Tom Constanten

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Tom Constanten , called TC (born March 19, 1944 in Long Branch , New Jersey ) is an American musician. He was the second keyboardist with the Grateful Dead from November 1968 to January 1970 .

biography

Tom Constanten spent most of his childhood in Las Vegas . In his youth he studied astronomy for a semester at the University of California, Berkeley . There he befriended Phil Lesh in 1961 , with whom he shared his interest in new music and composers such as John Cage and Karlheinz Stockhausen . Together, Lesh and Constanten went to Mills College in Oakland to study with the composer Luciano Berio . In their shared apartment, they tried their hand at avant-garde compositions. When Berio asked Lesh and Constanten to accompany him to Europe, Constanten agreed. Lesh stayed in the US.

During his two-year stay in Europe with Berio, Constanten had the opportunity to study with Pierre Boulez , Karlheinz Stockhausen and Henri Pousseur . Back in the US, Constanten went to the Air Force . He later worked on the album Anthem Of The Sun by the Grateful Dead and finally got into the Grateful Dead in November 1968 - just one day after he left the Air Force. Constanten made a decisive contribution to the sound of the Grateful Dead on their psychedelic albums Anthem Of The Sun , Aoxomoxoa and Live / Dead . In 1970 Constanten left the Grateful Dead again because he was not satisfied with his unclear role on stage in a guitar dominated band. In addition, his interest in the Church of Scientology , which prohibits the use of drugs , did not harmonize with his bandmates' drug experiments at the time.

After leaving the Grateful Dead, Constanten worked in various fields - from rock to music for film and theater to orchestral music and classical music - as a composer , pianist and keyboardist . His compositions were u. a. performed by the New York City Ballet and the Kronos Quartet . Constanten continues to teach piano in the Bay Area and was a music professor at the San Francisco Art Institute and the State University of New York in Buffalo . In 1986 he was artist in residence at Harvard University .

Since the 1990s, Constanten has been publishing more and more of its own albums, mostly only through self-distribution or on small labels . His publications mix songs from rock and folk music and tracks from his Grateful Dead past with his own compositions and works from the classical period. Constanten usually performs the pieces solo on piano or keyboard. In 1992, Constanten published his autobiography under the title Between Rock & Hard Places . In 1994 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Grateful Dead . Occasionally Constanten also appeared on records and at concerts by Henry Kaiser , Merl Saunders , Zero or the Dead Ringers (with David Nelson ).

Together with the MIDI expert of the late Grateful Dead , Bob Bralove , Constanten founded the experimental keyboard duo Dose Hermanos in 1996 , which have released several CDs and a DVD over the years.

In 2005 Tom Constanten accompanied Jefferson Starship on their tour and was also seen on German stages in this context.

Tom Constanten has been married since 1993 and lives in North Carolina . He has a daughter (born 1997).

literature

  • Tom Constanten: Between Rock & Hard Places - A Musical Autobiodissey (Hulogosi, 1992)

Discography

Grateful Dead albums with Tom Constanten:

as well as various publications of concert recordings

Solo albums:

  • Fresh Tracks In Real Time (self-distributed 1989)
  • OutSides (self-distribution 1990)
  • Sonatas by Beethoven, Schubert and Haydn (Mauroy Records 1991)
  • Nightfall Of Diamonds (Relix Records 1992)
  • Morning Dew (Relix Records 1993)
  • Live In Concert At The Piano (Mauroy Records 1996)
  • Grateful Dreams (Relix Records 2000)
  • 88 Keys to Tomorrow (Gaff Music 2002)
  • Deep Expressions, Longtime Known (2006)
  • Moved To Stanleyville (with Ken Foust, 2007)

with Bob Bralove as a can of Hermanos:

  • Sonic Roar Shock (1997)
  • Live From California (1998)
  • Shadow Of The Invisible Man (DVD, 1999)
  • Search For Intelligent Life (Relix Records 2000)
  • Bright Shadows (Gaff Music 2004)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Constanten, Tom
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American musician
DATE OF BIRTH March 19, 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH Long Branch New Jersey