MICHAEL BRANT DEMARIA
Siyotanka is an ancient American Indian legend that explains the origin of the Native American courting flute. It is a coming-of-age story, a boy’s vision quest to find his personal “soul song” and become a man, and an allegorical message of the importance of music and artistic expression to society. Now it also is a musical recording by multi-instrumentalist, psychologist and soul guide Michael Brant DeMaria.
DeMaria – who plays indigenous flutes, keyboards and percussion – has created instrumental music (with a little native chanting) that tells the tale of Siyotanka (the Lakota Indian word for “flute,” or more literally “great song”). Over the course of a dozen tunes, DeMaria presents an ancient native world where the boy, Takoda, leaves his village on a journey that brings life-altering encounters with Nuka the woodpecker, the sage owl Hinhan, and the great elk Hexaka. When Nuka pecks holes in the limb of a cedar tree to get to the termites, the wind blows through the holes and Takoda hears the first flute sound. He makes the tree-limb into a flute, learns to play it and takes it back to his tribe.
Michael Brant DeMaria’s Siyotanka CD and his other music can be purchased at his website (www.ontosmusic.com) as well as at online stores such as amazon.com or cdbaby.com, and at numerous digital download locations including iTunes.com and Rhapsody.com. Native American charities receive 10 percent of the profits from the sale of DeMaria’s CDs.
DeMaria has played onstage accompanying performers well-known in the Native American and new age musical genres including R. Carlos Nakai, Mary Youngblood, Jeff Ball, Bill Miller, Peter Phippen, Coyote Oldman, Ash Dargan, Raymond Redfeather, and David Darling. DeMaria’s debut album, The River, received international airplay and acclaim as a top album for music therapy, massage, meditation, relaxation, acupuncture treatments, stress management and “soul guiding.” The CD also was the first release in DeMaria’s Ontos Healing Sound Project Series. A second CD in the series, Ocean, has been readied for release later in 2009.
The music of Siyotanka (pronounced see-yoh-tahn-kah) was created as the soundtrack to an original play written by DeMaria and another psychologist, Stephen C. Lott, who also created the artwork for the CD cover. The play premiered at the historic Pensacola Theatre in Florida with eight sold-out performances. DeMaria performed the music onstage as part of the cast. The production (including DeMaria’s musical score) won seven Crystal Awards.
A wide-variety of Native American wooden flutes were used in creating the music on Siyotanka with the higher-toned instruments representing the woodpecker and other birds, the mid-range encapsulating the adventures of the young Indian, and low bass notes evoking the owl and elk. Also heard are drums, wood-rattles and other percussion. The tunes “Grandfather” and “Branched Horn” feature both intricate rhythmic drumming and tribal chanting. “The Quest” contains acoustic-piano gently woven together with flute, while “Beyond The Known” is faster-paced utilizing the sound of acoustic guitar. Intermingled within the music are the sounds of thunder and rain (“The Dream”), crickets, bird trills and eagle cries.
The Siyotanka story, told here through music, has deep spiritual, philosophical and sociological meanings. “Ultimately, the story works as a metaphor for our life journey as we grow, explore and deal with our fears,” explains DeMaria. “It is especially touching because Takoda is a different kind of warrior. It is his sensitivity, spirituality and artistic nature that wins the day, not brute strength. Instead of creating a weapon out of wood, he crafts a flute to bring beauty and love into the world. This is a message we need today.”
DeMaria was uniquely suited to create the music of Siyotanka because of his training as a psychologist and “soul guide,” his years of participating in and leading wilderness vision quests, and his lifelong study of music as a therapeutic tool for healing and growing. On his way to his first personal vision quest in Glacier National Park in Canada, guided by a Blackfoot elder, Michael purchased an album by R. Carlos Nakai and fell in love with the heartfelt and natural sounds of the Native American flute. Although already proficient as a pianist and percussionist, DeMaria soon began incorporating flute into his music and playing it at weekly spirituality meetings. This led to performances at large flute gatherings (Musical Echoes in Florida, Zion Canyon Art and Flute Festival in Utah, and the International Native American Flute Association conventions in Taos and San Francisco). He additionally started using flute music in both private therapy sessions and group workshops. DeMaria also is the author of three books – an academic text (Horns and Halos: Towards the Blessings of Darkness), a personal growth book for general readership (Ever Flowing On: Being and Becoming One’s Self) and a book of poetry (Moments).
