Lee Townsend is an American independent music producer, curator, artist manager and co-owner of Songtone (Songline/Tone Field Productions), specializing in recordings of singer-songwriters, contemporary composers, improvising musicians, and cross-cultural musical collaborations. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Background and career

Since 1983, Townsend has produced albums by Bill Frisell,

John Scofield John Scofield (born December 26, 1951) is an American guitarist and composer. His music over a long career has blended jazz, jazz fusion, funk, blues, soul and rock. He first came to mainstream attention as part of the band of Miles Davis; he ...

, Loudon Wainwright III, Kelly Joe Phelps, Rinde Eckert, Vinicius Cantuaria, Shweta Jhaveri, Dino Saluzzi, Gabriela Anders, Petra Haden,

Viktor Krauss Viktor Krauss is an American musician who plays acoustic and electric bass. He has released solo albums and has worked as a sideman with many musicians, including his sister, singer and fiddler Alison Krauss. Music career Krauss was born to Fre ...

Elvis Costello Declan Patrick MacManus (born 25 August 1954), known professionally as Elvis Costello, is an English singer, songwriter, record producer, author and television host. According to ''Rolling Stone'', Costello "reinvigorated the literate, lyrical ...

/ Bill Frisell, Choying Drolma &

Steve Tibbetts Steve Tibbetts (born 1954) is an American guitarist and composer. He views the recording studio as a tool for creating sounds. Most of his albums include percussionist Marc Anderson. Style Tibbetts plays acoustic and electric guitar and exot ...

Pat Metheny Patrick Bruce Metheny ( ; born August 12, 1954) is an American jazz guitarist and composer. He was the leader of the Pat Metheny Group (1977–2010) and continues to work in various small-combo, duet, and solo settings, as well as other side pr ...

, Joey Baron, Charlie Hunter, T. J. Kirk, Dave Holland,

Hank Jones Henry Jones Jr. (July 31, 1918 – May 16, 2010) was an American jazz pianist, bandleader, arranger, and composer. Critics and musicians have described Jones as eloquent, lyrical, and impeccable. In 1989, The National Endowment for the Arts h ...

, John Abercrombie, Jerry Granelli, Marc Johnson, Jonah Smith, Noe Venable, Crooked Still, Paul Dresher, Marty Ehrlich, Dusan Bogdanovic, Paul Sprawl, Blue Rubies, and Stephen Yerkey. Townsend is a member of the cooperative group, Floratone, with Bill Frisell,

Matt Chamberlain Matthew Chamberlain (born April 17, 1967) is an American session drummer, record producer and songwriter. He has played with various artists, including Pearl Jam, Edie Brickell & New Bohemians, David Bowie, Tori Amos, Morrissey, The Wallflow ...

, and

Tucker Martine Tucker Martine (born January 14, 1972) is an American record producer, musician and composer. In 2010, ''Paste'' Magazine included Martine in their list of the 10 Best Producers of the Decade. Early life Tucker Martine, the son of singer and son ...

. He has collaborated on motion picture soundtracks and theater music. Additionally, he has been producer of the Century of Song program for the Ruhr Triennale Arts festival in Germany, Vice President of

Artists and Repertoire Artists and repertoire (or A&R for short) is the division of a record label or music publishing company that is responsible for scouting, financing, and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists and songwriters. It also acts as a l ...

for Verve/ Polygram Records in New York, General Manager and Director of United States Operations at

ECM Records ECM (Edition of Contemporary Music) is an independent record label founded by Karl Egger, Manfred Eicher and Manfred Scheffner in Munich in 1969. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a variety of recordings, and ECM's a ...

in New York, Producer of Music Programming at the

Montalvo Arts Center The Montalvo Arts Center is a non-profit center for the arts in Saratoga, California, United States. Open to the public, Montalvo comprises a cultural and arts center, a park, hiking trails and the historic Villa Montalvo, an Italian Mediterran ...

Saratoga, California Saratoga is a city in Santa Clara County, California, United States. Located in Silicon Valley, in the southern Bay Area, it had a population of 31,051 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Saratoga is known for its wineries, restaurant ...

, and a staff producer at National Public Radio affiliate,

KCRW KCRW (89.9 FM broadcasting, FM) is an NPR member station broadcasting from the campus of Santa Monica College in Santa Monica, California, where the station is licensed. KCRW airs original news and music programming in addition to programming ...

-FM in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Townsend graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, majoring in psychology and earned his graduate degree in psychology from The Wright Institute, Berkeley. http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=644 Lee Townsend - AAJ Interview

Discography

Bill Frisell * '' Lookout for Hope'' ( ECM, 1987) * '' Before We Were Born'' ( Nonesuch, 1989) * '' This Land'' (Nonesuch, 1994) * '' Go West: Music for the Films of Buster Keaton'' (Nonesuch, 1995) * '' The High Sign/One Week'' (Nonesuch, 1995) * ''

Quartet In music, a quartet (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers. Classical String quartet In classical music, one of the most common combinations of four instruments in chamber music is the string quartet. String quar ...

