David Torn
Encyclopedia
Composer
A composer is a person who creates music, either by musical notation or oral tradition, for interpretation and performance, or through direct manipulation of sonic material through electronic media...
and guitarist
Guitarist
A guitarist is a musician who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselves on the guitar while singing.- Versatility :The guitarist controls an extremely...
.
He is known for the organic blending/manipulation of electronic and acoustic instruments and performance techniques that have an atmospheric or textural
Texture (music)
In music, texture is the way the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition , thus determining the overall quality of sound of a piece...
quality and effect, along with a particular harmonic richness. He is particularly well known among guitarists for his use and technological influence upon the development of looping
Music loop
In electroacoustic music, a loop is a repeating section of sound material. Short sections of material can be repeated to create ostinato patterns...
effects.
Torn studied with Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein
Leonard Bernstein August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim...
(within the "Music for Young Composers" series), as well as with guitarists John Abercrombie
John Abercrombie (guitarist)
John Abercrombie is an American jazz guitarist, whose work often explores jazz fusion and post bop. Abercrombie has played with Billy Cobham, Jack DeJohnette, Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker...
, Pat Martino
Pat Martino
Pat Martino is an Italian-American jazz guitarist and composer within the post bop, fusion, mainstream jazz, soul jazz and hard bop idioms.-Biography:...
, Paul Weiss and Arthur Basile.
David Torn is married to a Brecht, is the son of L.J. and R. Torn, the father of both Elijah B Torn
Elijah B Torn
Elijah B Torn is an electronic musician who lives and performs in New York City. He is the eldest son of guitarist David Torn....
and Cody Torn, the brother of M. Torn, and he is a cousin of Rip Torn
Rip Torn
Elmore Rual "Rip" Torn, Jr. , is an American actor of stage, screen and television.Torn received an Academy Award nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his role in the 1983 film Cross Creek. His work includes the role of Artie, the producer, on The Larry Sanders Show, for which he was nominated...
, Angelica Torn
Angelica Torn
Angelica Torn is an American award winning actress, director, producer and screenwriter and the only daughter of actors Rip Torn and the late Geraldine Page.She legally and professionally changed her name to Angelica Page in September, 2011....
, Geraldine Page
Geraldine Page
Geraldine Sue Page was an American actress. Although she starred in at least two dozen feature films, she is primarily known for her celebrated work in the American theater...
, Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek
Sissy Spacek is an American actress and singer. She came to international prominence for her for role as Carrie White in Brian De Palma's 1976 horror film Carrie for which she earned her first Academy Award nomination...
and Ina Garten
Ina Garten
Ina Rosenberg Garten is an American author, host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and former White House nuclear policy analyst...
, AKA The Barefoot Contessa
Barefoot Contessa
Barefoot Contessa is a cooking show that premiered November 30, 2002 on Food Network. This popular show is hosted by celebrity chef Ina Garten. Each episode features Garten assembling dishes of varying complexity. Though her speciality is French cuisine, she occasionally prepares American, Asian,...
.
Torn was born in Amityville, New York
Amityville, New York
Amityville is a village in the town of Babylon in Suffolk County, New York, in the United States. The population was 9,441 at the 2000 census.-History:...
, and began his career with the Ithaca-based jam band Zobo Funn Band
Zobo funn band
The Zobo Funn Band, a band based in Ithaca, New York during the mid to late 1970s, performed original compositions that ranged from straight ahead rock 'n roll, to progressive jazz, and combinations of the two which gave them a unique and original sound....
in the 1970s, and rose to prominence as a member of The Everyman Band and Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
's quartet in the mid-1980s. He has recorded six albums as a leader for the ECM
ECM (record label)
ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...
, Windham Hill, CMP, and 75 Ark record labels. He has also recorded a series of CD-ROMs with looping and other ambient music
Ambient music
Ambient music is a musical genre that focuses largely on the timbral characteristics of sounds, often organized or performed to evoke an "atmospheric", "visual" or "unobtrusive" quality.- History :...
and "integrated noise" materials that can be used as samples
Sampling (music)
In music, sampling is the act of taking a portion, or sample, of one sound recording and reusing it as an instrument or a different sound recording of a song or piece. Sampling was originally developed by experimental musicians working with musique concrète and electroacoustic music, who physically...
by other artists.
