Tom Eaton | |
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Background information | |
Born | 1971 Newton Junction, NH, United States |
Genres | new-age, ambient |
Occupation(s) | Musician, composer, producer, mastering engineer |
Instrument(s) | Piano, synthesizer, bass guitar |
Years active | 2000s–present |
Labels | Spotted Peccary Music, Riverwide Records, Heartdance Records, Retso Records, Cassauna/Important Records |
Website | www |
Tom Eaton is a Grammy-nominated [1] American multi-instrumentalist, composer, producer, and mastering engineer. [2] He is known as the composer of multiple albums, and as a producer and engineer who works with Grammy Award-winner William Ackerman. [3]
Since 1993, Allmusic credits Eaton 649 times on 147 albums for production roles, including being an engineer, a producer, mixing, mastering, and for performing piano, keyboards, electric bass, bass, guitar, percussion, accordion, and vocals. [4] He was an engineer on Laura Sullivan's Grammy Award-winning album Love's River.
His influences include Tangerine Dream, Patrick O'Hearn, Vangelis, George Winston, and Tim Story. [5] [2]
Eaton currently resides in East Kingston, NH, where he composes and works in a converted barn. [6]
Eaton was born in 1971 in Newton Junction, NH, United States. [2] He attended Phillips Andover co-educational university-preparatory school where he encountered their music laboratory in 1987 and started composing music. A year later he started to play piano, influenced by George Winston. [2]
In 1993, Eaton opened his first commercial studio, Thomas Eaton Recording in Newburyport, MA [7] [8] [9] In 2009, he received a phone call from William Ackerman to join him as a co-producer at Imaginary Road Studio where they have since co-produced dozens of albums together. [10] In 2014, Ackerman produced and Eaton engineered Laura Sullivan's Grammy Award-winning album Love's River.
In 2010, he co-released Winter Loves Company with cellist Kristen Miller. [11] [2]
In February 2016, Eaton released his first album, abendromen on riverwide records. [5] abendromen garnered Eaton a Zone Music Reporter award as Best New Artist. [12] He was credited on three of the 2016 Zone Music Reporter award-winning albums, not including his own. [10] abendromen was followed up by indesterren, released in September 2016, also on riverwide records. [13] He also released a download only album, Days of Green and Light. [14] [2]
At the 2017, Zone Music Reporter Awards, Abendromen was nominated as best ambient album and he won the award for best new artist.
In 2018, Eaton began performing with Jeff Oster and guitarist Vin Downes in a group they named Departure [15] and appeared on an Echoes streaming "living room concert." One of the songs performed in the streaming concert appears on Echoes album, Victoria Place: Echoes Live 23. [16] He also recorded SPICA/ACIPS on Important Records as part of their limited edition Cassauna cassette catalog.
In April 2019, Eaton released how it happened on Spotted Peccary Music. [17] It was selected by Ambient Music Guide as one of the best of 2019. [18] He also performed in the Zone Music Reporter's 15th Annual Music Concert in New Orleans on May 18, 2019. [19]
In April 2020, Eaton and Ackerman received the Best Instrumental Music Producer Award at the 18th Independent Music Awards for their work on FLOW's first self-titled album. [20]
In May 2020, Eaton released elements: audio environments on riverwide records. [21] Textura selected it as one of their Top 10 Ambient / New Age albums. [22]
In July 2021, Eaton, William Ackerman and Jeff Oster began to record the album Brothers. Originally, Brothers was conceived by Oster as a collaboration with Ackerman, but based on Eaton's musical contributions (as well as his recording, arranging, mixing and mastering the album), Eaton was made a "brother" and given equal billing. Recording took place at Eaton's studio in Newburyport, MA and Ackerman's Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont. Eaton performed on piano, keyboard, bass, percussion, and electric guitar, Ackerman performed on acoustic guitar, and Oster performed on flugelhorn and trumpet. [23] [24] The album was nominated for the Grammy Award's Best New Age Album. [1]
Artist | Album | Released | Credits | Award(s) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Will Ackerman | Positano Songs [25] | 2022 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Piano, Bass | Grammy Award Nominee for Best New Age, Ambient, or Chant Album [26] |
Will Ackerman, Jeff Oster, Tom Eaton | Brothers [27] | 2021 | Primary Artist, composer, Piano, Rhodes, Bass, Percussion, Guitar (Electric), arranger, producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | Grammy Award Nominee for Best New Age Album [28] |
FLOW | Promise [29] | 2019 | Producer, engineer, Mastering, Accordion, Bass, Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Percussion | 2019 ZMR Album of the Year [30] |
Kathryn Kaye | Solace of Mountains And Clouds [31] | 2019 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Accordion, Bass, Guitar (Electric) | 2019 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation [30] |
