Henry Jacobs is a sound artist and improviser par excellence. His influential recordings as
well as collaborative projects resonate with an irreverent sense of humor and a love for
musics of the world. From the early 1950s into the 1970s, Jacobs experimented with tape
music, staged the early surround sound and visual spectacle Vortex (with artist Jordan Belson),
and developed an array of absurd characters that would pop up as crank callers, relaxation
coaches, or upside-down smiling instructors. A contemporary of Ken Nordine and Lenny Bruce,
Jacobs honed an individual style that was droll and laid-back but winked at you at the same
time. On his recordings for Folkways, World Pacific, and Fantasy, as well as on his private
label MEA, the world of Jacobs is an audio collage that embraces many cultures and
sensibilities. This CD/DVD collection pays homage to Jacobs’ creative play, presenting
recovered and restored audio as well as rare animated films that will give you a taste of
this man’s special talents.

•Helped to develop programs for the first TV station in Mexico. Often featured regional ethnic dances
and improvisational theater.

•Beginning in 1953, he hosted one of this nation’s first world music programs for KPFA in Berkeley,
CA. This lead to a record deal with Moe Asch of Folkways, who released the LP, “Audio Collage,”
in 1955. That release featured early uses of tape manipulation, compound loops, and feedback
in compositions, along with tracks comprised of mock interviews and improvised riffs.

•Appears on Lenny Bruce’s first record (on Fantasy).

•With Jordan Belson, presented the Vortex Sound Experiments at the Morrison Planetarium in Golden
Gate Park, the first multichannel sound and visual spectacle to be shown in the U.S. (May 1957). On
the merits of that project, the two were invited to present Vortex at the legendary World Expo 1958
in Brussels.

•Nominated for an Oscar in 1964 for his work with John Korty on the animated short “Breaking the Habit.”

•Hired by fan Walter Murch to contribute to George Lucas’s THX 1138. Murch describes much of his work
in film sound since the 1960s as having a “Jacobean twist to it” and he kindly agreed to be interviewed
for this project.