When he was seven-years-old, Michael began using music for his own healing of surgery trauma. At first he simply played self-soothing notes on the piano, but he was soon taking classical lessons (Bach, Scarlotti). However, from the beginning Michael found true joy in improvising and creating his own music. Seeing a jazz concert at age nine propelled Michael into drumming and percussion which he pursued in his school’s jazz band. His early musical influences ranged from jazz (Buddy Rich, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk, Herbie Hancock) to pop music (Elton John, Simon & Garfunkel). DeMaria was heavily inspired in his late-teens when he first heard the solo piano improvisations of Keith Jarrett followed by the new age Windham Hill and Fresh Aire recordings.
Born in Norwalk, Connecticut, and raised in nearby Wilton, Michael moved to Gulf Breeze, Florida (near Pensacola) when he was 15. He graduated from high school early and at age 17 went to the progressive New College (The Honors College of Florida) where he primarily studied chemistry and math, although he spent most of his free time creating music with his best-friend, guitarist Bill Schulz. DeMaria became fascinated not only with ethnic instruments (from taking an ethno-musicology course) but also with synthesizers (Pink Floyd, Alan Parsons Project, Tangerine Dream, Jean Michel Jarre). DeMaria bought an early Moog synthesizer and began taking more music courses.
Eventually DeMaria decided to move to the University of West Florida, concentrate on psychology and philosophy, and use music as his artistic outlet and ongoing personal therapy. He graduated at age 20 with two Bachelor Degrees. At Duquesne University in Pittsburgh he received his Masters at age 21 and his PhD when he was 24. While his academic focus was on psychology, he continued taking music courses and began recording original music (five albums that he only shared with family and friends). His musical tastes broadened to include George Winston, Miles Davis, Tibetan monk chants, Romanian gypsy music, African poly-rhythms, Japanese shakuhachi flute sounds and ambient recordings.
Dr. DeMaria became a practicing clinical psychologist. At first he devoted himself to working with abused children and their families (more than 2,000 cases), but after a decade he began guiding adults on their life journeys, helping them in moving towards wholeness, living in balance and becoming more conscious, compassionate and creative. His healing practices incorporate nature, creativity and spirituality particularly utilizing journaling, meditation and artistic expression, along with play therapy and music therapy. He founded ONTOS (the Greek word for “being”), a consulting company and center for research, teaching and training in the healing practices he has developed. DeMaria also serves as an Adjunct Professor at the University of West Florida, the Institute for Transpersonal Psychology and the Institute for Integrative Health.
“I first heard the story of Siyotanka on my first vision quest,” remembers DeMaria. “I came to realize it is a mythic, archetypal legend about bringing art to civilization, but also a story about a boy becoming a man by opening his heart and finding his soul song, the individual song we all carry within us. For the American Indians, the flute became part of the courting ritual. But before men and women join in marriage, they need to find themselves, listen to their soul and discover what they have to offer to the world. I hope this music will help lead people on that journey of self-discovery.”
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Friday, January 2, 2009
Recording Artist Brian Kelly Influenced by Smooth Jazz and New Age
BRIAN KELLY
AFTERPLAY
Something I have noticed in the world of music in the last couple of years is that many musicians do not stay within easy categories. Some artists do pop and rock, some folk and pop, some trad jazz and contemporary jazz, some country and Americana, some new age and world, not to mention acoustic and electric, real instruments and synthesized ones. The list goes on and on. That same strategy applies to this album by keyboardist Brian Kelly, AFTERPLAY, his second CD. His sound is absolutely smooth jazz on many of the tunes with other musicians joining him in a jazz group setting including saxophone. But on many of the other pieces, he comes across much more as a new age performer (or what they sometimes pop-new age when there are strong melodies like he writes). This second batch of tunes is much softer and gentler. There is even a little world-fusion sound on a few compositions such as “Celtic Fire.” For the most part Kelly’s acoustic grand piano is in the forefront, but he also mixes in electronic keyboards (synth, samplers, whatever) in the background or for specific sounds or instruments (besides the real players he brought in). So the production is far-ranging. But let’s cut to the bottomline. It works. Mostly because Kelly writes good instrumental music melodies and he has a gift for arranging them with a variety of instrumentation that suits each piece. His piano playing is strong and his solos are captivating. If you are the kind of listener that wants a smooth jazz album to be upbeat and bouyant all the way through with lots of hot soloing, then this album is probably not going to do it for you. If you want very meditative, spacey or ambient new age music, go elsewhere as well. But if you like some smooth jazz and some new age that is catchy, well-played and nicely arranged, then check out this guy. There is never a boring moment and the whole thing goes down easy like a good bottle of aged wine on a Sunday afternoon. I personally can’t wait to hear where he goes next.
