BY IAN
BRENNAN
Stan Shaff's fascination with the use of sound movement as a compositional tool grew out of his roots as a jazz trumpet player. In 1960, he began staging the first of his live "sound sculptures" throughout the Bay Area. By 1965 he had created Audium, the first – and still only permanent – theater for sound movement, in San Francisco. Audium has grown to include an installation of 176 speakers. Today, Stan's work is being continued on in partnership with his son, Dave, who is also a trumpet player. In Stan's own words, "I have always been possessed by the evocative qualities all sounds seem to have, whether natural or electronic. Sounds touch deeper levels of our inner life, layers that lie just beneath the visual world." It should be noted that Stan's work pre-dated, by almost 20 years, the debut of Dolby's revolutionary "split surround" stereo for cinema in 1978 (tested during the release of Superman, then formally introduced the following year with Apocalypse Now). Audium continues to stage performances every Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, year 'round, to sellout audiences.