That James Newton sample

Malcolm Gladwell has a great new article about copyright called "Something Borrowed." In it he talks about the recent sampling lawsuit against the Beastie Boys (which they won). Gladwell tells the story better than me:

In 1992, the Beastie Boys released a song called “Pass the Mic,” which begins with a six-second sample taken from the 1976 composition “Choir,” by the jazz flutist James Newton. The sample was an exercise in what is called multiphonics, where the flutist “overblows” into the instrument while simultaneously singing in a falsetto. In the case of “Choir,” Newton played a C on the flute, then sang C, D-flat, C—and the distortion of the overblown C, combined with his vocalizing, created a surprisingly complex and haunting sound. In “Pass the Mic,” the Beastie Boys repeated the Newton sample more than forty times. The effect was riveting.

I dug out Check Your Head tonight so I could hear the sample again. Here it is:

• James Newton sample from "Pass The Mic" (MP3, 0:05)

Great sound, yeah?