'' (Nonesuch, 1996) * '' Gone, Just Like a Train'' (Nonesuch, 1998) * '' Good Dog, Happy Man'' (Nonesuch, 1999) * ''

Ghost Town A ghost town, deserted city, extinct town, or abandoned city is an abandoned settlement, usually one that contains substantial visible remaining buildings and infrastructure such as roads. A town often becomes a ghost town because the economi ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2000) * '' Blues Dream'' (Nonesuch, 2001) * '' With Dave Holland and Elvin Jones'' (Nonesuch, 2001) * ''

The Willies ''The Willies'' is the 15th album by Bill Frisell to be released on the Elektra Nonesuch label. It was released in 2002 and features performances by Frisell, Danny Barnes on banjo, pump organ & harmonica and bassist Keith Lowe. Reception Th ...

'' (Nonesuch, 2002) * '' The Intercontinentals'' (Nonesuch, 2003) * ''Further East/Further West'' (Nonesuch, 2005) Download-only * '' East/West'' (Nonesuch, 2005) * ''Frisell/Carter/Motian'' (Nonesuch, 2006) Download-only * '' Bill Frisell, Ron Carter, Paul Motian'' (Nonesuch, 2006) * '' Floratone'' (

Blue Note Blue Note Records is an American jazz record label now owned by Universal Music Group and operated under Capitol Music Group. Established in 1939 by German-Jewish emigrants Alfred Lion and Max Margulis, it derived its name from the blue no ...

, 2007) * '' History, Mystery'' (Nonesuch, 2008) * ''All Hat'', ( Universal, 2008) * '' Disfarmer'' (Nonesuch, 2009) * '' Beautiful Dreamers'' (

Savoy Savoy (; )  is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south and west and to the Aosta Vall ...

, 2010) * '' Lágrimas Mexicanas'' (Bill Frisell & Vinicius Cantuaria/E1, 2011) * '' Sign of Life'' (Savoy, 2011) * '' All We Are Saying'' (Savoy, 2011) * '' Floratone II'' (Savoy, 2012) * ''

Big Sur Big Sur () is a rugged and mountainous section of the Central Coast (California), Central Coast of the U.S. state of California, between Carmel Highlands and San Simeon, where the Santa Lucia Range, Santa Lucia Mountains rise abruptly from th ...

'' (

Sony is a Japanese multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at Sony City in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. The Sony Group encompasses various businesses, including Sony Corporation (electronics), Sony Semiconductor Solutions (i ...

, 2013) * '' Guitar in the Space Age!'' (Sony, 2015) * '' When You Wish Upon a Star'' (Sony, 2016) * '' Music IS'' (Sony, 2018) * ''

Harmony In music, harmony is the concept of combining different sounds in order to create new, distinct musical ideas. Theories of harmony seek to describe or explain the effects created by distinct pitches or tones coinciding with one another; harm ...

'' (Blue Note, 2019) * '' Valentine'' (Blue Note, 2020) * '' FOUR'' (Blue Note, 2022) Bill Frisell/

* '' Deep Dead Blue'' (Nonesuch, 1995) * '' The Sweetest Punch'' (w/Cassandra Wilson) (

Decca Decca may refer to: Music * Decca Records or Decca Music Group, record label * Decca Gold, classical music record label owned by Universal Music Group * Decca Broadway, musical theater record label * Decca Studios, recording facility in West ...

, 1999) Petra Haden and Bill Frisell * ''Petra Haden and Bill Frisell'' (

True North True north is the direction along Earth's surface towards the place where the imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth on its Northern Hemisphere, northern half, the True North Pole. True south is the direction ...

, 2003/Skip, 2004) Carrie Rodriguez * '' We Still Love Our Country'' ( Ninth Street Opus, 2010) * '' Love and Circumstance'' (Ninth Street Opus, 2010) * '' Give Me All You Got'' (Ninth Street Opus, 2013) * ''Lola'' (Luz/Thirty Tigers, 2016) Kelly Joe Phelps * '' Slingshot Professionals'' (

Rykodisc Rykodisc is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, operating as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance. History Claiming to be the first CD-only independent record label ...

, 2003) * '' Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind'' (True North/Rykodisc, 2005) Loudon Wainwright III * '' Here Come the Choppers'' (Sovereign Artists, 2005)

* '' Hand Jive'' (w/Eddie Harris) (Blue Note, 1994) * '' Groove Elation'' (Blue Note, 1995) * '' A Go Go'' (w/ Medeski Martin & Wood) (Verve, 1998) * ''

Bump Bump or bumps may refer to: Arts and entertainment * Bump (dance), a dance from the 1970s disco era * ''BUMP'' (comics), 2007-08 limited edition comic book series Fictional characters * Bobby Bumps, titular character of a series of American si ...

'' (Verve, 2000) John Scofield/

* ''

I Can See Your House from Here ''I Can See Your House from Here'' is the seventh studio album by English progressive rock band Camel (band), Camel. Released in 1979, a new line up was introduced with founding members Andrew Latimer (guitar) and Andy Ward (musician), Andy ...

