A power trio is a rock and roll band format popularized in the 1960s. The traditional power trio has a lineup of guitar, bass and drums, leaving out the rhythm guitar or keyboard that are used in other rock music to fill out the sound with chords. While one or more band members may sing, power trios usually emphasize instrumental performance and overall impact over vocals and lyrics.

The rise of the power trio in the 1960s was made possible in part by developments in amplifier technology that greatly enhanced the volume of the electric guitar and bass. The prototypical power trios were exemplified by late 1960s-era blues-rock/ hard rock bands The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Cream, Grand Funk Railroad and The James Gang. Blue Cheer, in its most popular configuration as a power trio, was said to have adopted that format after seeing Jimi Hendrix perform at the Monterey Pop Festival. Well-known 1970s-era power trios include the Canadian prog rock group Rush; the British heavy metal band Motörhead; The Jam; Robin Trower and The Police. Keyboard-oriented power trios using electronic organ (or synthesizer in the 1970s) also emerged, such as Atomic Rooster, the guitar-less incarnations of Soft Machine and The Nice, and progressive rock band Emerson, Lake & Palmer.

In Latin America in the 1980s and 1990s, power rock trio Soda Stereo revolutionized Latin rock and became one of the biggest rock bands in the history of Latin American music.

Although power trios fell out of fashion in mainstream rock during the early 1980s, the rise of post-punk and indie rock in the later 1980s and throughout the 1990s featured many trios, such as grunge band Nirvana and pop-punk bands such as Green Day and Blink-182. One of the biggest power trios of today is the British band Muse.

Overview

Power trios have at times been characterized as loud and bombastic, often embarking on long improvised jams that would highlight the virtuosity of the individual musicians. The American blues band, Hot Tuna, for example, when it chose to play electric, would often play six hour sets when performing in the mid 1970s. Power trio music often reflects a blues or jazz influence, since these two types of music invite improvisation. Typically, instrumental performance and overall impact are emphasized over vocals and lyrics. For instance, Beck, Bogert, and Appice would generally be considered a power trio, whereas the Jeff Beck Group, (a similar lineup with Rod Stewart on vocals) would not.

As power trios have one guitar, one bass and one drummer, this arrangement usually requires the guitarist to play both rhythm and lead parts. The emphasis on guitar solos and crashing rhythm sections in the power trio contributed to the development of heavy metal, although some power trios would prefer hard rock labels.

History

Origins

The rise of the power trio was made possible in part by developments in amplifier and electric guitar/bass guitar technology that permit the instruments to provide more sound than before. Particularly, the advent of electric bass guitar defined the bottom end and filled in the gaps. Since the bass could also now be louder, the rest of the band could also play at higher volumes, without fear of being unable to hear the bass. This allowed a three-person band to have the same sonic impact as a large band but left far more room for improvisation and creativity, unencumbered by the need for detailed arrangements. As well, as with the organ trio, a 1960s-era soul jazz group centered around the amplified Hammond organ, a three-piece group could fill a large bar or club with a big sound for a much lower price than a large rock and roll band. A power trio, at least in its blues-rock incarnation, is also generally held to have developed out of Chicago-style blues bands such as Muddy Waters' trio.

The Pirates, when they established themselves in 1962-64 and again from 1976 onwards as a separate, power trio entity from Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, were pioneers of the technique of playing guitar solos with a thick chordal rhythm-guitar-like style, which was later popularised by Dr. Feelgood in the 1970s.

The prototypical power trios were exemplified by The Jimi Hendrix Experience, Blue Cheer, Grand Funk Railroad and Cream, who popularized the format during the 1960s. These three groups laid down the framework for all other subsequent power trios: extended improvisation, hyperamplification through walls of amplifiers and cabinets, and the use of effects (such as delay, distortion, flangers, fuzz bass, wah pedals, etc.) to fill out and modify the guitar sound. The idea of the power trio became so pervasive during the late 1960s that it became a virtual rite of passage for young musicians. After the break-up of the Beatles in 1970, John Lennon released his debut solo album Plastic Ono Band in the fashion of a power trio with Lennon alternatingly on guitars and piano. Electric blues bands such as Rory Gallagher had a more "stripped-down" feeling, with no guitar effects to alter the sound, but focusing more on the energy of the performance.

The first Keyboard-orientated power trio was the Scottish band 1-2-3 (later Clouds) in 1966. Thereafter, other keyboard-oriented power trios also emerged such as Atomic Rooster, the guitar-less incarnations of Soft Machine and The Nice, and perhaps the most successful, Emerson, Lake & Palmer (formed from Atomic Rooster and The Nice keyboard trios). These trios centered on the sound of the electronic organ and in the 1970s, the analog synthesizer.

Experimentation in the 1970s and 1980s

During the late 1960s, many groups used power trio instrumentation while adding a vocalist. These include The Who, Black Sabbath, Free, and Queen (even though Freddie Mercury, too, was an instrumentalist, some of the band's songs follow this format). Although none of these were ever particularly identified as such, the music that they created is influenced by, and follows the same musical format as, many of the pioneering power trios. Likewise, Mountain is often erroneously referred to as a power trio, even though there were four instrumentalists (guitar, bass, drums, and keyboards) in the band. Many punk rock bands, for example the Ramones and the Sex Pistols, would follow the power trio plus vocalist model, which was also used by proto-punk band The Stooges.

Some power trios also experimented with keyboards and sequencers in the studio, most notably the Canadian trio Rush, whose bassist-frontman Geddy Lee has often demonstrated his multi-instrumental capabilities on diverse rock albums such as 1977's ''A Farewell to Kings'' and 1985's ''Power Windows''. Modern digital technology has also enabled a power trio to duplicate their studio performances in concert, as evidenced by Rush's 1989 live album, ''A Show of Hands'', where Lee simultaneously sings, plays bass, and plays keyboard with foot pedals. This technology, in combination with their style and production, have earned the band the nickname of "Canadian Power Trio".

Some 1970s British groups, such as Genesis and UK began with larger lineups, but eventually became keyboard-oriented trios in the mode of The Nice, and later, Emerson, Lake & Palmer. Other well-known trios from the 1970s and 1980s include The James Gang; Glass Harp; Raven; Budgie; Grand Funk Railroad; Triumph; Blue Cheer; Johnny Winter's Progressive Blues Experiment; Motörhead; The Minutemen; West, Bruce and Laing; The Jam; The Police; Rush; Zebra; ZZ Top; Robin Trower Band and, until the album ''Nightlife'', Thin Lizzy.

A late 70s jazz fusion trio of John McLaughlin (guitar) Jaco Pastorius (bass) and Tony Williams (drums) unashamedly returned to the original concept of the power trio with their short-lived "Trio of Doom" album. (Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience are specifically mentioned in the album's sleeve notes.) However the experiment lasted for only one live performance and one studio session.

1980s and 1990s

Although power trios fell out of fashion in mainstream rock during the 1980s, the rise of post-punk and indie rock in the 1980s and 1990s featured many trios. During this time the configuration experienced a renaissance of sorts with groups such as Nirvana, Silverchair, Meat Puppets, Violent Femmes, Babes in Toyland, Primus, Hüsker Dü (and spin off bands Nova Mob and Sugar), Walt Mink, the Minutemen, Dinosaur Jr, Sebadoh, Melvins, Fudge Tunnel, Galaxie 500, DC3, Nomeansno, Low, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Killdozer, Cosmic Psychos, Therapy?, Placebo, Jawbreaker, Bratmobile, Sleater-Kinney, the Screaming Blue Messiahs and Gov't Mule. After the disappearance of their guitarist Richey James Edwards, the Manic Street Preachers continued as a three-piece (although Edwards only appeared on record on one song, and was always turned down or even entirely off onstage: his only real role in the band was as lyricist). The British pop rock trio The Outfield got started in the mid-1980s and continued on through the early 1990s; it's atypical for the usual power trio style for its lighter/softer pop sound.

Recording engineer Steve Albini's bands Big Black, Rapeman and Shellac were all three-piece bands (though Big Black usually credited their drum machine as a member in album liner notes). Similarly, British industrial band Godflesh often utilized a drum machine and two primary members, although they did at times record and tour with a second guitarist (Paul Neville of Loop), and near the end of the band's life they began working with real drummers (Bryan Mantia and later Ted Parsons) almost exclusively. The most successful rock power trio of that time was Nirvana, who crossed over to immense mainstream success.