Torn has contributed to recordings by artists including David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
, kd lang, John Legend
John Legend
John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...
, Tori Amos
Tori Amos
Tori Amos is an American pianist, singer-songwriter and composer. She was at the forefront of a number of female singer-songwriters in the early 1990s and was noteworthy early in her career as one of the few alternative rock performers to use a piano as her primary instrument...
, Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
, Tony Levin
Tony Levin
Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
, Mick Karn
Mick Karn
Andonis Michaelides , better known as Mick Karn, was an English multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who came to fame as the bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982....
, David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
, Chocolate Genius, Michael Shrieve
Michael Shrieve
Michael Shrieve is an American drummer, percussionist, and later, an electronic music composer. He is best known as the drummer in Carlos Santana's eponymous band, playing on their first eight albums from 1969 through 1974...
, Steve Roach, Patrick O'Hearn
Patrick O'Hearn
Patrick O'Hearn is an American multi-instrumentalist musician, composer and recording artist. While his musical repertoire spans a diverse range of music, he is an acclaimed New Age artist in his solo career...
, Andy Rinehart, Matt Chamberlain
Matt Chamberlain
Matthew Chamberlain is an American drummer, producer and sound engineer. He is currently based in Los Angeles, California.-Early life:...
, Meshell Ndegeocello and Don Cherry
Don Cherry (jazz)
Donald Eugene Cherry was an innovative African-American jazz cornetist whose career began with a long association with saxophonist Ornette Coleman. He went on to live in many parts of the world and work with a wide variety of musicians.-Biography:Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and...
.
In 1992 he was diagnosed with an acoustic neuroma
Acoustic neuroma
A vestibular schwannoma, often called an acoustic neuroma, is a benign primary intracranial tumor of the myelin-forming cells of the vestibulocochlear nerve . The term "vestibular schwannoma" involves the vestibular portion of the 8th cranial nerve and arises from Schwann cells, which are...
; in his case, a life-threatening form of brain tumor. The surgery that followed left him deaf in the right ear, but didn't rob him of the ability to compose, record and play. Torn even mixes many widely available recordings himself, although according to him this requires sitting sideways to the studio speakers and "visualising the stereo aspects of sound" in his head rather than experimenting with them by ear.
He has, in fact, produced a Grammy-winning recording for Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
, as well as many recordings for Tim Berne
Tim Berne
Tim Berne is an American jazz saxophone player and composer.Described by critic Thom Jurek as commanding "considerable power as a composer and ... frighteningly deft ability as a soloist," Berne has composed and performed prolifically since the 1980s...
, Drew Gress, Dave Douglas
Dave Douglas (trumpeter)
Dave Douglas is an American jazz trumpeter and composer whose music derives from many non-jazz musical styles, including classical music, folk music from European countries and Klezmer. He has been a member of the experimental big band Orange Then Blue...
(another Grammy nominee), Douglas September
Douglas September
Douglas September, is a Canadian musician. He is known for his poetic lyrics, as well as his innovative musical style that blends folk and blues with a caustic modern commentary...
as well as many others.
Torn's contributions have been featured in a number of films, including Velvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine
Velvet Goldmine is a 1998 British/American drama film directed and co-written by Todd Haynes. The film tells the story of a pop star based mainly on David Bowie's 'Ziggy Stardust' character and is set in Britain during the days of glam rock in the early 1970s.Sandy Powell received another Academy...
, Adaptation, The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski
The Big Lebowski is a 1998 comedy film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Jeff Bridges stars as Jeff Lebowski, an unemployed Los Angeles slacker and avid bowler, who is referred to as "The Dude". After a case of mistaken identity, The Dude is introduced to a millionaire also named...