-- John Chandler
AFTERPLAY
Something I have noticed in the world of music in the last couple of years is that many musicians do not stay within easy categories. Some artists do pop and rock, some folk and pop, some trad jazz and contemporary jazz, some country and Americana, some new age and world, not to mention acoustic and electric, real instruments and synthesized ones. The list goes on and on. That same strategy applies to this album by keyboardist Brian Kelly, AFTERPLAY, his second CD. His sound is absolutely smooth jazz on many of the tunes with other musicians joining him in a jazz group setting including saxophone. But on many of the other pieces, he comes across much more as a new age performer (or what they sometimes pop-new age when there are strong melodies like he writes). This second batch of tunes is much softer and gentler. There is even a little world-fusion sound on a few compositions such as “Celtic Fire.” For the most part Kelly’s acoustic grand piano is in the forefront, but he also mixes in electronic keyboards (synth, samplers, whatever) in the background or for specific sounds or instruments (besides the real players he brought in). So the production is far-ranging. But let’s cut to the bottomline. It works. Mostly because Kelly writes good instrumental music melodies and he has a gift for arranging them with a variety of instrumentation that suits each piece. His piano playing is strong and his solos are captivating. If you are the kind of listener that wants a smooth jazz album to be upbeat and bouyant all the way through with lots of hot soloing, then this album is probably not going to do it for you. If you want very meditative, spacey or ambient new age music, go elsewhere as well. But if you like some smooth jazz and some new age that is catchy, well-played and nicely arranged, then check out this guy. There is never a boring moment and the whole thing goes down easy like a good bottle of aged wine on a Sunday afternoon. I personally can’t wait to hear where he goes next.
-- John Chandler
Friday, October 10, 2008
AFTER A DOZEN CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL HIT ALBUMS OF HIS OWN PLUS PRODUCING A HUNDRED OTHERS, SPENCER BREWER IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM
SPENCER BREWER
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
AFTER A DOZEN CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL HIT ALBUMS OF HIS OWN PLUS PRODUCING A HUNDRED OTHERS, SPENCER BREWER IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM
SPENCER BREWER
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
AFTER A DOZEN CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL HIT ALBUMS OF HIS OWN PLUS PRODUCING A HUNDRED OTHERS, SPENCER BREWER IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM
SPENCER BREWER
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
AFTER A DOZEN CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTAL HIT ALBUMS OF HIS OWN PLUS PRODUCING A HUNDRED OTHERS, SPENCER BREWER IS BACK WITH A NEW ALBUM
SPENCER BREWER
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
CINEMATIC
Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.
“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.
Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.
The music on Cinematic ranges from new versions of a couple of Brewer’s most-beloved compositions (“Quintessence,” “Dreamgift”) to new material (“Into The Mirror,” “Satie’s Forgotten Dream,” “Say What!?”). Some of the music has already been used in the cinema: “Heartwood” was commissioned for the movie of the same name starring Jason Robards and Hillary Swank, and Brewer also wrote the title theme for Lee Mun Wah’s acclaimed documentary film on racism, “Last Chance for Eden.” “Trip to Glory” has been used in several Olympics’ broadcasts, became the Big Brothers-Big Sisters theme, was used as Hank Aaron’s theme song and helped sell Arby’s Roast Beef in television commercials. “Blueberry Street” has a Porgy & Bess-feel to it and displays Brewer’s early blues roots, while the rip-roaring “Lupin Swing” displays elements of vaudeville, Broadway and ragtime. “Caravanserai” would have worked in Valentino’s “The Sheik” or Sean Connery’s “The Wind and The Lion.” “Fellini’s Carousel” pays tribute to the Italian film master. “Walls That Move” was written in George Lucas’ Skywalker Sound huge soundstage where the walls actually are capable of moving. “Cinematic” is a soaring tour-de-force of classic film sounds creating several moods, building tension and then letting the listener down easy at the end as the lights come up and the credits roll.
