The Original New Timbral Orchestra - TONTO

Do you hear what I hear?

What I hear is a very hard to reproduce synthesizer sound on Stevie Wonder's hit "Boogie On Ragge Women". The electric musical instrument used on this song was The Original New Timbral Orchestra or "TONTO" and was the engineering work of Malcolm Cecil and Bob Margouleff. In the days before the Fairlight, or other computer workstations, TONTO's unique sounds could not be saved, and as a result, when Malcolm and Bob finally created the sound Stevie was after, they recorded it right away, otherwise might be lost forever. On "Ragge Woman", what I hear was created live not to be completely dedicated ever again. Do you hear it?

Be sure to check out our interviews with Bob, Malcolm, and Stevie! 

Dan Del Fiorentino
NAMM Music Historian
dand@namm.org