This year just keeps taking and taking. I'm saddened to announce the death of Jean-Jacques Perrey, a French music composer. At this point, you're probably asking, "Who?" Well, I can guarantee you've heard his music. He, along with his American partner Gershon Kingsley, lead the march into electronic music. Together, they wrote a little ditty called "Baroque Hoedown." You might know it better as the background music for Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade.

My first experience with this dynamic duo was on an album they released in the mid '60's called "The In Sound from Way Out!" This was pre-Moog. They used literally thousands of feet of recording tape that they spliced together to form this new form of electronic music that paved the way for the development of Techno. Eventually, Gershon Kingsley re-released "The In Sound" reworked on the Moog, calling it "The Out Sound from Way In."

Perrey was one of the first European composers to work with electronic instruments. His music appeared on numerous shows including Comedy Central's "South Park" and Fox's "The Simpsons." Perrey moved to America in 1960 where his admirers included Walt Disney and Salvador Dali. It's been reported that Dali literally fell off his chair when he heard Perrey's version of "Flight of the Bumble Bee." Perrey created the song by splicing together thousands of recordings of real bees! "My life has been like a fairytale," Perrey says. "Edith Piaf was my fairy godmother, Walt Disney was the genie, and my Aladdin's cave was the Vanguard recording studios in New York."

Perrey passed away in Switzerland from a very quick and violent form of lung cancer. He was 87 years old.

Enjoy: The In Sound from Way Out!