Some trios would overdub multiple parts when recording but perform stripped-back versions of their songs live, while others (such as the Minutemen) recorded mostly live, performing "gigs in front of a mic", as Mike Watt put it. In the post-alternative era, popular trios included Sublime, One Man Army, Alkaline Trio, Green Day, Everclear, Blink-182, and Gov't Mule. Also, the configuration remained popular in "progressive rock", with groups such as Rush, King's X and Mantra Sunrise. John Paul Jones uses a variant of the power trio idea in his solo tours, combining bass and keyboards with Stick player Nick Beggs and a drummer. The 1990s edition of King Crimson toured as a "double power trio" (according to leader Robert Fripp), with two drummers, two bassists and two guitars.

2000s

The traditional power trio continues to be represented by newer groups such as Muse, Biffy Clyro, Wolfmother, Radio Moscow, Cog, Back Door Slam, Russian Circles, Los Lonely Boys, The Fall of Troy, The Wombats, Johnny Foreigner, State Radio, Junkyard Choir, The Young Knives, Rose Hill Drive, Seether, The Steepwater Band, Super 400, North Mississippi Allstars, and the John Mayer Trio, among many others who have sprung out of the jam band scene. Within the tradition of the guitar, bass and drums format being the vehicle for a musician of exceptional songwriting, guitar and vocal talent, 50 Foot Wave led by Kristin Hersh provide notable exception to gender stereotype.

The Multi Genre group Boris only has three members, but compensates by using a double neck instrument with one neck being a guitar and one neck being a bass. They frequently use effects such as delay and echo, and fill in space with instrumental feedback. Seedy Jeezus utilize the sound of the guitar amp pushed to its limit and a drummer using the entire kit to create a full pulsing beat while the bassist alternates between a solid bassline filled with flourishes where he can. After the breakup of Godflesh, guitarist Justin Broadrick formed Jesu, which utilizes the power trio format. Broadrick's former labelmate at Earache Records, ex-Fudge Tunnel guitarist Alex Newport, also performed as part of another power trio in the band Theory of Ruin. California-based band Qui previously operated as a duo but recently became a trio (though not strictly in the power trio sense) by adding vocalist David Yow to their lineup. Adrian Belew has also recently embraced the power trio configurations for his live tours. Some power trios add to the fullness of their sound by using bass pedalboards, which are keyboards played by the feet. New York City sludge metal band Unearthly Trance also utilizes the power trio format.

References

See also

Organ trio: a three-person soul jazz or jam band group centered around the Hammond organ

Power duo: two-piece rock band often described as a power trio without the bassist

br:Power Trio es:Power trio fr:Power trio it:Power trio ka:პაუერ ტრიო nl:Powertrio ja:スリーピース pt:Power trio ru:Power trio simple:Power trio sv:Powertrio

name	Ric Fierabracci
background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
born	USA
instrument	Bass guitar, fretless bass
genre	Jazz, jazz fusion
website	RicFierabracci.com }}

Ric Fierabracci, is an American bass guitarist who has toured and/or recorded with such artists as Frank Gambale, Chick Corea, Sir Tom Jones, Dave Weckl, Bradley Joseph, Shakira, Nancy Sinatra, Planet X, The 5th Dimension, The Beach Boys, and Yanni. He is featured on Yanni's live concert videos and albums ''Yanni Live at the Acropolis'', ''Yanni Live at Royal Albert Hall'', and ''Tribute'', most recently touring during the 2003 ''Ethnicity'' world tour. He also appears in Shakira's music video, "Inevitable". Fierabracci has performed as the house bassist at the L.A. jazz club "The Baked Potato" until he relocated to New York City and has also contributed to numerous TV and film jingles.

Discography

''Hemispheres'' (2007) with Phil Turcio on keyboards, Joel Rosenblatt on drums & cymbals, and Ric Fierabracci on the basses. This album was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Jazz Album in 2008. Special guests include:

Dave Weckl

Gary Meek

Walter Rodriguez

Brett Garsed

Eric Marienthal

Jeff Miley

Bob Sheppard

Steve Tavaglione

Christian Howes

Bill Evans

Brian Monroney

Doug Webb

Joel Hoekstra

Agah Bahari

References

Official website

Reflections

External links

Official website

Discussion With Ric Fierabracci, 2/01/2008

Category:American bass guitarists Category:American jazz bass guitarists Category:Year of birth missing (living people) Category:Living people

nl:Ric Fierabracci

name	Joe Bonamassa
landscape	Yes
background	solo_singer
birth date	May 08, 1977
instrument	Vocals, guitar
genre	Blues rock, hard rock, rock and roll
occupation	Musician, singer-songwriter
years active	1989–present
label	J&R; Adventures
associated acts	Bloodline, Black Country Communion
website	Official website
notable instruments	Gibson Les PaulGibson Lucille }}

Joe Bonamassa (born May 8, 1977 in New Hartford, New York, USA) is an American blues rock guitarist and singer.

Early life

Bonamassa was born and raised in New Hartford, NY. His parents owned and ran a guitar shop. As a fourth-generation musician, he recalls knowing he wanted to be a musician as early as age four. With a great-grandfather and grandfather who both played trumpet, and a father who plays guitar, Bonamassa credits his parents with fostering an appreciation of music in his life as early as he can remember. When he was a young child, he would listen to his parents' large record collection. He recalls at age 7, sitting with his parents on Saturdays and listening to Guitar Slim; Bonnie Raitt; Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young; Eric Clapton; and Jethro Tull. Thus, he sees his music as an amalgam of all the various rock and blues he heard as a child.

He received his first guitar from his father at the age of 4, and by age 7 he was playing Stevie Ray Vaughan and Jimi Hendrix tunes note for note. At the age of 11, during a short period of being mentored by Danny Gatton, he learned such styles as country and jazz as well as Polka. During this time with Gatton, Bonamassa sat in with Gatton's band whenever they played in New York. He first opened for B. B. King at 12 years of age. After first hearing him play, King said, “This kid's potential is unbelievable. He hasn't even begun to scratch the surface. He's one of a kind.” At 14, he was invited to attend a Fender guitar event; during that trip to the West Coast he met Berry Oakley, Jr. Bonamassa and Berry founded the group Bloodline with Miles Davis's son Erin and Robby Krieger's son Waylon. They released one album which produced two chart singles — "Stone Cold Hearted", and "Dixie Peach." He has since played with other music greats including Buddy Guy, Foreigner, Robert Cray, Stephen Stills, Joe Cocker, Gregg Allman, Steve Winwood, Paul Jones, Ted Nugent, Warren Haynes, Eric Clapton, Derek Trucks, and Jack Bruce.

Influences

Unlike other successful blues-rock guitarists, Bonamassa has cited his influences as being British and Irish blues acts, rather than American acts. Within the blues genre, hearing the traditional blues players, as with Guitar Slim, Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, and all the traditional American blues players, (with the exception of B.B. King), comparing the music in the United States to the "European" versions of the blues, Bonamassa found the English blues, fostered by notable musicians such as the Jeff Beck Group, Eric Clapton, and the Irish blues player Rory Gallagher to be far more interesting to him than the original Delta blues players. which debuted at #1 on the Billboard Blues Charts and #38 on the Billboard Top 200.

In May 2010 he asked Ian Anderson to guest at his concert at London's Hammersmith Apollo on May 28in London, and they played "A New Day Yesterday" along with "Locomotive Breath". Joe stated that the concert was the largest audience he had played for, to date. The audience number was 5,200.

The Joe Bonamassa, Glenn Hughes, Jason Bonham, Derek Sherinian supergroup is now called Black Country Communion. The band were forced to add 'Communion' to their original name Black Country after another band with the same name raised an objection.

In March 2011, Bonamassa released his eleventh full-length solo album, titled Dust Bowl.

