Stephen Barber (composer)

Stephen Barber is an American composer, arranger and musician, known for working with David Byrne, Keith Richards, John Legend, Natalie Merchant, T Bone Burnett, Rosanne Cash, The London Symphony Orchestra, Christopher Cross, Bonnie Raitt, Indigo Girls, Michael Stipe and Shawn Colvin.

Early life

Barber was born April 6, 1952, in Abilene, Texas, to Carolyn Grisham Barber, a pianist and music teacher, and Harwell Barber, a businessman and philanthropist. His cousin is the author John Grisham, and his godfather is flamenco guitarist Jim Jennings. Barber started playing the piano at the age of three, began playing guitar at eleven and started writing music at the age of twelve. At fifteen, Barber went to Sewanee Military Academy in Tennessee, where he was the only student studying music theory. He attended summer school in 1971 at the University of Texas to study music composition, then attended Southwest Texas State University, where he studied music composition under composer Russell Riepe.

Career

In 1974, Barber began a friendship with Gideon Waldrop, the Dean of Juilliard, however passed up an invitation to attend Juilliard at that time. He was in a band with Eric Johnson called The Electromagnets from 1974–1976 and in 1977, Barber moved to New York City, reconvened with Dean Waldrop, began monitoring classes at Juilliard and was accepted to study music composition and orchestration privately with John Corigliano. He was the keyboardist and arranger for Christopher Cross from 1983–1988 and during that time composed thirteen original scores for Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre, under the direction of Van Dyke Parks. He was nominated for an ACE award for the episode, "3 Little Pigs". In the early 1990s, Barber composed for the BBC's National Geographic Explorer with David Attenborough and Mike Salisbury under the direction of producer Michael deGruy. In 1996, he began a mentorship with Joe Zawinul, and in the late 1990s he toured again with Eric Johnson. In 2001, Barber became a founder and artistic director of the Barbwire Music Project, an Austin, TX based non-profit commissioning, presenting and educational organization for contemporary American music. In 2004, he was inducted into the Austin Music Awards Hall of Fame. In 2011, he released his album, Astral Vinyl, on Navona Records. Barber currently resides in Austin, TX.

Selected works

In total, Barber has worked on more than 170 album projects and multiple television and movie scores.
* 2014 ''Natalie Merchant'' – Natalie Merchant – String Arrangements, Woodwind Arrangement
* 2014 ''United States'' – Ian McLagan – String Arrangements
* 2013 ''Fourth Corner'' – Trixie Whitley'' – Composer, producer, String Arrangements
* 2011 ''Rockpango'' – Los Lonely Boys – Composer, String Arrangements, String Writing
* 2010 ''Comfort in the Static'' – Kenny White – String Arrangements
* 2010 '' July Flame'' – Laura Veirs – String Arrangements
* 2010 '' Leave Your Sleep'' – Natalie Merchant – Arranger, Orchestration, String Arrangements
* 2010 '' The Best of Shawn Colvin'' – Shawn Colvin – Arranger
* 2010 '' When Everything Breaks Open'' – Matt Morris – String Arrangements, String Conductor
* 2009 ''Au Pres de Vous: French Chansons of the 16th Century'' – Mignarda – Instrument Design
* 2008 ''Live with the Tosca Strings'' – Terry Bozzio – Piano, Primary Artist
* 2008 Never Say Never – Ian McLagan – Arranger, String Arrangements
* 2007 ''I Am'' – Chrisette Michele – String Arrangements
* 2007 ''Join the Parade'' – Marc Cohn – String Arrangements
* 2007 Papito – Miguel Bosé – Guest Artist
* 2007 Remembered – Ted Greene – Keyboards
* 2007 ''The Sky Observer's Guide'' – Amy Cook – String Arrangements, Strings
* 2006 ''In the Footsteps of Herman Hollanders'' – Instrument Design
* 2006 '' Once Again'' – John Legend – String Arrangements
* 2006 ''Travesías'' – Susana Baca – Orchestration
* 2006 ''Un'altra Canzone'' – Instrument Design
* 2005 ''Cannonball'' – Mark David Manders – Organ (Hammond)
* 2005 ''From the Five'' – Stephen Bruton – Composer, Hammond B3, Main Personnel, Organ (Hammond), Pump Organ, Wurlitzer
* 2005 ''Live from Austin TX'' – Eric Johnson – Composer
* 2005 ''Live from Austin TX VD' – Eric Johnson – Composer
* 2005 ''Patch of Blue'' – Dee Carstensen – Arranger, producer
* 2005 ''The Rainbow Bear'' – Stephen Barber – Primary Artist
* 2004 ''13 Ways to Live'' – Composer, Guitar (Electric), Piano
* 2004 ''Boompa, Vol. 1'' – Composer
* 2004 ''Get Lifted'' – John Legend – String Arrangements
* 2004 ''Grown Backwards'' – David Byrne – Arranger, Horn Arrangements, Prepared Piano
* 2004 ''Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo'' – Composer
* 2004 Salt – Arto Lindsay – Keyboards, String Arrangements, Violin Arrangement
* 2003 ''The Order'' – David Torn – Score Orchestration
* 2002 '' Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood'' – Conductor, leader, String Arrangements
* 2002 ''Invoke'' – Arto Lindsay – Clarinet, Guitar, Horn Arrangements, Keyboards, Organ, Violin Arrangement
* 2002 ''Long Way Around: An Anthology 1991–2001'' – Chris Whitley – Keyboards, Piano
* 2002 ''Spirit World'' – Stephen Bruton – Composer, Organ, Piano, Synthesizer
* 2001 ''A Man Under the Influence'' – Alejandro Escovedo – Composer
* 2001 ''L' Instant d'Apres'' – David Linx – Arranger
* 2001 Motherland – Natalie Merchant – Arranger, Conductor
* 2001 Rocket House – Chris Whitley – Arranger, Jaw Harp, Keyboards, Percussion, Piano, Programming, Synthesizer Bass
* 2001 ''Wait for Me'' – Jubilant Sykes – Arranger, Orchestra
* 2001 ''Whole New You'' – Shawn Colvin – String Arrangements
* 2000 ''Passenger'' – Tara MacLean – String Arrangements
* 2000 ''Q'' – Mr. Children – String Arrangements
* 1999 ''An American Diary, Vol. 2: The Dreamings'' – Mike Mainieri – Arranger, producer
* 1999 ''Iean-Pavle Paladin: Tablatvre De Lvth'' – Lute
* 1999 ''Nothing But the Truth'' – Stephen Bruton – Composer, Keyboards, Piano, producer
* 1999 ''This Is Life'' – Curiously Strong – Organ (Hammond), Piano, String Arrangements
* 1998 '' Little Ship'' – Loudon Wainwright III – String Arrangements
* 1997 '' G3: Live in Concert'' – Joe Satriani – Keyboards
* 1997 ''Merry Axemas: A Guitar Christmas'' – Arranger, Composer, Keyboards, Synthesizer
* 1996 ''Anxiety of Influence'' – Meridian Arts Ensemble – Composer
* 1996 ''Baby Sleep'' – Lute
* 1996 ''Venus Isle

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