Joseph Frederick Brent (born April 6, 1976) is an American

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

mandolinist A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of eight strings. A ...

multi-instrumentalist A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and mor ...

, and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. w ...

. He is known for his performances and arrangements of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wale ...

and

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media *Independent media, media free of influence by government or corporate interests *Indie art, fine arts made by artists independent of commer ...

songs, as well as his original compositions with the ensemble

9 Horses 9 Horses is a chamber jazz group from the United States consisting of composer and mandolinist Joseph Brent, violinist Sara Caswell, and bassist Andrew Ryan, originating from New York City. History Brent and bassist Shawn Conley first played to ...

. He taught classical mandolin at

Mannes College The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a music conservatory in T ...

and currently teaches at

Bard College Bard College is a private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. The campus overlooks the Hudson River and Catskill Mountains within the Hudson River Historic District ...

. Brent attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music () is a Private university, private music college in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern Music of the United ...

, and studied the mandolin under

Carlo Aonzo Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

Savona Savona (; ) is a seaport and (municipality) in the west part of the northern Italian region of Liguria, and the capital of the Province of Savona. Facing the Ligurian Sea, Savona is the main center of the Riviera di Ponente (the western se ...

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. He also received instruction from

Barry Mitterhoff Barry Mitterhoff (born September 16, 1952) is an American musician who plays mandolin. He is a former member of Skyline, Silk City, Bottle Hill, and Hot Tuna. Played with Peter Rowan, Tex Logan and Lamar Greer in The Green Grass Gringos. Mitter ...

and

Adam Steffey Adam Carter Steffey (born November 24, 1965) is an American mandolin player, best known for playing in the bluegrass and old-time styles. He spent time as a member of bands such as Alison Krauss & Union Station, Mountain Heart, Lonesome Riv ...

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Brent is active as a sideman in several rock, jazz, bluegrass, and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

ensembles, most notably with

Regina Spektor Regina Ilyinichna Spektor (, ; born February 18, 1980) is a Russian Americans, Russian-born American singer, songwriter, and pianist. After self-releasing her first three records and gaining popularity in New York City's Indie music scene, in ...

, Jewel,

Kishi Bashi Kaoru Dill-Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and Emmy-nominated award winning filmmaker currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupit ...

Gary Smulyan Gary Smulyan (born April 4, 1956) is an American jazz musician who plays baritone saxophone. He studied at Hofstra University before working with Woody Herman. He leads a trio with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Kenny Washington.

, and various artists centered on the

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes #Traditional folk music, traditional folk music and the Contemporary folk music, contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be ca ...

scene. Brent also records and has performed with symphony orchestras such as the

Seattle Symphony The Seattle Symphony is an American orchestra based in Seattle, Washington. Since 1998, the orchestra is resident at Benaroya Hall. The orchestra also serves as the accompanying orchestra for the Seattle Opera. History Beginnings The orchest ...

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony, founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley, San Francisco, Hayes Valley ne ...

Chicago Symphony The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American symphony orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891, the ensemble has been based in the Symphony Center since 1904 and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Fes ...

International Contemporary Ensemble The International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE) is a contemporary classical music ensemble, based in New York City. ICE performs a diverse and extensive array of chamber, electro-acoustic, improvisatory, and multimedia works. History The Internati ...

, nunc, and the

New World Symphony New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

Joseph Brent with his 10 string mandolin Kumi

On October 16, 2015, Brent's improvising ensemble

, featuring violinist

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 ...

and bassist Shawn Conley released their debut album '' Perfectest Herald'' on

Sunnyside Records Sunnyside Records is an American jazz record company and label initially established by François Zalacain in 1982 to release an album by pianist Harold Danko. Albums by Kirk Lightsey and Lee Konitz soon followed, beginning a sequence of releases ...