Discography

Solo

''A New Day Yesterday'' (2000)

''Live At Fort Wayne, Indiana'' (2001)

''So, It's Like That'' (2002)

''A New Day Yesterday, Live'' (2002)

''Blues Deluxe'' (2003)

''Had to Cry Today'' (2004)

''Live At Rockplast'' (2006)

''You & Me'' (2006)

''Imac Theatre, Huntington, NY'' (2007)

''Shepherds Bush Empire'' (2007)

''Sloe Gin'' (2007) UK #50 ''Live From Nowhere in Particular'' (2008) UK #45 ''The Ballad of John Henry'' U.S. #103, (2009) UK #26

''Joe Bonamassa - Live from the Royal Albert Hall'' (2009)

''Live At The B.B.C.'' (2010)

''Black Rock'' (2010) U.S. #39, UK #14, GER: #22

''Dust Bowl'' (2011) U.S. #37, UK #12

Duet

''Don't Explain'' (2011,with Beth Hart)

with Black Country Communion

''Black Country'' (2010)

''2'' (2011)

Guest appearances

!Release	!Artist	!Album	!Song
2000	Joe Lynn Turner		"Honest Crime""Wolves at the Door""Angel"
2003	Joe Lynn Turner	''JLT''	"Jump Start""Dirty Deal""Excess"
2006	Walter Trout	Full Circle	"Clouds On The Horizon"
2009	Carl Verheyen Band	Trading 8's	"Highway 27"
2010/02/09	Shannon Curfman	''What You're Getting Into''	"The Core"
2010/05/17	Sandi Thom	''Merchants and Thieves''	"This Ol' World"
2010	Healing Sixes	Blue Jay	"Fine Time"
2010	Lee Ritenour	Six String Theory	"Give Me One Good Reason"
2011	Henrik Freischlader	''Still Frame Replay''	"Still Frame Replay"
2011	Don Airey		"People in Your Head"
2011/09/19	Leslie West		"Third Degree"

DVDs

''Live at the Rockpalast'' was released in 2005, and recorded at the Burg Satzvey in Mechernich, Germany. It is one of the last concerts Bonamassa performed with his original band.

A live DVD titled ''A New Day Yesterday, Live'' was given away for a short period of time with ''So, It's Like That''. This concert was later re-released as a full CD and DVD.

An instructional DVD, ''Signature Sounds, Styles and Techniques'', was released in 2006.

A live DVD, ''Joe Bonamassa: Live From Royal Albert Hall'' was released in September 2009.

Joe Bonamassa's performance with pedal-steel guitarist Robert Randolph, Randolph's ''Family Band'' and Pino Daniele at the 2010 edition of Crossroads Guitar Festival appears on the ''Crossroads 2010'' DVD. The song they played is ''Going Down''.

References

External links

Joe talks about his birth and influences

Joe Bonamassa official website

Joe Bonamassa Experience official website

Joe Bonamassa Japan official website

Official Joe Bonamassa Fan Website

Dutch Joe Bonamassa Fan Website

Blue and Evil Digital Download via JBonamassa.com

2007 Rock N Roll Universe Interview

2008 Express & Star Interview

2008 Guitar Messenger Interview

Joe Bonamassa guitars, gear and reviews

Joe Bonamassa ItalkGuitar - Interview

Joe Bonamassa on Channel One News

Blues Guitarist Joe Bonamassa studio footage for the song 'Stop' from 'Ballad of John Henry' CD.

Guitar International Interview with Joe Bonamassa

Category:1977 births Category:Living people Category:People from Utica, New York Category:Lead guitarists Category:Slide guitarists Category:American blues guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American blues singers Category:American rock singers Category:Blues rock musicians Category:Electric blues musicians Category:American musicians of Italian descent Category:Black Country Communion members Category:Epic Records artists

be-x-old:Джо Банамаса ca:Joe Bonamassa cs:Joe Bonamassa de:Joe Bonamassa es:Joe Bonamassa fa:جو باناماسا fr:Joe Bonamassa it:Joe Bonamassa hu:Joe Bonamassa nl:Joe Bonamassa ja:ジョー・ボナマッサ no:Joe Bonamassa pl:Joe Bonamassa pt:Joe Bonamassa ru:Бонамасса, Джо fi:Joe Bonamassa sv:Joe Bonamassa

Name	Tony Williams
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Anthony Tillmon Williams
Born	December 12, 1945Chicago, Illinois, US
Died	February 23, 1997
Origin	Boston, Massachusetts, US
Occupation	Drummer, music producer
Instrument	Drums
Genre	Jazz, post-bop, jazz fusion
Years active	1961–1997
Associated acts	Miles Davis, The Tony Williams Lifetime, Sam Rivers, Jackie McLean, Alan Dawson, V.S.O.P. }}

Anthony Tillmon "Tony" Williams (December 12, 1945 – February 23, 1997) was an American jazz drummer.

Widely regarded as one of the most important and influential jazz drummers to come to prominence in the 1960s, Williams first gained fame in the band of trumpeter Miles Davis, and was a pioneer of jazz fusion.

Biography

Williams was born in Chicago and grew up in Boston. He began studies with drummer Alan Dawson at an early age, and began playing professionally at the age of 13 with saxophonist Sam Rivers. Saxophonist Jackie McLean hired Williams at 16. At 17 Williams found considerable fame with Miles Davis, joining a group that was later dubbed Davis's "Second Great Quintet." Williams was a vital element of the group, called by Davis in his autobiography "...the center that the group's sound revolved around." His inventive playing helped redefine the role of jazz rhythm section through the use of polyrhythms and metric modulation (transitioning between mathematically related tempos and/or time signatures).

Williams's first album as a leader, 1964's ''Life Time'', was recorded during his tenure with Davis. In 1969, he formed a trio, The Tony Williams Lifetime, with John McLaughlin on guitar, and Larry Young on organ. Jack Bruce joined on bass later. Lifetime was a pioneering band of the fusion movement, a combination of rock, R&B;, and jazz. Their first album, ''Emergency!'', was largely rejected by the jazz community at the time of its release. Today, ''Emergency!'' is considered by many to be a fusion classic.

After McLaughlin's departure, and several more albums, Lifetime disbanded. In 1975, Williams put together a band he called "The New Tony Williams Lifetime," featuring bassist Tony Newton, pianist Alan Pasqua, and English guitarist Allan Holdsworth, which recorded two albums for Columbia Records, ''Believe It'' and ''Million Dollar Legs''.

In mid-1976, Williams was a part of a reunion of sorts with his old Miles Davis band compatriots, pianist/keyboardist Herbie Hancock, bassist Ron Carter, and tenor saxophonist Wayne Shorter. Miles was in the midst of a six-year hiatus and was replaced by Freddie Hubbard. The record was later released as ''V.S.O.P.'' ("Very Special OneTime Performance") and was highly instrumental in increasing the popularity of acoustic jazz. The group went on to tour and record for several years, releasing a series of live albums under the name "V.S.O.P." or "The V.S.O.P. Quintet." (The CD reissues of these albums are sold under Herbie Hancock's name – making things a bit confusing since the original ''V.S.O.P.'' album, which alone ''was'' a Hancock album, is not currently available on CD.)

In 1979, Williams, guitarist John McLaughlin and bassist Jaco Pastorius reunited for a one-time performance at the Havana Jazz Festival. This trio came to be known as the Trio of Doom, and a recording of their performance was released in 2007. It opens with a powerful drum improvisation by Williams, followed by Mclaughlin's "Dark Prince" and Jaco's "Continuum," Tony's original composition "Para Oriente" and Mclaughlin's "Are You the One?"

With the group Fuse One, he released two albums in 1980 and 1982. In 1985, Williams recorded an album for Blue Note Records entitled ''Foreign Intrigue'', which featured the playing of pianist Mulgrew Miller and trumpeter Wallace Roney. Later that year he formed a quintet with Miller, Roney, saxophonist Bill Pierce, and bassist Charnett Moffett (later Ira Coleman). This band played Williams' compositions almost exclusively (the Lennon/McCartney song "Blackbird," the standard "Poinciana," and the Freddie Hubbard blues "Birdlike" being the exceptions) and toured and recorded throughout the remainder of the 1980s and into the early 1990s. This rhythm section also recorded as a trio.