“I first got into movie music when I was watching the classic monster films from the 1930s – “Frankenstein,” “The Hunchback of Notre Dame,” “The Mummy” – and then “Creature From the Black Lagoon” in the Fifties and “Jason and the Argonauts” in the early Sixties,” remembers Brewer. “The music was so powerful, it knocked me out. I realized how important music is to the mood, storyline and character development in films. So then I started paying attention to the film composers and found music they did in other genres.”
Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.
After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.
Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.
Spencer also contributed music to the films “Home Alone 2,” “The Gifts of Grief” (starring Isabel Allende and Rev. Cecil Williams) and “Color of Fear” (another ground-breaking movie on racism from Lee Mun Wah). Brewer wrote the national theme songs for the YMCA and the Japanese Postal Service. His music has been used on more than 2,000 television shows all over the world including “Sex and the City,” “The Oprah Winfrey Show,” “L.A. Law,” “Sixty Minutes,” “Thirty Something” and broadcasts of the last five Olympics.
In addition to creating music, Brewer has run a record company owns a music store, rebuilds pianos, collects vintage microphones and gramophones, had his own radio show and produced hundreds of concerts in Mendocino County. He contributes to his community in many ways including helping found the Redwood Valley Outdoor Educational Facility for children and the Ukiah Educational Foundation which helps fund students and schools. He also has founded and created patents with the high-tech company HighWired Inc. which allows voicemail or email users to add music, sounds and visual content to their messages.
“Part of what makes movies magical and deeply moving is the music soundtrack married to the mood of what we are watching,” explains Brewer. “In our own lives, we generally pick music to listen to because of how we are feeling or want to feel that day. I hope the music on Cinematic can serve as a soundtrack for people’s lives.”
Many of Brewer’s recordings are available at his website (spencerbrewer.com). Cinematic also can be purchased online at Cdbaby.com and Amazon.com, as well as numerous digital download locations such as iTunes and Rhapsody. Check him out on YouTube as well.
IAN TESCEE CAPTURES EXCITEMENT OF SPACE TRAVEL ON HIS NEW CD
IAN TESCEE CAPTURES EXCITEMENT OF SPACE TRAVEL ON HIS NEW CD
A Traveler’s Guide to MARS
Humans have been dreaming about going to Mars since the first telescopes were invented four centuries ago, and now that we have spaceships landing on the planet regularly and rovers motoring around, taking photos and digging in the soil, the dream of earthlings visiting the red planet is more real than ever. Space music maestro Ian Tescee, who has been dazzling electronic music aficionados for the past 22 years, has now created A Traveler’s Guide to MARS, the soundtrack for humankind’s pending journey to our closest neighboring planet (sometimes only 40 million miles away).
Inspired by the book of the same name penned by distinguished space scientist William K. Hartmann, this music by Ian Tescee has been used since the fall of 2007 in the major planetarium production about Mars at the Carnegie Science Center’s Buhl Digital Dome in Pittsburgh.
A Traveler’s Guide to MARS is the fourth album by Ian Tescee (pronounced like t-c), who first made waves in the space music field in 1984 with the ground-breaking recording Io (pronounced ee’-oh), named after Jupiter’s moon, the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Tescee, who traditionally takes several years between albums, expanded his space music repertoire into deeper space on his second album, Continua, with compositions such as “The Big Bang” and “The Cosmic Dream.” Ian first got to know W.K. Hartmann in the Eighties because the scientist also is a renowned illustrator of space scenes and allowed the use of one of his paintings on the back of Io, another on the cover of Continua and one inside A Traveler’s Guide to MARS. “My third CD, Breathwork, expanded my electronic experimentation and explored innerspace rather than outerspace,” explains Tescee. “It was all about how rapid, deep breathing can facilitate an altered state without the use of drugs, something that could become important during extended space travel.”