, The Departed
The Departed
The Departed is a 2006 American crime thriller film, fashioned as a remake of the 2002 Hong Kong film Infernal Affairs. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese and written by William Monahan...
, Fur
Fur (film)
Fur: An Imaginary Portrait of Diane Arbus is a 2006 film starring Nicole Kidman as iconic American photographer Diane Arbus, who was known for her strange, disturbing images.-Plot synopsis:...
, The Hoax
The Hoax
The Hoax is a 2007 American drama film directed by Lasse Hallström. The screenplay by William Wheeler is based on the book of the same title by Clifford Irving and focuses on the autobiography Irving supposedly helped Howard Hughes write...
, Kalifornia
Kalifornia
Kalifornia is an American thriller/road film, directed by Dominic Sena and starring Brad Pitt, Juliette Lewis, David Duchovny, and Michelle Forbes. The film focuses on an aspiring writer and his photographer girlfriend who are traveling cross-country to research serial killers...
, Traffic
Traffic (2000 film)
Traffic is a 2000 American crime drama film directed by Steven Soderbergh and written by Stephen Gaghan. It explores the illegal drug trade from a number of perspectives: a user, an enforcer, a politician and a trafficker. Their stories are edited together throughout the film, although some of the...
,
Reversal of Fortune
Reversal of Fortune
Reversal of Fortune is a 1990 film adapted from the 1985 book Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case, written by law professor Alan Dershowitz...
, Tibet, Three Kings, Everything Must Go
Everything Must Go (film)
Everything Must Go is a 2011 American comedy-drama film directed by Dan Rush and starring Will Ferrell. The film was based on Raymond Carver's short story Why Don't You Dance? and was released in theaters on May 13, 2011.-Plot:...
, and so on.
In 2006, Torn's film-score for Believe in Me won the Best Score-award at the Jackson Hole Film Festival; in 2005, he composed an evocative score to Friday Night Lights, and
in 2003, his score for the film The Order
The Order (2003 film)
The Order, also known as The Sin Eater, is a 2003 mystery horror film written and directed by Brian Helgeland, starring Heath Ledger, Benno Fürmann, Mark Addy, and Shannyn Sossamon...
was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
.
He works out of his personal studios, known as Cell Labs; occasionally, he uses the pseudonym "splattercell".
Torn's latest effort is a 2010 EP released under the name Chute. It's a five-track electronica collaboration with singer Donna Lewis. Currently, it is available exclusively on iTunes.
Discography
- Best Laid PlansBest Laid Plans (David Torn album)Best Laid Plans is the debut album by guitarist David Torn recorded in 1984 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Glenn Astarita awarded the album 4 stars stating "Torn possessed a sound and style on guitar that set him apart from many of his peers.....
(ECM, 1985) - Cloud About MercuryCloud About MercuryCloud About Mercury is the second album by guitarist David Torn recorded in 1986 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Glenn Astarita awarded the album 5 stars stating "Simply put, Cloud About Mercury looms as one of the finest jazz fusion dates of the '80s, and should be...
(ECM, 1987) - Door X (1990)
- KarnMick KarnAndonis Michaelides , better known as Mick Karn, was an English multi-instrumentalist musician and songwriter, who came to fame as the bassist for the art rock band Japan, from 1974 to 1982....
, BozzioTerry BozzioTerry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.-Biography:Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed...
, Torn — Polytown (1994) - Earthbeat (1995) — with Bebo Baldan
- Tripping Over God (1995)
- What Means Solid, Traveller?What Means Solid, Traveller?- Track listing :# "Spell Breaks with the Weather" # "What Means Solid, Traveller?" # "Such Little Mirrors" # "Tiny Burns a Bridge" # "Gidya Hana" # "Each Prince, to His Kingdom, Must Labor to Go"...
(1996) - Vernon ReidVernon ReidVernon Reid is an English-born American guitarist, songwriter, composer, and bandleader. Best known as the founder and primary songwriter of the heavy metal band Living Colour, Reid was named #66 on Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.Critic Steve Huey writes, "[Reid's]...