Williams also played drums for the band Public Image Limited, fronted by former Sex Pistols singer John Lydon, on their 1986 release ''album/cassette/compact disc'' (the album title varied depending on the format). He played on the songs "FFF," "Rise" (a modest hit), and "Home." Bill Laswell (see below) co-wrote those three songs with Lydon. The other drummer on that album was Ginger Baker, who had played in Cream with Jack Bruce, later the bass player with the Tony Williams Lifetime.

Williams lived and taught in the San Francisco Bay Area until his death from a heart attack following routine gall bladder surgery. One of his final recordings was ''The Last Wave'' by the trio known as ''Arcana'', a release organized by prolific bass guitarist Bill Laswell.

Discography

As leader

1964: ''Life Time'' (Blue Note)

1965: ''Spring'' (Blue Note)

1969: ''Emergency!'' (Polydor)

1970: ''Turn It Over'' (Verve)

1971: ''Ego'' (Polydor)

1972: ''The Old Bum's Rush'' (Polydor)

1975: ''Believe It'' (Columbia)

1975, 1976 ''The Collection'' (Columbia)

1976: ''Million Dollar Legs'' (Columbia)

1979: ''The Joy of Flying'' (Columbia)

1980: ''Play Or Die'' (P.S. Productions) – with Tom Grant and Patrick O'Hearn

1982: ''Third Plane'' (Carrere) – with Ron Carter and Herbie Hancock

1985: ''Foreign Intrigue'' (Blue Note)

1986: ''Civilization'' (Blue Note)

1986, 1988: ''Angel Street'' (Blue Note)

1989: ''Native Heart'' (Blue Note)

1991: ''The Story of Neptune'' (Blue Note)

1992: ''Tokyo Live'' (Blue Note)

1993: ''Unmasked'' (Atlantic)

1996: ''Wilderness'' (Ark 21)

1996: ''Young at Heart'' (Columbia)

As sideman

With Geri Allen

''Twenty One'' (1994)

With Arcana

''The Last Wave'' (1995)

''Arc of the Testimony'' (1997)

With Chet Baker

''You Can't Go Home Again'' (1972)

''The Best Thing for You'' (1977)

''Chet Baker / Wolfgang Lackerschmid'' (1979)

With George Cables

''Phantom of the City'' (1985)

With Ron Carter

''Third Plane'' (1978)

''Etudes'' (1982)

With Stanley Clarke

''Stanley Clarke'' (1974)

With Miles Davis

''Seven Steps to Heaven'' (1963)

''Miles Davis in Europe'' (1963)

''Four & More'' (1964)

''My Funny Valentine'' (1964)

''Miles in Tokyo'' (1964)

''Miles in Berlin'' (1964)

''E.S.P.'' (1965)

''The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel'' (1965)

''Miles Smiles'' (1966)

''Directions'' (1967, 1968)

''Sorcerer'' (1967)

''Nefertiti'' (1967)

''Water Babies'' (1967, 1968)

''Circle in the Round'' (1967, 1968)

''Miles in the Sky'' (1968)

''The Complete Miles Davis–Gil Evans Studio Recordings'' – four takes of 'Falling Water' (1968)

''Filles de Kilimanjaro'' (1968)

''In a Silent Way'' (1969)

'''With Eric Dolphy

''Out to Lunch'' (1964)

With Kenny Dorham

''Una Mas'' (1963)

With Gil Evans

''The Gil Evans Orchestra Plays the Music of Jimi Hendrix'' – track 8, 'Little Wing' (1975)

With Tommy Flanagan

''The Trio'' (1983)

With Hal Galper

''Now Hear This'' (1977)

With Stan Getz

''Captain Marvel'' (1972)

With Dexter Gordon

''Round Midnight'' (1986)

With Herbie Hancock

''My Point of View'' (1963)

''Maiden Voyage'' (1964)

''Empyrean Isles'' (1964)

''V.S.O.P.'' (1976)

''V.S.O.P.: The Quintet'' (1977)

''V.S.O.P.: Tempest in the Colosseum'' (1977)

''Herbie Hancock Trio'' (1977)

''Sunlight'' (1978)

''V.S.O.P.: Live Under the Sky'' (1979)

''Herbie Hancock Trio'' (1981)

''Mr. Hands'' (1982)

''Quartet'' (1982)

''Town Hall Concert'' (1985)

''Future2Future''

With Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter and Wallace Roney

''A Tribute to Miles'' (1992)

With Jonas Hellborg and the Soldier String Quartet

''The Word'' (1991)

With Joe Henderson

''Relaxin' at Camarillo'' (1979)

With Andrew Hill

''Point of Departure'' (1964)

With Terumasa Hino

''May Dance'' (1977)

With Allan Holdsworth

''Atavachron'' – track 5 (1986)

With Michael Mantler

''Movies'' (1977)

With Ray Manzarek

''The Golden Scarab'' (1973)

With Branford Marsalis

''Renaissance'' (1987)

With Wynton Marsalis

''Wynton Marsalis'' (1981)

With John McLaughlin

''Johnny McLaughlin: Electric Guitarist'' (1978)

With Jackie McLean

''Vertigo'' (1962–3)

''One Step Beyond'' (1963)

''New Wine In Old Bottles'' (1978)

With Marcus Miller

''The Sun Don't Lie'' (1990–92)

With Mulgrew Miller

The Countdown'' (1988)

With Grachan Moncur III

''Evolution'' (Blue Note, 1963)

''Some Other Stuff'' (Blue Note, 1964)

With Jaco Pastorius and John McLaughlin

''Trio of Doom (1979)

With Michel Petrucciani

''Marvellous'' (1994)

With Public Image Limited

''Album'' (1985)

With Don Pullen

''New Beginnings'' (Blue Note, 1988)

With Sam Rivers

''Fuchsia Swing Song'' (Blue Note, 1964)

With Sonny Rollins

''Easy Living'' (1977)

''Don't Stop the Carnival'' (1978)

''No Problem'' (1981)

With Wallace Roney

Verses (1987)

With Travis Shook

''Travis Shook'' (1993)

With Wayne Shorter

''The Soothsayer'' (1965)

With McCoy Tyner

''Supertrios'' (1977)

''Counterpoints'' (1978)

With Sadao Watanabe

''I'm Old Fashioned'' (1976)

With Weather Report

''Mr. Gone'' (1978)

References

Category:1945 births Category:1997 deaths Category:African American musicians Category:American jazz drummers Category:Musicians from Chicago, Illinois Category:Deaths from myocardial infarction Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Hard bop drummers Category:Jazz fusion drummers Category:Miles Davis Category:Post-bop drummers Category:Blue Note Records artists

da:Tony Williams de:Tony Williams es:Tony Williams (baterista) fr:Tony Williams id:Tony Williams it:Tony Williams he:טוני ויליאמס hu:Tony Williams nl:Tony Williams ja:トニー・ウィリアムス nn:Tony Williams pl:Tony Williams fi:Tony Williams

Name	Todd Rundgren
Background	solo_singer
Born	June 22, 1948
Origin	Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, United States
Genre	Rock, Progressive rock, soft rock, power pop, pop rock, hard rock, blue-eyed soul
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, musician, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, video director, recording engineer, computer programmer
Instrument	Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, drums, saxophone, theremin
Years active	1967–present
Birth name	Todd Harry Rundgren
Label	Ampex, Bearsville
Associated acts	Nazz, Utopia, The New Cars, Meat Loaf, Ringo Starr and His All-Starr Band
Website	http://www.tr-i.com/
Notable instruments	}}

Todd Harry Rundgren (born June 22, 1948) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. Hailed in the early stage of his career as a new pop-wunderkind, supported by the certified gold solo double LP ''Something/Anything?'' in 1972, Todd Rundgren's career has produced a diverse range of recordings as solo artist, and during the seventies and eighties with the band Utopia. He has also been prolific as a producer and engineer on the recorded work of other musicians.

During the 1970s and 1980s, Rundgren engineered and/or produced many notable albums for other acts, including ''Straight Up'' by Badfinger, ''Stage Fright'' by The Band, ''We're an American Band'' by Grand Funk Railroad, ''Bat Out of Hell'' by Meat Loaf (now ranked as the fifth biggest-selling album of all time), and ''Skylarking'' by XTC. In the 1980s and 1990s his interest in video and computers led to Rundgren's "Time Heals" being the eighth video played on MTV, and "Change Myself" was generated on commercially available Amiga Computers.