Todd Mosby | Open Waters [32] | 2019 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Fender Rhodes, Shaker, Synthesizer Pads | 2019 ZMR Best Contemporary Instrumental Album [30] |
Heidi Breyer | Moonlight in Empty Rooms [33] | 2018 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2018 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation [34] |
Jeff Oster | Reach [35] | 2018 | Mastering | 2018 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album [34] |
David Wahler | Mosaic [36] | 2018 | Mastering | 2018 ZMR Best Relaxation Meditation Album [34] |
FLOW | FLOW [37] | 2017 | Producer, Mixing, Mastering, Bass, Guitar | 2017 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album, [38] Independent Music Awards New Age Album of the Year [39] |
Fiona Joy Hawkins | Signature – Synchronicity [40] | 2016 | Producer, Mixing, Bass, Bass (Electric), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Percussion | Independent Music Award for Best New Age Song for "Song Calling Earth," Best New Age Album; [41] 2016 ZMR Best Piano Album [42] |
Kathryn Kaye | There Was A Time [43] | 2016 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Accordion | 2016 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation [42] |
Jeff Pearce | Follow the River Home [44] | 2016 | Mastering | 2016 ZMR Best Ambient Album [42] |
Erik Scott | In the Company of Clouds [45] | 2016 | Mastering | 2016 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album [42] |
Kathryn Kaye | Patterns of Sun and Shade [46] | 2015 | Producer, Accompaniment, Bass, Percussion | 2015 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation [47] |
Jeff Oster | Next [48] | 2015 | Producer, arranger, engineer, Mixing, Bass, composer, Fender Rhodes, Guitar, Hammond B3, Handclapping, Keyboards, Loop Programming, Percussion, Piano, Synthesizer | 2015 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Chill / Groove Album [47] |
Lawrence Blatt | Emergence [49] | 2014 | Recording, Mixing, and Mastering | 2014 ZMR Best Instrumental Album, Acoustic [50] |
Jennifer DeFrayne | By A Wire [51] | 2014 | Engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Bass, Cajon, Guitar (Bass), Guitar (Electric), Keyboards, Percussion, Tambourine, Vocals, Water Bottle, Wood Block | 2014 ZMR Best New Artist [50] |
Jill Haley | Mesa Verde Soundscapes [52] | 2014 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Bass Engineer, Guitar Engineer, Piano Engineer | 2014 ZMR Best Piano Album with Instrumentation [50] |
Masako | Call of the Mountains [53] | 2014 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2014 ZMR Best Piano Album, Solo [50] |
Kathryn Kaye | What the Winter Said [54] [55] | 2013 | Producer, Recording, Mixing, Mastering, Accordion, Autoharp, Bass | 2013 ZMR Best Holiday Album [56] |
Masako | Masako [57] | 2013 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2013 ZMR Best New Artist [56] |
Shambhu | Dreaming of Now [58] | 2013 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering | 2013 ZMR Best Contemporary Instrumental Album [56] |
Todd Boston | Touched by the Sun [59] | 2012 | Producer, engineer, Mixing, Mastering, Clapping | 2012 ZMR Best Instrumental Album, Acoustic [60] |
The Gathering | The Gathering [61] | 2012 | Producer, Editing, Mastering | 2012 ZMR Album of the Year, Best Contemporary Instrumental Album [60] |
The Grammy Award for Best New Age, Ambient or Chant Album is presented to recording artists for quality albums in the new-age music genre at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. Honors in several categories are presented at the ceremony annually by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales or chart position".
William Ackerman is an American guitarist and record producer who founded Windham Hill Records.
Tom Lord-Alge is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground floor of the Marlin Hotel.
Michael Brant DeMaria is an American psychologist, author, and musician.
Fiona Joy Hawkins, is an Australian vocalist and pianist. Her collaborations have included five albums produced by Will Ackerman. Her influences include George Winston, Michael Nyman, Chopin, and Mendelssohn.
Zone Music Reporter is a website tracking New Age, world, and instrumental music. The site features weekly playlist, monthly airplay charts, and album reviews. Premium services are also offered to artists and their management compiling custom airplay reports for that artist. Around 2023, the site began to experience technical problems, although its managers have vowed to reconstitute and perpetuate the database.
Jeff Pearce is an Indiana-based ambient/new age musician. He has been called "one of the top two electronic guitarists of all time" by Allmusic, while reviewer John Diliberto wrote in Billboard magazine that Pearce is "one of the best" guitarists to follow the solo electric guitarist concept. Pearce started playing guitar at age 13 and discovered the music of Brian Eno and Harold Budd while in college.