, Elliott SharpElliott SharpElliott Sharp is an American multi-instrumentalist, composer, and performer.A central figure in the avant-garde and experimental music scene in New York City since the late 1970s, Sharp has released over eighty-five recordings ranging from blues, jazz, and orchestral music to noise, no wave rock,...
, David Torn — GTR OBLQ (1998) - splattercell: Textures for Electronica and Film Music (2000)
- splattercell: OAH (2001)
- splattercell: AH (2001)
- tonal textures
- pandora's toolbox
- PrezensPrezensPrezens is an album by guitarist David Torn recorded in 2005 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:The Allmusic review by Thom Jurek awarded the album 4½ stars stating "Prezens is one of those recordings where free improvisation and composition find an uneasy but cooperative working relationship...
(2007) - Chute EP (2010)
Soundtracks
- The OrderThe Order (2003 film)The Order, also known as The Sin Eater, is a 2003 mystery horror film written and directed by Brian Helgeland, starring Heath Ledger, Benno Fürmann, Mark Addy, and Shannyn Sossamon...
— soundtrack (2003) - Friday Night Lights — soundtrack (2004)
- Lars and the Real GirlLars and the Real GirlLars and the Real Girl is a 2007 American-Canadian comedy-drama film written by Nancy Oliver and directed by Craig Gillespie. It stars Ryan Gosling, Emily Mortimer, Paul Schneider, Kelli Garner and Patricia Clarkson...
— soundtrack (2007) - Saint John of Las VegasSaint John of Las VegasSaint John of Las Vegas is a 2009 American comedy-drama film starring Steve Buscemi, Romany Malco, and Sarah Silverman.The film, directed and written for the screen by Hue Rhodes and produced by Steve Buscemi, Stanley Tucci, and Spike Lee, follows an ex-gambler as he takes a road trip with his new...
— soundtrack (2009) - Everything Must Go — soundtrack (2010)
With The Everyman Band
Everyman Band
Everyman Band was an American jazz fusion group active in the early 1980s and featuring Marty Fogel on saxophones, Bruce Yaw on bass, Michael Suchorsky on drums and David Torn on guitar...
- Everyman Band (1982)
- Without WarningWithout Warning (Everyman Band album)Without Warning is the second and final album by the Everyman Band featuring guitarist David Torn, saxophonist Marty Fogel, bassist Bruce Yaw and drummer Michael Suchorsky recorded in 1984 and released on the ECM label.-Reception:...
(ECM, 1985)
With Bill Bruford
Bill Bruford
William Scott "Bill" Bruford is an English drummer, percussionist, composer, producer, and record label owner. He was the original drummer for the progressive rock group Yes, from 1968-1972. Bruford has performed for numerous popular acts since the early 1970s, including a stint as touring...
and Tony Levin
Tony Levin
Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
- Bruford Levin Upper ExtremitiesBruford Levin Upper Extremities (album)This album is the debut album and the only studio album of the band Bruford Levin Upper Extremities.- Track listing :# "Cerulean Sea" – 7:03# "Interlude" – 0:23# "Original Sin" – 4:55# "Etude Revisited" – 4:57# "A Palace of Pearls" – 5:33...
(Discipline Global Mobile, 1998) - B.L.U.E. NightsB.L.U.E. NightsB.L.U.E. Nights is an album by Bruford Levin Upper Extremities, recorded live in Japan and the USA during 1998 and released in 2000.-Line-up:* Bill Bruford — drums* Tony Levin — bass guitars, Stick* Chris Botti — trumpet...
(2000)
With Alan White
Alan White
Alan White may refer to:*Alan White , English footballer*Alan White , English novelist, author of The Long Day's Dying*Alan White , English drummer in rock group Oasis...
and Tony Levin
Tony Levin
Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
- LevinTony LevinTony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
/ TornDavid TornDavid Torn is an American composer and guitarist.He is known for the organic blending/manipulation of electronic and acoustic instruments and performance techniques that have an atmospheric or textural quality and effect, along with a particular harmonic richness...