All four of Tescee’s CDs can be purchased from his record company at musicphrenia.com or iantescee.com, as well as at major on-line retailers such as cdbaby.com or amazon.com, and numerous digital download locations including itunes.com and rhapsody.com.
Tescee has garnered a cult following of enthusiastic space music fans because of his mesmerizing sound which features strong melodies, catchy rhythm patterns, complex arrangements and a dazzling final-mix that allows each sound to cleanly emerge. He finds himself on the other end of the spectrum from space musicians who feature ambient sounds or lengthy aimlessly-floating pieces. Tescee’s melodic sensibilities derive from his pop-rock background, his rhythmic sense from many years as a rock’n’roll drummer, and his mixing abilities from two decades of managing a recording studio where he engineered and produced countless records in many genres (from guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy’s Acoustic Sketches CD to the heavy-metal cult-classic Ample Destruction by Jag Panzer).
Tescee’s music was meant to be carefully listened to, which makes it appeal to many in the prog-rock community. But the space themes and captivating instrumental passages also lend themselves to enjoyment by fans of new age music. While A Traveler’s Guide to MARS serves as the score to a current major planetarium show, Ian’s previous recordings have proved favorites for producers of various space-themed multimedia – the backdrop for the website ThisDayInSpace.com, in-house visual productions at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (where the Voyager and Viking space missions were controlled), and Andrew Rennie’s Spaceshow Documentaries in Australia.
Ian Tescee was initially inspired to begin recording space music after seeing Carl Sagan’s 13-hour PBS-TV mini-series “Cosmos” in 1980. “I actually tuned in because I heard some of the theme music by Vangelis and I later tracked down the album, Heaven and Hell, that it originally came from.” The ideas explained in “Cosmos” coupled with that Vangelis music not only influenced Tescee’s “Io Theme” on his first album, but also “Billions and Billions of Stars” on the new album.
Ian says he has always been more inspired by particular albums rather than an artist’s entire recorded output, and he specifically mentions The Moody Blues’ In Search of the Lost Chord with its prominent use of mellotron, Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma with its extended live versions of the space-tracks “Astronomy Domine” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” Jethro Tull’s Stand Up, Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Mike Oldfield’s Ommadawn, Chris Spheeris’ Pathways to Surrender, Enya’s Watermark and Enigma’s MCMXC A.D. Less influential, but with sounds worth studying were King Crimson’s The Court of the Crimson King (also featuring mellotron), Yes’ Fragile, and Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygene. Tescee additionally has been inspired by philosophy, science and sci-fi literature written by Carl Sagan, W.K. Hartmann, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Alan Watts, Carlos Castaneda and C.S. Lewis.
Born in Indiana and raised in Colorado, Tescee has early musical memories (his dad’s jazz albums and his mother singing showtunes). Soon Ian was listening to rock’n’roll, playing drums, and creating his own light shows. As he entered his teens, he started recording songs and learning to play guitar and keyboards. During high school he played tympani in the concert band (even today he uses the sound of those orchestral drums on all his recordings), played in rock bands (Perihelon was named after the astronomical term for the point in a planet’s orbit that is closest to the sun), and listened to music ranging from classical (Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia and the soundtrack to the film “2001: A Space Odyssey”) to classic rock (The Doors, Iron Butterfly and Focus). After graduation he toured the Midwest for a year in the band Autumn before moving east to attend Cornell University where he took courses on computer programming, classical music appreciation and physics (Carl Sagan was a guest lecturer). Ian’s roommate was majoring in astronomy, which intrigued Tescee, but he spent most of his time in his room recording music.
Soon Tescee was also recording other musicians, and he wrote and published a book, The Musician’s Guide to Recording (used as a college text for several years). He received an honorable mention from the American Song Festival competition and played folk music in coffee houses in New York State. He returned to Colorado where he joined the top regional bluegrass-country-rock band Radford & Lewis (Tescee sometimes took center-stage to sing lead vocals as his rock’n’roll alter-ego, Brian Tuemer). Tescee opened the studio Startsong Recording, Inc. and worked with Firefall, The Auto-No (whose CD won Colorado awards), Zen Radio (another top Colorado alternative-rock band) and Randy Zambola (a national award-winning dulcimer player). Tescee has written and recorded original music in many genres, often with lyrics, but has only released his space music on CD.
