Louis Thomas Hardin, known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his prolific work widely drew inspiration from jazz, classical, Native American music which he had become familiar with as a child, and Latin American music. His strongly rhythmic, contrapuntal pieces and arrangements later influenced composers of minimal music, in particular American composers Steve Reich and Philip Glass.
Samuel Carthorne Rivers was an American jazz musician and composer. Though most famously a tenor saxophonist, he also performed on soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, flute, harmonica, piano and viola.
WZBC is a radio station broadcasting an Alternative format. Licensed to Newton, Massachusetts, United States, the station serves Boston and its western suburbs. The station is currently owned by Boston College.
Wu Man is a Chinese pipa player and composer. Trained in Pudong-style pipa performance at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, she is known for playing in a broad range of musical styles and introducing the pipa and its Chinese heritage into Western genres. She has performed and recorded extensively with Kronos Quartet and Silk Road Ensemble, and has premiered works by Philip Glass, Lou Harrison, Terry Riley, Bright Sheng, Tan Dun, Zhao Jiping, and Zhou Long, among many others. She has recorded and appeared on over 40 albums, five of which have been nominated for Grammy Awards. In 2013, she was named Instrumentalist of the Year by Musical America, becoming the first performer of a non-Western instrument to receive this award. She also received The United States Artists Award in 2008.
Beat Circus is a band from Boston, Massachusetts, US, fronted by the multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter, who has been its only constant member since its inception.
Masamichi Amano is a Japanese music composer, arranger and conductor. He studied at the Kunitachi College of Music in Tokyo and completed master's degree in 1982.
Avi Bortnick is an American guitarist who became more widely known after his association with jazz guitarist John Scofield. Bortnick joined Scofield's jam-oriented band in 2000 and played rhythm guitar and samples on three albums: Überjam, Up All Night, and Überjam Deux.
Valgeir Sigurðsson is an Icelandic record producer, mixer, composer, audio engineer and musician.
Dreamland is the second studio album by American band Beat Circus. It was released on January 29, 2008 by Cuneiform Records, and shares its title with the turn-of-the-century Coney Island theme park which burned in a devastating fire in 1911. The album is a 150-page score for 9 musicians composed and arranged by Brian Carpenter and produced by Martin Bisi. Album artwork was created by Brian Dewan, who also performed electric zither on the album. Dreamland marks the first installment of Carpenter's Weird American Gothic trilogy.
Fernando Otero is a Grammy-award-winning Argentine pianist, vocalist, and composer.
Bryce David Dessner is an American composer and guitarist based in Paris, as well as a member of the rock band the National. Dessner's twin brother, Aaron is also a member of the group. Together, they write the music in collaboration with lead singer and lyricist Matt Berninger.
Dracula is a soundtrack performed by the Kronos Quartet, with music composed by Philip Glass, for the 1931 film Dracula.
Moondog is an album by the American composer Moondog, released by Columbia Masterworks Records on October 1, 1969. The album was made on the initiative of the producer James William Guercio and recorded at Columbia's main studio with Moondog conducting 50 musicians. It consists of compositions written by Moondog in the 1950s and 1960s as he moved from jazz conventions into becoming a classical composer, resulting in a combination of classical influences and elements of what critics have described as minimalist music and third stream. The album includes short symphonic-styled works, canons, chaconnes and a couple of jazz-inspired tracks, one in memory of Charlie Parker.
Sahba Aminikia is an Iranian-born American contemporary music composer, artistic director, performer, and educator. Aminikia is the founder and the artistic director of Flying Carpet Festival, the first performing arts festival for children living in war zones.
Jherek Bischoff is an American composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumental performer based in Los Angeles. His credits include over seventy albums and compositions for orchestra, opera, film, theater, and ballet. Utilizing orchestral, electronic and rock instrumentation, Bischoff blends contemporary classical, ambient and experimental rock music.
Ghost Train Orchestra is a Brooklyn-based jazz and chamber ensemble led by Boston-based musician Brian Carpenter. The band formed in 2006 when an historic theater in Boston commissioned Carpenter as musical director for its 90th year celebration. For the commission, Carpenter transcribed and arranged a set of overlooked music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem and formed a side project from his regular band Beat Circus to perform it. The following year the group started performing under the name Ghost Train Orchestra.
John Elwood Price was an American composer, pianist, ethnomusicologist, and music teacher. He composed approximately 600 musical works in a wide variety of genres. His works are widely performed in the United States by professional groups.
Curtis Rae Hasselbring is an American jazz trombonist, guitarist and composer.
Hothouse Stomp is the debut album by Ghost Train Orchestra featuring new arrangements of previously obscure music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem, specifically Tiny Parham, Charlie Johnson, Fess Williams, and McKinney's Cotton Pickers. It was released on the Accurate Records label in 2011.
Songs and Symphoniques: the Music of Moondog is a collaboration album between Kronos Quartet and Ghost Train Orchestra featuring various arrangers and musical artists. Leading up to the album's release were the release of two singles; "High on a Rocky Leadge" and "Why Spend a Dark Nighty With You?"