/ WhiteAlan WhiteAlan White may refer to:*Alan White , English footballer*Alan White , English novelist, author of The Long Day's Dying*Alan White , English drummer in rock group Oasis...
(2011)
As sideman
With Laurie AndersonLaurie Anderson
Laura Phillips "Laurie" Anderson is an American experimental performance artist, composer and musician who plays violin and keyboards and sings in a variety of experimental music and art rock styles. Initially trained as a sculptor, Anderson did her first performance-art piece in the late 1960s...
- Life on a String (Nonesuch, 2001)
With Jeff Beck
Jeff Beck
Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck is an English rock guitarist. He is one of three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds...
- JeffJeff (album)Jeff is an album by Jeff Beck released in 2003. It was built upon Jeff Beck's previously established sound; featuring a very eclectic sound, fusing hard rock, jazz fusion and electronica...
(Epic, 2003)
With David Bowie
David Bowie
David Bowie is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s...
- Heathen (Iso, 2002)
- Reality (Iso, 2003)
With Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek
Jan Garbarek is a Norwegian tenor and soprano saxophonist, active in the jazz, classical, and world music genres. Garbarek was born in Mysen, Norway, the only child of a former Polish prisoner of war Czesław Garbarek and a Norwegian farmer's daughter...
- It's OK to Listen to the Gray VoiceIt's OK to Listen to the Gray VoiceIt's OK to Listen to the Gray Voice is an album by the Norwegian saxophonist Jan Garbarek released on the ECM label and performed by Garbarek, David Torn, Eberhard Weber and Michael Di Pasqua.-Track listing:# "White Noise of Forgetfulness - 8:22...
(ECM, 1985)
With Mark Isham
Mark Isham
Mark Isham is an American trumpeter, synthesist, and film composer. He works in a variety of genres, including jazz, electronic, and film.-Life and career:...
- Mark IshamMark Isham (album)Mark Isham is a studio album by American musician Mark Isham, released in 1990 by Gold Rush. It received the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album at the 33rd Grammy Awards in 1991.- Track listing :*"Honeymoon Nights"...
(Gold Rush, 1990)
With Tony Levin
Tony Levin
Tony Levin is an American progressive rock musician, specializing in bass guitar, Chapman stick and upright bass ....
- Waters of EdenWaters of EdenWaters of Eden is Tony Levin's second solo record, released in 2000. Most songs feature the basic quartet of Levin, Larry Fast, Jerry Marotta and Jeff Pevar...
(Narada, 2000)
With Robert Rich
Robert Rich (musician)
Robert Rich is an ambient musician and composer based in California, United States. With a discography spanning over 30 years, he is widely regarded as a figure whose sound has greatly influenced today's ambient, New Age, and even IDM music.-Early life:At an early age he thought he disliked music...
- Seven VeilsSeven VeilsSeven Veils is an album by the U.S. ambient musician Robert Rich. It is inspired by Arab culture and music. This album has a heightened emphasis on rhythms, from guitar and percussion. All pieces except track 3 were composed in just intonation. Guests include David Torn on guitar and Hans...
(Hearts of Space, 1998)
With David Sylvian
David Sylvian
David Sylvian is an English singer-songwriter and musician who came to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead vocalist and main songwriter in the group Japan...
- Secrets of the BeehiveSecrets of the BeehiveSecrets of the Beehive is the fourth solo album by David Sylvian and was released in 1987. Produced by Steve Nye and David Sylvian, the album features Ryuichi Sakamoto, David Torn, Mark Isham and Steve Jansen among others.-Track listing:...
(Virgin, 1987)
External links
- Official David Torn site
- Official splattercell site
- David Torn interview with Anil Prasad of Innerviews (1990)
- David Torn interview Anil Prasad of Innerviews (1995)
- David Torn interview Anil Prasad of Innerviews (2001)
- Electronic Musician profile (2001)
- Review of prezens at JazzChicago.net
- Chute EP on iTunes