His best-known songs include "Hello It's Me" and "I Saw the Light" which have heavy rotation on classic rock radio stations, and "Bang the Drum All Day" featured in many sports arenas, commercials, and movie trailers.

Early career

Rundgren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He began his career in Woody's Truck Stop, a Philadelphia-based group based on the model of Paul Butterfield Blues Band. However, Rundgren and bassist Carson Van Osten left the band to form the garage rock group Nazz in 1967 with Thom Mooney (drums) and Robert "Stewkey" Antoni (vocals and keyboards). The group gained minor recognition with the Rundgren-penned songs "Open My Eyes" and "Hello It's Me". (He later recorded a solo, uptempo version of "Hello It's Me"; it became one of his signature songs.) Nazz released three albums during this time - ''Nazz'' (1968), ''Nazz Nazz'' (1969), and ''Nazz III'' (1971). "Open My Eyes" gained belated recognition thanks to its inclusion in ''Nuggets'' (1972), the genre-defining anthology of American 1960s garage punk and psychedelia compiled by musician Lenny Kaye. The group's second LP was originally intended as double album (titled ''Fungo Bat''), but instead a truncated version was released as ''Nazz Nazz'' in April 1969. Rundgren and Van Osten left the band shortly after. Under Stewkey's leadership the band continued (with new members) until 1970, and their label released a third LP ''Nazz III'' on which most of Rundgren's vocals on the unreleased songs from the ''Fungo Bat'' sessions were replaced by Stewkey's.

Rundgren's distinctive style was informed by a wide variety of musical influences—British pop-rock (notably The Beatles, The Who, The Yardbirds, Cream and The Move), the intricate vocal harmonies of The Beach Boys, classic American rock'n'roll, Broadway musicals, the operettas of Gilbert & Sullivan and American soul and R&B;, but as his music evolved he demonstrated an increasing interest in other genres as well, such as hard rock and experimental music.

Particularly during the early years of his career, Rundgren's songwriting was heavily influenced by the music of singer-songwriter Laura Nyro:

:"I knew her fairly well. I met her right after ''Eli and the Thirteenth Confession''. I actually had arranged a meeting, just because I was so infatuated with her and I wanted to meet the person who had produced all this music. We got along, and we were kind of friendly, and actually, after I met her the first time, she asked me if I wanted to be her band leader. But the Nazz had just signed a record contract and I couldn't skip out on the band, even though it was incredibly tempting."

Rundgren's debut solo album ''Runt'' (1970) includes the strongly Nyro-influenced "Baby Let’s Swing", which was written about her and mentions her by name.

Nazz manager Michael Friedman who had joined Albert Grossman management brought Rundgren to the firm where he became both a solo artist and producer for many artists in the Grossman stable.

Solo work

After leaving the Nazz in 1969, Rundgren relocated temporarily to New York and began working as a producer for other groups. He also apparently considered working as a computer programmer. Ultimately, he became one of the first artists signed to the Bearsville Records label established by Albert Grossman, and in 1970 he formed the 'band' Runt, consisting of himself, Hunt Sales on drums, and his brother Tony Sales on bass (the Sales brothers are the sons of US comedian Soupy Sales and went on to play with Iggy Pop, David Bowie, and Tin Machine). Rundgren himself wrote, produced, sang and played guitars, keyboards and other instruments. Whether Runt is best described as a band or simply as a pseudonym for Rundgren as a solo artist is unclear—for the album ''Runt'' (1970) the group appeared to be a bona-fide trio, but on their second album ''Runt: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren'' (1971), Hunt Sales plays only on two tracks and is replaced by N.D. Smart on the rest of the album. Furthermore, only Rundgren is pictured on the covers of both albums, and both albums have been subsequently reissued with the same titles and cover art, but bearing the artist credit "Todd Rundgren". Whether a solo project or a band, Runt had a #20 hit in the U.S. with "We Gotta Get You a Woman" in 1970, and two other Runt songs placed in the lower reaches of the Hot 100.

By 1972, the Runt persona/band identity had been abandoned, and Rundgren's next project, the ambitious double LP ''Something/Anything?'' (1972) was credited simply to Rundgren, who wrote, played, sang, engineered, and produced everything on three of the four sides of the album. ''Something/Anything?'' featured the top 20 U.S. hits "I Saw The Light" (#16; an original song, not the Hank Williams classic), and a remake of the Nazz near-hit "Hello It's Me", which reached #5 in the U.S. and is Rundgren's biggest hit. The former song featured Rundgren on all vocals and instruments. On his ensuing concert tour, his backing band was the Hello People, whose own album he later produced.

Changing style

Although he opposed the use of drugs during his days with Nazz, in the early 1970s Rundgren changed his views and began experimenting with various mind-altering substances including marijuana, LSD and the stimulant Ritalin and this had a marked effect both on the style of his music and his productivity:

:"It (Ritalin) caused me to crank out songs at an incredible pace. 'I Saw the Light' took me all of 20 minutes. You can see why, too, the rhymes are just moon/June/spoon kind of stuff..."

Speaking of the effect on ''A Wizard, A True Star'', Rundgren commented:

:"With drugs I could suddenly abstract my thought processes in a certain way, and I wanted to see if I could put them on a record. A lot of people recognised it as the dynamics of a psychedelic trip - it was almost like painting with your head."

Though he often revisited the classic popular song format, during the early 1970s Rundgren's music began to incorporate elements of progressive rock. 1973's transitional ''A Wizard, a True Star'' marked the beginning of this trend, which came to fruition with his next two solo albums ''Todd'' (1974) and ''Initiation'' (1975) and the early recordings under the aegis of his new group project Utopia.

''A Wizard, A True Star'', which was sequenced as a continuous medley, featured a wildly eclectic range of songs set in dazzling arrangements and production, with Rundgren experimenting with the synthesiser and exploiting virtually every studio effect and technique then available. Backing musicians included renowned horn players Michael Brecker and Randy Brecker, guitarist Rick Derringer and several other musicians who subsequently joined the original incarnation of Utopia. Although it featured predominantly original material (including the anthemic "Just One Victory", which became a concert favorite), the album set a pattern followed on subsequent solo albums, with Rundgren recording cover versions of his favorite songs—in this case, "Never Never Land", from the Broadway musical version of ''Peter Pan'', and a medley of soul classics, including a unique version of the Capitols' "Cool Jerk" played in the 7/8 time signature. The album was also notable for its extended running time—over 55 minutes in length, compared to around 40–45 minutes for a typical pop-rock LP of the period. This reflected Rundgren's skills as a mastering engineer, since this extended running time took the album close to the practical maximum for an LP—due to the inherent physical limitations of the vinyl LP medium, on records with running times over 45 minutes there is an unfavorable trade-off between duration and the audio quality and volume. On the album cover, packed with his handwritten notes, he advised listeners to crank up their Victrolas accordingly.

''Todd'' (1974) continued in this vein and featured similarly diverse material. Alongside originals such as "A Dream Goes On Forever" and "Heavy Metal Kids", both of which became concert staples, Rundgren also satirised his chosen profession with the song "An Elpees' Worth of Tunes" and revisited his teenage obsession with the music of Gilbert & Sullivan in a rendition of "The Lord Chancellor's Nightmare Song" (from ''Iolanthe'').

By contrast, Rundgren's work with Utopia (see below) and his next solo album took him decisively into progressive rock. ''Initiation'' (1975) addressed cosmic themes, showed a strong interest in spirituality (particularly Far Eastern religion and philosophy), and displayed the musical influence of psychedelic rock, as well as the avant-garde jazz fusion of contemporary acts such as the Mahavishnu Orchestra and Frank Zappa. Once again the original LP issue saw Rundgren pushing the medium to its physical limits, with the side-long suite "A Treatise on Cosmic Fire" clocking in at over 35 minutes.