Ian recorded the bulk of A Traveler’s Guide to MARS using synthesizers (keyboards and electronic drums), but as with all of his recordings, he plays analog guitars throughout and sings on one track. Also thrown into the mix are a half-dozen authentic NASA commands and a countdown, a cello solo by symphony-player Nancy Snustad, and the faint quoting of a line from Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Lost City of Mars.” Most of the music was composed by Tescee, but “Beneath The Ice” includes music written by electronic musician Russell Storey, and “The Wooden Prince” is based on the theme by Béla Bartók.
“Even though I am awed by the current exploration of Mars and the discoveries there,” says Tescee, “Carl Sagan taught us that the more you know about the universe, the more you realize how much more there is to know. Space music means something to me on a gut, feeling level, not an intellectual one. For me it’s about creating a separate, fantasmagoric reality that can be shared with others. A human has not yet traveled to Mars, but we can certainly imagine what it would be like, and I hope my music on this album can serve as a soundtrack for that imaginative experience.”
And, yes, the tire-tracks on Mars shown on the back cover are real (that’s a NASA photo of a rover trail, the first tracks made on another planet by a human-created vehicle).
A Traveler’s Guide to MARS
Humans have been dreaming about going to Mars since the first telescopes were invented four centuries ago, and now that we have spaceships landing on the planet regularly and rovers motoring around, taking photos and digging in the soil, the dream of earthlings visiting the red planet is more real than ever. Space music maestro Ian Tescee, who has been dazzling electronic music aficionados for the past 22 years, has now created A Traveler’s Guide to MARS, the soundtrack for humankind’s pending journey to our closest neighboring planet (sometimes only 40 million miles away).
Inspired by the book of the same name penned by distinguished space scientist William K. Hartmann, this music by Ian Tescee has been used since the fall of 2007 in the major planetarium production about Mars at the Carnegie Science Center’s Buhl Digital Dome in Pittsburgh.
A Traveler’s Guide to MARS is the fourth album by Ian Tescee (pronounced like t-c), who first made waves in the space music field in 1984 with the ground-breaking recording Io (pronounced ee’-oh), named after Jupiter’s moon, the most volcanically active world in the solar system. Tescee, who traditionally takes several years between albums, expanded his space music repertoire into deeper space on his second album, Continua, with compositions such as “The Big Bang” and “The Cosmic Dream.” Ian first got to know W.K. Hartmann in the Eighties because the scientist also is a renowned illustrator of space scenes and allowed the use of one of his paintings on the back of Io, another on the cover of Continua and one inside A Traveler’s Guide to MARS. “My third CD, Breathwork, expanded my electronic experimentation and explored innerspace rather than outerspace,” explains Tescee. “It was all about how rapid, deep breathing can facilitate an altered state without the use of drugs, something that could become important during extended space travel.”
All four of Tescee’s CDs can be purchased from his record company at musicphrenia.com or iantescee.com, as well as at major on-line retailers such as cdbaby.com or amazon.com, and numerous digital download locations including itunes.com and rhapsody.com.
Tescee has garnered a cult following of enthusiastic space music fans because of his mesmerizing sound which features strong melodies, catchy rhythm patterns, complex arrangements and a dazzling final-mix that allows each sound to cleanly emerge. He finds himself on the other end of the spectrum from space musicians who feature ambient sounds or lengthy aimlessly-floating pieces. Tescee’s melodic sensibilities derive from his pop-rock background, his rhythmic sense from many years as a rock’n’roll drummer, and his mixing abilities from two decades of managing a recording studio where he engineered and produced countless records in many genres (from guitar virtuoso Phil Keaggy’s Acoustic Sketches CD to the heavy-metal cult-classic Ample Destruction by Jag Panzer).
Tescee’s music was meant to be carefully listened to, which makes it appeal to many in the prog-rock community. But the space themes and captivating instrumental passages also lend themselves to enjoyment by fans of new age music. While A Traveler’s Guide to MARS serves as the score to a current major planetarium show, Ian’s previous recordings have proved favorites for producers of various space-themed multimedia – the backdrop for the website ThisDayInSpace.com, in-house visual productions at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (where the Voyager and Viking space missions were controlled), and Andrew Rennie’s Spaceshow Documentaries in Australia.