, and in 2016 were the winners of the 21CM LAUNCH: Emerging Artists Competition. In 2022 Brent founded

Adhyâropa Records 9 Horses is a chamber jazz group from the United States consisting of composer and mandolinist Joseph Brent, violinist Sara Caswell, and bassist Andrew Ryan, originating from New York City. History Brent and bassist Shawn Conley first played t ...

along with

bandmate Andrew Ryan. In addition to releasing '' Omegah'' and subsequent material by 9 Horses and its associated members, Adhyâropa has also released albums by

Sam Sadigursky Sam Sadigursky (born April 17, 1979) is a clarinetist, saxophonist, flutist and composer. Biography Early life Sam Sadigursky (born April 17, 1979) was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His parents are both classically trained musicia ...

, Mr Sun, Jacob Jolliff, and others. Brent has published two books of mandolin pedagogy, ''Scales and Arpeggios for Mandolin'' and ''Orchestral and Chamber Excerpts for Mandolin'', and his book of transcriptions of the lute music of

John Dowland John Dowland ( – buried 20 February 1626) was an English Renaissance composer, lutenist, and singer. He is best known today for his melancholy songs such as "Come, heavy sleep", " Come again", " Flow my tears", " I saw my Lady weepe", " N ...

for two mandolins, conceived with Alon Sariel, was published in 2015 by paladino music.

Customized instruments

In 2008, Brent collaborated with

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, located on its east coast. It is one of the three Maritime Canada, Maritime provinces and Population of Canada by province and territory, most populous province in Atlan ...

-based

luthier A luthier ( ; ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments. Etymology The word ' is originally French and comes from ''luth'', the French word for "lute". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be ...

Brian Dean to design a grand concert mandolin he named 'Pähkinä', which is Finnish for 'nut', a reference to the

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

top of the instrument. Among the instrument's many distinctive features are the walnut/maple/spruce wood combination, a zero

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical inst ...

, a semi-lute construction with minimal bracing, a built-in tone guard with a sound pressure relief hole cut into the back, and ornate

f-holes A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * Round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the viol ...

which reach around the sides of the instrument. Dean has since built a 10-string version of this model nicknamed 'Kumí', which is currently Brent's primary acoustic instrument. In 2016,

Vermont Vermont () is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York (state), New York to the west, and the Provinces and territories of Ca ...

-based luthier Adam Buchwald built him a 5-string, fanned fret electric mandolin.

Discography

Solo

* ''Point of Departure'' (2007) * ''Nocturnes and Caprices by David Loeb'' (Vienna Modern Masters) (2011) * ''solo. EP'' (2011) * ''An Englishman In New York'' (2013) with Alon Sariel

With 9 Horses

* ''Joe Brent & Sara Caswell EP'' (2013) * ''Perfectest Herald'' (2015) * ''Blood From A Stone EP'' (2019) * ''Omegah'' (2021) * ''Strum'' (2024) * ''Strumming Music EP'' (2024)

With others

Books

*''Scales and Arpeggios for Mandolin.'' Lulu Publishing. 2007. *''Orchestral and Chamber Excerpts for Mandolin.'' Lulu Publishing. 2007. *''An Englishman in New York: Famous Lute Pieces Arranged for Two Mandolins.'' paladino media gmbh. 2015.paladino media gmbh
/ref>

References

External links

Official home page9 Horses
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brent, Joseph Living people American jazz composers American folk rock musicians American mandolinists American jazz mandolinists American classical mandolinists Musicians from Queens, New York People from Flushing, Queens Musicians from Tampa, Florida People from Dutchess County, New York People from Beacon, New York American music educators 1976 births American jazz musicians Chamber jazz musicians American multi-instrumentalists Jewish American classical musicians Jewish violinists American expatriates in Italy American folk musicians American male violinists American jazz violinists Berklee College of Music alumni Jazz musicians from New York (state) Educators from New York City Classical musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American violinists American male jazz composers 21st-century American male musicians 9 Horses members 21st-century American Jews