When touring, the music was presented in a lavish stage setting that echoed the ambitious space-themed shows of acts like Parliament/Funkadelic and he adopted an outlandish space-rock image on stage, including multi-coloured dyed hair. In this period he regularly played the eye-catching psychedelic Gibson SG (known as "Sunny") which Eric Clapton had played in Cream. After he had stopped using it ca. 1968, Clapton gave the guitar to George Harrison, who subsequently 'loaned' it to British singer Jackie Lomax. In 1972, after meeting at a recording session, Lomax sold the guitar to Rundgren for $500 with an option to buy it back, which he never took up. Rundgren played it extensively during the early years of Utopia before retiring the instrument, which he eventually auctioned off; he now owns a reproduction ''NME'' - September 1974

His 1976 album ''Faithful'' marked a return to the pop/rock genre, featuring one side of original songs and one side of covers of significant songs from 1966, including the Yardbirds' "Happening Ten Years Time Ago" (the B-side of that Yardbirds single gave Nazz its name) and a nearly identical re-creation of the Beach Boys' "Good Vibrations". ''Faithful'' was followed by ''Hermit of Mink Hollow'' (1978); this included the hit ballad "Can We Still Be Friends", which reached #29 in the U.S. and was accompanied by an innovative self-produced music video, and the album became the second most successful of his career (after ''Something? Anything!''), reaching #36 in the U.S. During 1978 Rundgren undertook an American tour playing at smaller venues including The Bottom Line in New York and the Roxy in Los Angeles; this resulted in the double live album ''Back to the Bars'', which featured a mixture of material from his solo work and Utopia, performed with backing musicians including Utopia, Edgar Winter, Spencer Davis, Daryl Hall and John Oates and Stevie Nicks.

Subsequent solo releases included the album-long concept work ''Healing'' (1981) and the New Wave-tinged ''The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect'' (1982) which included a cover of The Small Faces hit "Tin Soldier". The latter album also marked the end of Rundgren's tenure with Bearsville Records. He then signed with Warner Bros. Records who issued his next album, ''A Cappella'' (1985), which was recorded using Rundgren's multi-tracked voice, accompanied by arrangements constructed entirely from programmed vocal samples. "Bang the Drum All Day", from ''The Ever Popular Tortured Artist Effect'' was a minor chart hit which has become more prominent in subsequent years, having been adopted as an unofficial theme by several professional sports franchises, notably the Green Bay Packers, and becoming popular on radio, where it was often featured on Friday afternoons. It is now considered one of Rundgren's most popular songs. In 1986, Rundgren scored four episodes of the popular children's television show Pee Wee's Playhouse.

''Nearly Human'' (1989) and ''2nd Wind'' (1991) were both recorded live - the former in the studio, the latter in a theater before a live audience, which was instructed to remain silent. Each song on these albums was recorded as a complete single take with no later overdubbing. Both albums marked, in part, a return to his Philly soul roots. ''2nd Wind'' also included several excerpts from Rundgren's musical ''Up Against It'', which was adapted from the screenplay (originally titled "Prick Up Your Ears") that British playwright Joe Orton had originally offered to The Beatles for their never-made follow-up to ''Help!''. ''2nd Wind'' was Rundgren's last release through a major label and all his subsequent recordings have been self-released.

After a long absence from touring, Rundgren hit the road with ''Nearly Human - 2nd Wind'' band, which included brass and a trio of slinky backup singers (one of whom, Michele Gray, Rundgren married). He also toured during this period with Ringo Starr's All-Starr band.

The next few years saw Rundgren recording under the pseudonym TR-i ("Todd Rundgren interactive") for two albums. The first of these, 1993's ''No World Order'', consisted of hundreds of seconds-long snippets of music that could be combined in various ways to suit the listener. Initially targeted for the Philips CD-i platform, ''No World Order'' featured interactive controls for tempo, mood, and other parameters, along with pre-programmed mixes by Rundgren himself, Bob Clearmountain, Don Was, and Jerry Harrison. The disc was also released for PC and Macintosh and in two versions on standard audio CD, the continuous mix disc ''No World Order'' and, later, the more song-oriented ''No World Order Lite.'' The music itself was quite a departure from Rundgren's previous work, with a dance/techno feel and much rapping by Rundgren. The follow-up, 1995's ''The Individualist'', featured interactive video content that could be viewed or in one case, played; it was a simple video game along with the music, which was more rock-oriented than ''No World Order.''

Rundgren returned to recording under his own name for ''With a Twist'', an album of bossa-nova covers of his older material. His Patronet work, which trickled out to subscribers over more than a year, was released in 2000 as ''One Long Year''. In 2004, Rundgren released ''Liars'', a concept album about "paucity of truth" that features a mixture of his older and newer sounds.

In early 2008, Rundgren launched his official Myspace page. Later that year, he released the rock album ''Arena''. In concert, he had been performing the album in full and in sequence before its release.

Rundgren released the live compilation album, ''For Lack of Honest Work'', in 2010. The album was advertised as a collection of bootleg recording that were approved by Rundgren himself.

April 2011 saw the release of ''Todd Rundgren's Johnson'', a collection of Robert Johnson covers which had been recorded more than a year earlier. On another 2011 release, scheduled for September 13, a further album of covers entitled ''re:Production''. sees him performing tracks he had previously produced for other acts, including Grand Funk Railroad's "Walk Like a Man" and XTC's "Dear God."

Utopia

Rundgren's back-up band for ''A Wizard, a True Star'' evolved into the first version of Utopia, a larger prog-rock ensemble, which included multiple keyboards, synthesizers and brass and featured a character completely disguised in a silver suit, "M. Frog Labat" (Jean-Yves Labat de Rossi) on synthesizers, who also put out his own electronics/keyboards-based solo album. This incarnation premiered on 1974's ''Todd Rundgren's Utopia'', which was book-ended by the 14-minute "Utopia Theme" (recorded live in concert) and the 30-minute suite "The Ikon", which occupied the whole of Side 2 of the album. Like ''Wizard'', the album also showcased Rundgren's skills as a recording and mastering engineer, clocking in at over 30 minutes per side.

A slightly altered version of this group performed on the eclectic 1975 live album ''Another Live''. It featured three new extended progressive tracks (which appear only on this LP), a version of "Heavy Metal Kids" (from ''Todd'') and covers of "Something's Coming" (from "West Side Story") and "Do Ya" by The Move. By the time this album was recorded the Utopia lineup included keyboard player/trumpeter/vocalist Roger Powell and drummer John "Willie" Wilcox.

In 1976 Siegler left Utopia and was replaced by Kasim Sulton (bass, keybaords, vocals), who had previously played with New York singer-poetess Cherry Vanilla. This formidable ensemble was widely regarded as one of the best live acts of its day—all four members were highly accomplished on their main instrument as well as being able to play multiple other instruments, and all four could sing lead vocals.

After 1977's prog-rock fusion homage, ''Ra'', Utopia moved toward a more concise pop-oriented style with 1977's ''Oops! Wrong Planet'', which included "Love Is the Answer", later a hit for England Dan & John Ford Coley, followed by the more successful ''Adventures In Utopia'' in 1980, which spawned the hits "Road to Utopia", "Set Me Free" and "Caravan". During that year Utopia also acted as the backing band for the Rundgren-produced Shaun Cassidy solo album ''Wasp''.

Other releases include ''Deface the Music'' (also 1980), an uncanny Beatles homage that borders on parody; the more politicised ''Swing to the Right'' (1982), incorporating more new wave elements; their pop-referenced, self-titled album ''Utopia'' (1982), as well as ''Oblivion'' (1984), which showed a cynical side of Utopia, sporting a black cover; 1985's ''P.O.V.'' includes "Mated", later a staple of Rundgren solo tours. Rundgren eventually disbanded Utopia in the mid-80s; they released ''Trivia'' (1986) as their "swan song" effort. However, in 1992 a brief tour of Japan reunited the Rundgren/Powell/Sulton/Wilcox lineup, and "Redux '92: Live In Japan" was released on Rhino Records.

Eventually, the compilation ''Oblivion'', ''P.O.V.'' and ''Some Trivia'' was released in 1996, an effort by Rhino Records to re-release selections from the Todd/Utopia discography. In addition, many Utopia concerts from the mid-1970s onwards were taped (e.g. their 1975 London debut, recorded by BBC Radio) and these were widely bootlegged by fans, although some have since gained an official release and can now be obtained as commercial digital downloads from iTunes.