'' (Blue Note, 1994) Rinde Eckert * ''Finding My Way Home'' ( DIW, 1992) * ''Do the Day Over'' (City of Tribes, 1995) * ''Story In, Story Out'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1997) * ''The Natural World'' (Songtone/National Sawdust, 2018) Shweta Jhaveri * ''Anahita'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1999) Ani Choying Drolma/

* ''Selwa'' ( Six Degrees, 2004) Dino Saluzzi/ Anthony Cox/ David Friedman * ''Rios'' (Intuition, 1995) Gabriela * ''Detras del Sol'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1997) * ''Viento Rojo'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1999) * ''El Viaje'' (Intuition, 2006) Vinicius Cantuária * ''Vinicius'' (Transparent, 2001) * ''Lagrimas Mexicanas'' (with Bill Frisell, E1, 2011)

* ''Far from Enough'' (Nonesuch/2004) * ''II'' ( Back Porch/ EMI, 2007) Dave Holland * '' Triplicate'' (ECM, 1988)

/Dave Holland/

Billy Higgins Billy Higgins (October 11, 1936 – May 3, 2001) was an American jazz drummer. He played mainly free jazz and hard bop. Biography Higgins was born in Los Angeles, California, United States. Higgins played on Ornette Coleman's first records, be ...

* '' The Oracle'' ( Polygram, 1990) John Abercrombie * ''Getting There'' (ECM, 1988) Joey Baron * '' Down Home'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1997) * '' We'll Soon Find Out'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 2000) Charlie Hunter * ''

Bing, Bing, Bing! ''Bing, Bing, Bing!'' is a 1995 album by jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European ...

'' (Blue Note, 1995) * ''Ready...Set...Shango'' (Blue Note, 1996) * ''Natty Dread'' (Blue Note, 1997) * ''Return of the Candyman'' (Blue Note, 1998) * '' Friends Seen and Unseen'' ( Ropeadope, 2004) T. J. Kirk * ''T. J. Kirk'' (

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bro ...

, 1995) * ''If Four Was One'' (Warner Bros., 1996) Marc Johnson * '' Right Brain Patrol'' ( JMT, 1992) * ''

The Sound of Summer Running ''The Sound of Summer Running'' is a 1998 studio album by jazz bassist Marc Johnson (musician), Marc Johnson released by Verve Records. It features an all-star Quartet with guitarists Pat Metheny and Bill Frisell, and John Zorn's frequent drummer ...

'' ( Verve, 1998) Jerry Granelli * ''A Song I Thought I Heard Buddy Sing'' (ITM, 1993) * ''Another Place'' (Intuition, 1994) * ''News from the Street'' (Intuition, 1995) * ''Broken Circle'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1996) * ''Sand Hills Reunion'' (Songlines, 2004) * ''Dance Hall'' (Justin Time, 2017) Crooked Still * ''Shaken By a Low Sound'' ( Signature Sounds, 2006) Jonah Smith * ''Jonah Smith'' (Relix, 2006) Doug Wamble * ''Doug Wamble'' (Blue Note, 2009) Dusan Bogdanovic * ''Early to Rise'' (

Palo Alto Palo Alto ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for ) is a charter city in northwestern Santa Clara County, California, United States, in the San Francisco Bay Area, named after a Sequoia sempervirens, coastal redwood tree known as El Palo Alto. Th ...

, 1984) * ''Yano Mori'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1999) Quentin Dujardin * ''Distances'' (Agua, 2012) David Soler Denga * ''Botanicas'' (David Soler, 2012) Kalaban Coura * ''Kalaban Coura'' (Agua Music, 2011) Blame Sally * '' Night of 1000 Stars'' (Ninth Street Opus, 2009) Noe Venable * ''No Curses Here'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1999) Real Vocal String Quartet * ''Four Little Sisters'' (Irene Sazer, Flower Note Publishing, Alisa Rose, 2012) Paul Sprawl * ''Blue Suitcase'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1999) Will Bernard * ''Medicine Hat'' (Verve/

Antilles The Antilles is an archipelago bordered by the Caribbean Sea to the south and west, the Gulf of Mexico to the northwest, and the Atlantic Ocean to the north and east. The Antillean islands are divided into two smaller groupings: the Greater An ...

, 1998) Pothole * ''Dirty Picnic'' (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1997) Stephen Yerkey * ''Confidence, Man'' (

Heyday Heyday may refer to: * ''Heyday'' (The Church album), 1986 * ''Heyday'' (Fairport Convention album), 1987 * Heyday (song), a 2000 song by Mic Christopher * ''Heyday'' (novel), a historical novel by Kurt Andersen * Heyday Books, an independent ...

, 1994) Zubot and Dawson * ''Chicken Scratch'' (True North, 2002) Laughing Stock * ''Underskin'' (Poor Me, 2003)

Fred Hersch Fred Hersch (born October 21, 1955) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and a 17-time Grammy nominée. He was the first person to play weeklong engagements as a solo pianist at the Village Vanguard in New York City. He has recorded more than ...

/Bill Frisell * ''Songs We Know (Nonesuch, 1998) Living Daylights * ''Electric Rosary'' (Liquid City, 2000)

References

External links

Songtone.comBillfrisell.comFloratone.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Townsend, Lee Living people Record producers from California 1958 births People from Long Beach, California