Al Conti is a Grammy-nominated New Age composer, arranger, producer, and multi-instrumentalist.
AeTopus is a progressive Electronic music project performed and produced by composer Bryan Tewell Hughes. The music has received critical acclaim within the new-age and electronic music genres, and the album Between Empires won the award of Best Electronic album in the 2012 Zone Music Reporter Awards. The album Tempula was nominated in the Best Electronic category in the 2006 NAR Lifestyle Music Awards. Other nominations for ZMR Best Electronic album include the 2013 Extended play (EP) release Angels and Machines, the 2015 CD When, and the 2018 CD Totem Totum. After having independently released seven albums and two EPs between 2002 and 2022, Hughes signed with the Spotted Peccary Music label for the release of the full-length album Cup in 2023.
Corin Nelsen is a Grammy Award-winning recording engineer and music producer. He is best known for his work with William Ackerman, the Grammy award-winning founder of Windham Hill Records, and as chief engineer at Ackerman's Imaginary Road Studios in Vermont.
Kevin Keller is an American composer and recording artist known primarily for "ambient chamber music", a style that combines live instruments with electronic effects.
Ram Gyan "Ricky" Kej is an Indian music composer and environmentalist and a three-time Grammy Award winner. He has performed at venues in over 35 countries including at the United Nations headquarters in New York and Geneva. In October 2023, Kej was announced as a UN "Goodwill Ambassador" (UNCCD) at the United Nations General Assembly by then President, Csaba Körösi.
Bryan Carrigan is an American music producer, engineer, and electronic musician that has been involved in the production of studio albums and film scores. Carrigan is also known for serving multiple roles in the recording studio as music editor, programming, and sound design.
Erik Scott was an American bassist, record producer, and songwriter. Scott played bass for the band Flo & Eddie in the 1970s as well as Alice Cooper in the early 1980s, for whom he also produced. In the 1990s he was one of the founding members of Sonia Dada, which reached the number one position on the Australian music charts with their eponymous debut studio album. Scott was also the co-writer of the song "Father, Father", which was the title track for the Pops Staples' album of the same name, winner of the 1994 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Blues Album. In 2008 he became a solo artist as well, with his debut studio album Other Planets. He recorded four solo studio albums in total, including the 2016 ZMR Awards Album of the Year winner In the Company of Clouds.
Laura Sullivan is an American composer, arranger, pianist, producer, author, and a New-age, World, Spoken Word, Native American, and Pop music artist. She has worked with leading musicians of the industry and Grammy award winners including Eric Sullivan, Nancy Rumbel, Jeff Oster, Eugene Friesen, and Will Ackerman. She is best known for her album, Love's River, which won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album in the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. Love’s River was recognized as one of the best commercial productions by Will Ackerman after 2009. Sullivan's album Pieces of Forever was nominated for Best New Age Album in the 64th Annual Grammy Awards.
Love's River is a 2013 studio album by Laura Sullivan. It received the 2014 Grammy Award for Best New Age Album. Love's River climbed to number 3 on the Top 100 Airplay Chart of Zone Music Reporter in January 2013 and to number 2 in February 2013.
Kerani (1968) is a Dutch composer, orchestrator, and producer of Hungarian heritage known for her sophisticated and meticulously crafted music, infused with classical influences. She is recognised for her contributions to various media projects, including documentaries, short films, and trailers. Over the course of her career, Kerani has released eleven albums, each showcasing her unique artistic vision. Notably, Kerani has been honoured in the US with the distinguished ZMR Music Award for Best Neo-Classical New Age Album on three separate occasions, underscoring her significant impact on the genre.
Flow is an American New Age music group consisting of pianist/vocalist Fiona Joy from Australia, guitarist Lawrence Blatt, trumpeter and flugelhornist Jeff Oster, and guitarist Will Ackerman, all from the United States. The band's name is an anagram of the initials of their names.
Jeff Oster is a Grammy-nominated American musician who specializes in trumpet and flugelhorn in the New Age music genre. He is a member of the four-piece band Flow. Oster's style has been described as "Miles Davis meets Pink Floyd." He is a three-time winner of the Independent Music Awards and ten-time winner of the Zone Music Reporter Awards. He was featured on the Laura Sullivan's Grammy-winning album Love's River. Flow's debut album reached number 4 on the Billboard New Age Albums Chart in 2017.
SEAY is an American award-winning New-age music artist and humanitarian who has gained prominence as both a vocalist and composer. She has released multiple recordings, many of which have received awards and nominations. Her 2016 release In the Garden featuring collaborations with Grammy Award winners Ricky Kej and Wouter Kellerman charted on the Billboard New Age albums chart for five weeks peaking at #3 and won the Zone Music Reporter best vocal album of the year.