Production, video and other work

In addition to his own recordings, Rundgren has engineered and/or produced albums for many notable acts. Sparked by his dissatisfaction with the sound quality of the Nazz albums, Rundgren learned how to engineer and master his own records and since 1970 he has overseen production of all his solo recordings and those by Utopia. His earliest outside credits were as producer on a long-unreleased Janis Joplin track (recorded with the Paul Butterfield Blues Band) and as recording engineer for the LP ''Stage Fright'' by The Band. Other notable production credits include Halfnelson (first incarnation of Sparks), New York Dolls, Badfinger, Grand Funk Railroad, Hall & Oates, Ian and Sylvia (on their "Great Speckled Bird" album), Meat Loaf, Patti Smith, Shaun Cassidy, The Tubes, Tom Robinson Band, XTC, Bad Religion, Cheap Trick, The Hello People, Hiroshi Takano, Bourgeois Tagg, Dragon (aka Hunter), 12 Rods, The Pursuit of Happiness, The Psychedelic Furs, Steve Hillage, The American Dream, and many others. The difficult XTC sessions produced the album ''Skylarking'', now considered a high point for band and producer despite its acrimonious origin. Rundgren's production of Meat Loaf's ''Bat out of Hell'' (on which he also played lead guitar) helped that album become one of the top selling LPs released in the 1970s. The industry regard for Rundgren's production work has been a lofty one: Jim Steinman, with whom Rundgren worked on ''Bat Out of Hell'', has said in interviews that ''"Todd Rundgren is a genius and I don't use that word a lot."''

Rundgren has long been on the cutting edge of music and video technologies. His music video for the song "Time Heals" was among the first videos aired on MTV, and a video he produced for RCA, accompanied by Gustav Holst's ''The Planets'', was used as a demo for their videodisc players. His experience with computer graphics dates back to 1981, when he developed one of the first computer paint programs, dubbed the Utopia Graphics System; it ran on an Apple II with Apple's digitizer tablet. He is also the co-developer of the computer screensaver system Flowfazer.

In the 1990s, Rundgren was an early adopter of the NewTek Video Toaster and made several videos with it. The first, for "Change Myself" from ''2nd Wind'', was widely distributed as a demo reel for the Toaster; he also used the system for videos from ''No World Order'' (songs "Fascist Christ" and "Property"). Later, he set up a company to produce 3D animation using the Toaster; this company's first demo, "Theology" (a look at religious architecture through the ages featuring music by former Utopia bandmate Roger Powell) also became a widely-circulated item among Toaster users. Most of Rundgren's Toaster work is available on the video compilation ''The Desktop Collection.''

Rundgren composed music for the 1986 TV series ''Pee-wee's Playhouse'' and ''Crime Story'' as well as the movies "Undercover" (a/k/a "Under Cover") (1987), and ''Dumb and Dumber'' (1994), plus background cues for several other TV shows. He hosted a syndicated radio show called "The Difference" in the early 1990s.

As the Internet gained mass acceptance in the mid-1990s Rundgren, along with longtime manager Eric Gardner and Apple digital music exec Kelli Richards, started Patronet, which offered fans (patrons) access to his works in progress and new unreleased tracks in exchange for a subscription fee, cutting out record labels. The songs from Rundgren's first Patronet run were later released as the album ''One Long Year.'' Since then, Rundgren has severed his connections with major record labels and continues to offer new music direct to subscribers via his website, although he also continues to record and release CDs through independent labels. (However, as of November 2007, the PatroNet.com website offers the following message: "PatroNet is undergoing a major software revision and is not accepting memberships at this time.")

Rundgren produced the 1999 debut album for the band Splender, entitled "Halfway to the Sky."

In the summer of 2001, Rundgren joined artists such as Alan Parsons, The Who's John Entwistle, Heart's Ann Wilson and Ambrosia's David Pack for the successful "A Walk Down Abbey Road" tour, in which the musicians played their own hits alongside Beatles favorites. The also did a short tour of Japan in Winter of 2001. John Entwistle's guitarist/vocalist, Godfrey Townsend acted as musical director for the tours and stayed on for the following year's "sequel" tour which included Todd and Parsons returning, with a slightly changed lineup which featured Jack Bruce of Cream, Mark Farner of Grand Funk Railroad, Christopher Cross and Eric Carmen. Godfrey also brought drummer/vocalist Steve Murphy on board for "A Walk Down Abbey Road's" 2002 Summer tour.

Rundgren toured the US and Europe in 2004 with Joe Jackson and the string quartet Ethel, appearing on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'' performing their collaborative cover of "While My Guitar Gently Weeps". (video)

In 2009, Rundgren produced ''Cause I Sez So'' by the New York Dolls. In October, in one of the last concerts at the famed Wachovia Spectrum, Rundgren and Philadelphia area musicians The Hooters and Hall & Oates headlined a concert titled "Last Call". Tickets were as low as $6.00, the deep discount reflected ticket prices in 1967 when the Spectrum first staged concerts.

The year also included a lecture at DePauw University in Indiana, in which he discussed "Music, Technology and Risk-Taking."

In late-October to early-November 2010, Rundgren was the IU Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University. He taught a course with IU Professor Glenn Gass entitled The Ballad of Todd Rundgren.

The New Cars

In late 2005, rumors began circulating that the influential Boston-based band The Cars were planning to re-form despite bass player Benjamin Orr's death and the oft-mentioned refusal of former lead singer Ric Ocasek to even consider any reunion. Soon the rumors mentioned that Rundgren had joined Elliot Easton and Greg Hawkes in rehearsals for a possible new Cars lineup. Initial speculation pointed to The New Cars being fleshed out with Clem Burke of Blondie and Art Alexakis of Everclear. Eventually it was revealed that The New Cars were to complete their lineup with veteran bass player and former Rundgren bandmate Kasim Sulton and studio drummer Prairie Prince of The Tubes, who had played on XTC's Rundgren-produced ''Skylarking'' and who has recorded and toured with Rundgren.

In early 2006, the new lineup played a few private shows for industry professionals, played live on ''The Tonight Show'' and made other media appearances before commencing a 2006 summer tour with the re-formed Blondie.

Rundgren has referred to the project as "an opportunity ... for me to pay my bills, play to a larger audience, work with musicians I know and like, and ideally have some fun for a year."

The New Cars' first single, "Not Tonight," was released on March 20, 2006. A portion of the song is featured on a promotional teaser for the band online. A live album/greatest hits collection, ''The New Cars: It's Alive'', was released in June, 2006. The album includes classic Cars songs (and two Rundgren hits) recorded live plus three new studio tracks.

Touring, 2009-2011

In April 2009, Rundgren discussed his career during an Ubben Lecture at Indiana's DePauw University.

In September 2009, Rundgren assembled a very limited-engagement tour with Jesse Gress, Kasim Sulton, Prairie Prince, Greg Hawkes, Bobby Strickland, and Roger Powell (and his wife Michele as costume designer and back-up singer for the concerts finale'), covering his 1973 album, "A Wizard, A True Star." The shows included a complete, start-to-finish rendition of the album, with multiple costume changes and theatrical props to accent the songs. The opening band for the shows was Utopia, with Roger Powell, Kasim Sulton, and Prairie Prince.

In December 2009, Rundgren once again took the AWATS Live show on the road with four shows in California. Roger Powell returned to his real job in the computer/software industry and was replaced by Ralph Schuckett, who played keyboards on the studio recording of the original album.

The AWATS show has had two European dates as well; playing in London, England at the Hammersmith Apollo on February 6, 2010, and the Paradiso in Amsterdam, Holland on February 8, 2010. Rundgren opened the London and Amsterdam shows by showcasing his new project, entitled 'Todd Rundgren's Johnson'; consisting of Rundgren, Jesse Gress (guitar), Prairie Prince (drums) and Kasim Sulton (bass) reworking Robert Johnson songs.

In January 2010 Rundgren gave his first ever concert performance in Australia as a participant in the ''Rogue's Gallery'' show, produced by Hal Willner for the 2010 Sydney Festival. In October 2010 Rundgren returned for a three-date tour of Australia performing his 'Johnson' project, with concerts at The Basement, Sydney, the Great Southern Blues Festival at Bateman's Bay and the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. The band consisted of Todd, guitarist Jesse Gress, Australian bassplayer Damien Steele Scott and Australian drummer Mick Skelton.