Ian Tescee was initially inspired to begin recording space music after seeing Carl Sagan’s 13-hour PBS-TV mini-series “Cosmos” in 1980. “I actually tuned in because I heard some of the theme music by Vangelis and I later tracked down the album, Heaven and Hell, that it originally came from.” The ideas explained in “Cosmos” coupled with that Vangelis music not only influenced Tescee’s “Io Theme” on his first album, but also “Billions and Billions of Stars” on the new album.
Ian says he has always been more inspired by particular albums rather than an artist’s entire recorded output, and he specifically mentions The Moody Blues’ In Search of the Lost Chord with its prominent use of mellotron, Pink Floyd’s Ummagumma with its extended live versions of the space-tracks “Astronomy Domine” and “Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun,” Jethro Tull’s Stand Up, Genesis’ The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway, Mike Oldfield’s Ommadawn, Chris Spheeris’ Pathways to Surrender, Enya’s Watermark and Enigma’s MCMXC A.D. Less influential, but with sounds worth studying were King Crimson’s The Court of the Crimson King (also featuring mellotron), Yes’ Fragile, and Jean-Michel Jarre’s Oxygene. Tescee additionally has been inspired by philosophy, science and sci-fi literature written by Carl Sagan, W.K. Hartmann, Ray Bradbury, Robert Heinlein, Alan Watts, Carlos Castaneda and C.S. Lewis.
Born in Indiana and raised in Colorado, Tescee has early musical memories (his dad’s jazz albums and his mother singing showtunes). Soon Ian was listening to rock’n’roll, playing drums, and creating his own light shows. As he entered his teens, he started recording songs and learning to play guitar and keyboards. During high school he played tympani in the concert band (even today he uses the sound of those orchestral drums on all his recordings), played in rock bands (Perihelon was named after the astronomical term for the point in a planet’s orbit that is closest to the sun), and listened to music ranging from classical (Jean Sibelius’ Finlandia and the soundtrack to the film “2001: A Space Odyssey”) to classic rock (The Doors, Iron Butterfly and Focus). After graduation he toured the Midwest for a year in the band Autumn before moving east to attend Cornell University where he took courses on computer programming, classical music appreciation and physics (Carl Sagan was a guest lecturer). Ian’s roommate was majoring in astronomy, which intrigued Tescee, but he spent most of his time in his room recording music.
Soon Tescee was also recording other musicians, and he wrote and published a book, The Musician’s Guide to Recording (used as a college text for several years). He received an honorable mention from the American Song Festival competition and played folk music in coffee houses in New York State. He returned to Colorado where he joined the top regional bluegrass-country-rock band Radford & Lewis (Tescee sometimes took center-stage to sing lead vocals as his rock’n’roll alter-ego, Brian Tuemer). Tescee opened the studio Startsong Recording, Inc. and worked with Firefall, The Auto-No (whose CD won Colorado awards), Zen Radio (another top Colorado alternative-rock band) and Randy Zambola (a national award-winning dulcimer player). Tescee has written and recorded original music in many genres, often with lyrics, but has only released his space music on CD.
Ian recorded the bulk of A Traveler’s Guide to MARS using synthesizers (keyboards and electronic drums), but as with all of his recordings, he plays analog guitars throughout and sings on one track. Also thrown into the mix are a half-dozen authentic NASA commands and a countdown, a cello solo by symphony-player Nancy Snustad, and the faint quoting of a line from Ray Bradbury’s short story “The Lost City of Mars.” Most of the music was composed by Tescee, but “Beneath The Ice” includes music written by electronic musician Russell Storey, and “The Wooden Prince” is based on the theme by Béla Bartók.
“Even though I am awed by the current exploration of Mars and the discoveries there,” says Tescee, “Carl Sagan taught us that the more you know about the universe, the more you realize how much more there is to know. Space music means something to me on a gut, feeling level, not an intellectual one. For me it’s about creating a separate, fantasmagoric reality that can be shared with others. A human has not yet traveled to Mars, but we can certainly imagine what it would be like, and I hope my music on this album can serve as a soundtrack for that imaginative experience.”
And, yes, the tire-tracks on Mars shown on the back cover are real (that’s a NASA photo of a rover trail, the first tracks made on another planet by a human-created vehicle).
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