Ghost Train Orchestra is a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

-based large ensemble led by Brian Carpenter. The band formed in 2006 when an historic theater in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

commissioned Carpenter as musical director for its 90th year celebration. For the commission, Carpenter transcribed and arranged a set of overlooked music from late 1920s

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

and

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...

and formed a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize ...

from his regular band

Beat Circus Beat Circus is a band from Boston, Massachusetts, US, fronted by the multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter, who has been its only constant member since its inception. Musical style The band's songs are characterized by lush ...

to perform it. The following year the group started performing under the name Ghost Train Orchestra.

Recordings

The band first recorded in 2009 at

Avatar Studios Avatar Studios is an American production company and a division of Nickelodeon Animation Studio formed in February 2021 to oversee the '' Avatar: The Last Airbender'' franchise. Franchise co-creators Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzk ...

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

and released ''Hothouse Stomp'' in 2011 on Accurate Records. The album featured Carpenter's rearrangements and often avant-garde treatments of early jazz from the 1920s and 1930s, drawn from recordings by such artists as

Tiny Parham Hartzell Strathdene "Tiny" Parham (February 25, 1900 – April 4, 1943) was a Canadian-born American jazz bandleader and pianist of African-American descent. Life and career Parham was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but grew up in Kansas Ci ...

, Charlie Johnson,

Fess Williams Fess Williams (born Stanley R. Williams; April 10, 1894 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz musician.''Biography Index, A Cumulative Index to Biographical Material in Books and Magazines, Volume 10: September 1973 — August 1976'', New ...

, and

McKinney's Cotton Pickers McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by Bill McKinney (drummer), Bill McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drum ...

. The band's 2013 album, ''Book of Rhapsodies'', featured chamber-jazz works from the 1930s and '40s culled from found

78s A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English) or a vinyl record (for later varieties only) is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The gro ...

and rediscoveries by music historians and collectors such as Mitchell Kaba and

Irwin Chusid Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history th ...

. The album included compositions by

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist and record producer. Known best in his time as a composer of production music, Scott is today regarded as an early ...

Reginald Foresythe Reginald Foresythe (28 May 1907 – 28 December 1958) was a British jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. Early life Foresythe was born and died in London. His father was a West African barrister of Sierra Leone Creole descent and ...

, John Kirby, and

Alec Wilder Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer and author. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four ...

. ''Hot Town'', issued in 2015, contained more arrangements and reimaginings by Carpenter of 1920s and '30s vintage jazz. ''Book of Rhapsodies Vol. II'', issued in 2017, featured more works by Scott, Foresythe, and Wilder. In 2023, the band collaborated with

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical musi ...

on the album ''Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

''. In April 2024, GTO performed the album's repertoire with Kronos Quartet live at New York's

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or municipal hall (in the Philippines) is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses the city o ...

, with guest vocals by

David Byrne David Byrne (; born May 14, 1952) is an American musician, writer, visual artist, and filmmaker. He was a founding member, principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of the American New wave music, new wave band Talking Heads. Byrne has ...

, Karen Mantler, and others. In 2024

was inspired to enlist Ghost Train Orchestra to work on his new album '' Who Is the Sky?'' after hearing their Moondog album and attending their record release show in New York City. David sent demos to Brian Carpenter and over a period of several months, Ghost Train Orchestra members worked with David and producer

Kid Harpoon Thomas Edward Percy Hull (born 20 April 1982), known professionally as Kid Harpoon, is a British songwriter, record producer, and musician. In 2023, he won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year and the Brit Award for Songwriter of the Year for ...

to arrange the music for orchestra. David and the band recorded the music over several days in New York City.

Members

''Note: Personnel changes slightly from project to project'' * Brian Carpenter – trumpet, harmonica, musical director *

Curtis Hasselbring Curtis Rae Hasselbring (born July 12, 1965, in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an American jazz trombonist, guitarist and composer. Hasselbring learned trombone and guitar while young, though he did not play guitar professionally until the 1990s. He stud ...

– trombone * Ron Caswell – tuba *

Andy Laster Andrew Jay Laster (born May 25, 1961 in Bethpage, New York) is an American jazz saxophonist. Laster studied early in his career with Joe Dixon and Dave Burns, both in the 1970s; he lived in Seattle in the early 1980s, where he attended Cornish ...

– alto saxophone * Matt Bauder – tenor and baritone saxophone, clarinets * Dennis Lichtman – clarinet * Mazz Swift – violin, vocals *

Sara Caswell Sara Caswell (born February 21, 1978) is an American violinist who has worked with 9 Horses, Esperanza Spalding, and David Krakauer. Career Born into a musical family in Bloomington, Indiana, Caswell studied classical violin with Josef Gingold ...

- violin * Emily Bookwalter - viola * Alex Waterman - cello *

Avi Bortnick Avi Bortnick is an American guitarist who became more widely known after his association with jazz guitarist John Scofield. Bortnick joined Scofield's jam-oriented band in 2000 and played rhythm guitar and samples on three albums: ''Überjam'', ...

– guitar * Brandon Seabrook – guitar, banjo * Michael Bates – double bass *

Chris Lightcap Chris Lightcap is an American double bassist, bass guitarist and composer born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Career In addition to his work as a bassist he has led a variety of bands since 2000 and has produced six albums of original music. Lightcap' ...

- double bass, electric bass * David Cossin - marimba, percussion * Rob Garcia – drums

Discography

* '' Hothouse Stomp'' (2011) - Music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem * ''Book of Rhapsodies'' (2013) - Carpenter's reimagining of chamber jazz from the late 1930s * ''Hot Town'' (2015) - More music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem, with guest

Colin Stetson Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is an American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In addition to sa ...

* ''Book of Rhapsodies, Vol. II'' (2017) - More rearrangements of chamber jazz from the late 1930s for orchestra and choir * '' Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog'' (2023) - Collaboration with

reimagining the music of Louis Hardin aka

* '' Who Is the Sky?'' (2025) -

with Ghost Train Orchestra

References

External links

Homepage of the orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Train Orchestra Jazz ensembles from New York City Experimental big bands Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from Brooklyn