A Photographic Journal of each American show was created by rock photographer J Bloomrosen.

In October 2010, Rundgren was selected as the Class of 1963 Wells Scholars Professor at Indiana University (Bloomington). In that capacity, he taught two weeks of a four-week, one-credit hour honors seminar designed for 22 Wells Scholars (HON-H300: The Ballad of Todd Rundgren). Co-teaching the class was IU Professor of Music Glenn Gass—whose relationship with Rundgren helped make the professorship possible—and IU Distinguished Professor of Sociology Bernice Pescosolido, who was instrumental in helping to plan the course.

In September 2010, Rundgren performed his "Todd" and "Healing" albums live for the first time ever in Akron, OH and followed that up with five more of the album concerts in Muskegon MI, Indianapolis IN, St. Louis MO, Glenside PA, and Morristown NJ. A large LED display and lasers were on display throughout the shows with Todd and the band dressed in extravagant costumes. Todd brought out his SG Gibson "The Fool" replica guitar and also performed a few songs on the piano. Todd's band consisted of Jesse Gress, Greg Hawkes, Prairie Prince, Bobby Strickland, and Kasim Sulton. Led by Choir Master Dirk Hillyer, local choirs from near each venue joined Todd and the band during parts of the "Healing" album set which added a brand new element to the music for fans that had only heard it by listening to the album. The shows closed with the song, "Sons Of 1984" which included fan participation even after Todd and the band left the stage.

In January 2011, a reunion of the most of the members of the 1974 Utopia personnel (Rundgren, Klingman, Shuckett, Siegler, and Ellman) was held for two nights in New York City, with proceeds to defray medical treatment for Klingman. Material was drawn from the 1972-1975 catalogs of Rundgren and Todd Rundgren's Utopia.

In March 2011, Todd took the "Todd" and "Healing" albums live concerts back on the road for a mini-tour and included stops in Hartford CT, Boston MA, Red Bank NJ, Toledo OH, and Columbus OH. A summer tour promises a selection of the artist's "greatest hits."

Personal life

Rundgren's son, Rex (born 1980), was a minor league baseball player for several years.

In popular culture

Rundgren also composed and recorded theme music for the American pilot for cult UK sci-fi comedy ''Red Dwarf'', though it never aired.

On the day Mark David Chapman shot and killed John Lennon, he left an eight-track tape of Rundgren's album ''The Ballad of Todd Rundgren'', along with other artifacts, in his New York hotel room in an orderly semicircle on the hotel dresser. "I left it as a statement, I guess," he was quoted as saying in ''Let Me Take You Down: Inside the Mind of Mark David Chapman, the Man Who Killed John Lennon'' (Jack Jones, Villard Books, 1992). Chapman had been obsessed with Rundgren and told Jones, "Right between the chambers of your heart is how Rundgren's music is to me. I cannot overestimate the depth of what his music meant to me."

In the pilot of ''That 70s Show'', the main characters attend a Todd Rundgren concert. One of the jokes has character Jackie pretending to be a serious Rundgren fan, but she doesn't know how to pronounce his name correctly ("Runderman", "Grunion"). During the end credits, all the main characters sing along to "Hello It's Me". This credit sequence was again used in the final episode of the show.

Rundgren's "I Saw The Light" featured prominently in a scene in the Farelly Brothers film ''Kingpin'', but this wasn't his first association with the Farellys. He also did the score for ''Dumb and Dumber'', and "Can We Still Be Friends" appeared in that film's soundtrack. Also, in the Farelly Brothers produced film The Ringer, the two main characters sing Rundgren's "We Got to Get You A Woman" from his Runt album.

"Can We Still Be Friends" can also be heard briefly during the climactic sex scene in the movie ''Vanilla Sky'', and during an emotional relationship situation between the doctors of the TV series ''Nip/Tuck''.

Stephen Colbert, on his Comedy Central show ''The Colbert Report'', invited Cars vocalist and guitarist Ric Ocasek to add anyone of his choice to the "On Notice" board. Ocasek chose Todd Rundgren.

The song "International Feel" is featured in the film ''Daft Punk's Electroma''.

On the ''30 Rock'' episode "The C Word," Tina Fey's character Liz Lemon is telling producer Pete and writer Frank about the obscenity Lutz called her, stating, "He called me the worst name ever. I'm not gonna repeat it. That's how much I hate it." Then after multiple guesses by the two, she says, "No! It's the one that rhymes with the name of your favorite Todd Rundgren album," referring to ''Runt'', but Frank replies, "It rhymes with ''Hermit of Mink Hollow''?" As an additional bit of trivia, Fey and Rundgren both attended the same suburban Philadelphia high school.

Two tracks from ''Healing'' appeared on ''Miami Vice'', "Tiny Demons" in the episode "Little Prince" and "Flesh" in the episode "Tale of the Goat".

On the NBC show the ''The Office'' episode "The Fight," Michael Scott Steve Carell parodies the chorus of "Bang the Drum All Day", substituting the word "drum" with "mug".

In an episode of ''Gilmore Girls'', Kelly Bishop's character tells her daughter that something minor she did was the worst possible thing. Lauren Graham's character retorts saying something along the lines of "Liv Tyler grew up thinking Todd Rundgren was her father, don't you think that's a little bit worse?"

In the closing moments of episode 11 of season 3 of ''Six Feet Under'', Nate sits in the car that his missing wife last drove as "I Saw The Light" is playing on the radio.

His song "Hello It's Me" was featured in a "Tums" Commercial.

His songs "A Dream Goes on Forever" and "Hello It's Me" were both featured in the soundtrack of the movie ''The Virgin Suicides''.

In their song "Synthesise" (2009) the English electronic duo Simian Mobile Disco repeatedly use a sample, of Rundgren singing "I was born to Synthesize", taken from his song "Born to Synthesize".

His song "Izzat Love?" was sampled by Neon Indian for their song "Deadbeat Summer".

His song "Hodja" from his album A Cappella is performed by John Stamos and others in the "Full House" episode "A Pox in Our House."

Several of Rundgren's songs have featured on Robert Florence and Ryan Macleod's Scottish videogame review shows, ''Consolevania'' and ''videoGaiden''. These include "Bang the Drum All Day", "Hello It's Me", "A Dream Goes On Forever", "Sons of 1984", "Can We Still Be Friends", "I Saw The Light", "Just One Victory" and "Today".

Argentina rock musician Charly Garcia released in 2002 a record called Influencia (Influence). It contains two versions of Todd Rundgren's song Influenza, one in Spanish with lyrics adapted by Charly, and one in English. Todd's influence in Charly Garcia's music is manifested in this record, even though he is almost unknown in Argentina.

In the movie Duets, Paul Giamatti, sings "Hello, It's Me" in a karaoke contest.

TV Girl sampled "Hello, It's Me" on "If You Want It" from their self-titled 2010 debut EP. Todd Rundgren replied by asking Warner Music Group to issue takedown notices to their bandcamp and all the blogs that featured the song.

In her 1997 recording "Blurring the Edges," American singer/songwriter Meredith Brooks lists "...lots of Todd Rundgren" in the lyrics to the opening track, "I Need."

Discography

References

External links

Official website

The Todd Rundgren Connection

TR & Utopia Video Vault

Todd Rundgren "Todd" and "Healing" albums performed live 2010 Tour information

Rundgren Radio online talk show for Todd fans

Rundgren audio interview from Toddstock 2008 on RundgrenRadio.com

Ubben Lecture at DePauw University, includes A/V April 8, 2009

The New Cars official site

Todd Rundgren at the Internet Off Broadway Database

Rundgren audio interview about his album ARENA on RundgrenRadio.com

Rundgren audio interview about his album A Wizard, A True Star on RundgrenRadio.com

"A Wizard, A True Star" Concert Photo Books by Rock Photographer J Bloomrosen

Interview with Todd Rundgren RadioLIVE New Zealand, June 2010.

ToddFan.com - A Todd Rundgren Fan Community

Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:People from Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American pop pianists Category:American record producers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Blue-eyed soul singers Category:Musicians from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Category:American New Wave musicians Category:Protopunk musicians Category:Progressive rock musicians Category:The New Cars members

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