We recently recommended pop music pioneer and patron saint of Project Moonbase Jean-Jacques Perrey’s late 60s collaboration with Gershon Kingsley (The Out Sound From Way In! by Perrey And Kingsley). In case you want to find out more about the great man, you could do worse than turning to this entertaining biography packed with anecdotes and rare photos, written by friend and collaborator Dana Countryman.
You might not know the name “Jean-Jacques Perrey”, but chances are that you’re heard his music. It’s been everywhere: on commercials, in cartoons, and Top 40 hits. It’s been sampled by over 70 hip-hop artists including Ice T, Dr. Dre and A Tribe Called Quest. Even the Beatles sampled his music. Just this year, his music was recently used in an episode of “South Park”, and in a television commercial for NFL Fantasy Football. For nearly 40 years his “Baroque Hoedown” tune (with Gershon Kingsley) has been featured in Disneyland’s much-loved “Main Street Electrical Parade.” This book chronicles Perrey’s musical transformation from being just another young accordion player in France, to eventually becoming a pioneer of electronic pop music.
