of Sonology, then newly part of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and earned his doctorate at the University of North Texas...

, and others, as well as recordings of his own music.

Partial discography

"Other Places", Lois Svard, piano. New York: Lovely Music Ltd. (CD 3052) 1997.

• Trapani (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, 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)

External links

• http://www4.ncsu.edu/~waschka/hunt.html
• oodiscs #9: Jerry Hunt - Ground: Five Mechanic Convention Streams
• The Jerry Hunt Home Page