Vytas Nagisetty (born March 8, 1971), known mononymously as Vytas, is an Indian-born musician. Vytas has recorded a number of

film scores A film score is original music written specifically to accompany a film. The score comprises a number of orchestral, instrumental, or choral pieces called cues, which are timed to begin and end at specific points during the film in order to ...

for American and French motion pictures, and has written songs appearing on soundtrack albums and numerous independent recordings. He also worked extensively as a bassist in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

during the 1990s.

Biography

Nagisetty was born in

Mumbai, India Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

, and raised in

Toledo, Ohio Toledo ( ) is a city in Lucas County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. It is located at the western end of Lake Erie along the Maumee River. Toledo is the List of cities in Ohio, fourth-most populous city in Ohio and List of United Sta ...

. The son of a Lithuanian physicist and an Indian mathematician, he began playing music at the early age of 5. Having started on trumpet, and successively switching to piano, and then bansuri flute, Vytas finally settled into electric bass as his main instrument by the age of 10. At age 14, he added guitar to his repertoire and began writing songs. By age 17, he was selling tapes of original songs through local record stores. After high school, he studied music and French at the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...

. His musical education focused on

composition Composition or Compositions may refer to: Arts and literature *Composition (dance), practice and teaching of choreography * Composition (language), in literature and rhetoric, producing a work in spoken tradition and written discourse, to include ...

, and performance in

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 harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

and

classical music Classical music generally refers to the art music of the Western world, considered to be #Relationship to other music traditions, distinct from Western folk music or popular music traditions. It is sometimes distinguished as Western classical mu ...

. He studied double bass under Steve Tramontozzi, the principal bassist of the

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 ...

Musical career

Film Scores

Vytas' musical studies brought him to

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

, where he composed the score for

Morgan J. Freeman Morgan J. Freeman (born December 5, 1969) is an American film director. In 1997, his debut feature, '' Hurricane Streets'', won three awards at the Sundance Film Festival. Early life and education Freeman was born and raised in Long Beach, Ca ...

's film ''Godard disait que..''. Later when he moved to New York City, Vytas was favored by a number of independent film makers for his ability to compose and produce music, as well as perform on several instruments. This range of abilities allowed him single-handedly produce and perform the score for an entire film. In 1998, Vytas composed the score for the Freeman film ''

Desert Blue ''Desert Blue'' is a 1998 American comedy-drama film written and directed by Morgan J. Freeman, starring Brendan Sexton III, Kate Hudson, Christina Ricci, Casey Affleck, Sara Gilbert and John Heard. Plot A rising Hollywood starlet becom ...

'', which marked his first American film project. He would go on to compose music for several other studio and independent films, including Freeman's ''

The Cherry Picker ''The Cherry Picker'' (also known as ''The Quiet Life''), is a 1972 British drama film directed by Peter Curran (director), Peter Curran and starring Lulu (singer), Lulu, Bob Sherman (actor), Bob Sherman, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Spike Milligan, Pat ...

''.

Ensemble projects

Both in France and subsequently back in the United States, Vytas has played in dozens of jazz and rock bands, including with noted jazz artist

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

. He has been active in bands in the

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 currently, Toledo. Vytas released a 5-song EP in 2007 called ''Space Cadet''. The independently produced album drew positive reviews from the Toledo Blade, the ''Toledo City Paper'', and the ''Toledo Free Press''. It features Vytas and his Electric Outfit, a power trio consisting of Vytas on vocals and guitar, Jason Quick on bass, and John "Bubba" Baker on drums and vocal harmony. In March 2007, Todd Ovall joined the Electric Outfit on bass, replacing Jason Quick.

Discography

* 1993 Godard disait que.. (film score) * 1998 Desert Blue (film score) * 1998 Desert Blue Original Soundtrack (two songs, credited as "Vytas Nagisetty" and "VDog, Funny Bone") * 1999 Zoo (film score) * 1999 Hostage (film score) * 2000 The Cherry Picker (film score) * 2000 The Opponent (film score) * 2007 Space Cadet (5-song EP, Vytas and his Electric Outfit) * 2008 Glass City (film score) * 2009 Sunny (18-song album, Vytas and his Electric Outfit, pending)

References

External links

* {{Authority control Songwriters from Ohio Living people 1971 births