Ghost Train Orchestra

Ghost Train Orchestra
Ghost Train Orchestra with choir at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2018
Ghost Train Orchestra with choir at Jazz at Lincoln Center in 2018
Background information
OriginBrooklyn, New York, United States
GenresJazz
Classical
Avant-garde jazz
Years active2006–present
MembersBrian Carpenter
Matt Bauder
Ron Caswell
Rob Garcia
Curtis Hasselbring
Andy Laster
Dennis Lichtman
Mazz Swift
Emily Bookwalter
Avi Bortnick
Brandon Seabrook
Michael Bates

Ghost Train Orchestra is a Brooklyn-based jazz and chamber ensemble led by Boston-based musician Brian Carpenter. The band formed in 2006 when an historic theater in Boston commissioned Carpenter as musical director for its 90th year celebration. For the commission, Carpenter transcribed and arranged a set of overlooked music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem and formed a side project from his regular band Beat Circus to perform it. The following year the group started performing under the name Ghost Train Orchestra.

Recordings

The band first recorded in 2009 at Avatar Studios in Manhattan and released Hothouse Stomp in 2011 on Accurate Records.[1][2][3] The album featured Carpenter's rearrangements and often avant-garde treatments of early jazz from the 1920s and 1930s, drawn from recordings by such artists as Tiny Parham, Charlie Johnson, Fess Williams, and McKinney's Cotton Pickers.

GTO's 2013 album, Book of Rhapsodies, featured chamber-jazz works from the 1930s and '40s culled from found 78s and rediscoveries by music historians and collectors such as Mitchell Kaba and Irwin Chusid.[4][5] The album included compositions by Raymond Scott, Reginald Foresythe, John Kirby, and Alec Wilder.

GTO's next album, Hot Town, issued in 2015, contained more arrangements and reimaginings by Carpenter of 1920s and '30s vintage jazz. Book of Rhapsodies Vol. II, issued in 2017, featured more works by Scott, Foresythe, and Wilder.

In 2023, GTO collaborated with Kronos Quartet on the album Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog.[6][7] In April 2024, GTO performed the album's repertoire with Kronos Quartet live at New York's Town Hall, with guest vocals by David Byrne, Karen Mantler, and others.[8]

Members

Note: Personnel has changed from project to project

Discography

References

  1. ^ Lynch, Dave (2015-04-25). "Allmusic Biography". Allmusic. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  2. ^ "Brian Carpenter: Eclectic Jazz, Rooted in Americana : NPR". NPR Music. 2011-04-07. Retrieved 2011-04-21.
  3. ^ "Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra - Chart History". 2011-04-27. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  4. ^ Garelick, Jon (2014-03-27). "Ghost Train Orchestra delivers an unclassifiable mix". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  5. ^ Gilbert, Andrew (2011-09-11). "Ghost Train picks up speed". Boston Globe. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  6. ^ Farber, Jim, "‘His work seems endless’: music stars pay tribute to the incredible life of Moondog," The Guardian, September 26, 2023
  7. ^ Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog at Kronosquartet.org
  8. ^ Kronos Quartet and Ghost Train Orchestra Play Moondog at TownHall.org
  9. ^ Elman, Steve (2012-12-27). "Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra". ArtsFuse. Retrieved 2015-04-25.
  10. ^ Wilson, Jerome (2017-10-09). "Brian Carpenter's Ghost Train Orchestra: Book of Rhapsodies, Vol. II". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2017-10-10.
  11. ^ Rettig, James (2023-06-29). "Ghost Train Orchestra & Kronos Quartet Announce New Moondog Tribute Album Feat. Jarvis Cocker, Rufus Wainwright, Marissa Nadler, & More". Stereogum. Retrieved 2023-09-01.