Lee Townsend

Lee Townsend
Background information
Born (1958-02-06) February 6, 1958 (age 66)
Long Beach, California, U.S.
Occupation(s)Record Producer, Artist Manager, Curator, Psychotherapist
Years active1983–present
Websitewww.songtone.com

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.[1]

Background and career

Since 1983, Townsend has produced albums by Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Loudon Wainwright III, Kelly Joe Phelps, Rinde Eckert, Vinicius Cantuaria, Shweta Jhaveri, Dino Saluzzi, Gabriela Anders, Petra Haden, Viktor Krauss, Elvis Costello/Bill Frisell, Choying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts, Pat Metheny/John Scofield, Joey Baron, Charlie Hunter, T. J. Kirk, Dave Holland, Hank Jones, 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, and Tucker Martine. 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 for Verve/Polygram Records in New York, General Manager and Director of United States Operations at ECM Records in New York, Producer of Music Programming at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California, and a staff producer at National Public Radio affiliate, KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, California.

Townsend graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, majoring in psychology and earned his graduate degree in psychology from The Wright Institute, Berkeley.[2][3]

Discography

Bill Frisell

Bill Frisell/Elvis Costello

Petra Haden and Bill Frisell

  • Petra Haden and Bill Frisell (True North, 2003/Skip, 2004)

Carrie Rodriguez

Kelly Joe Phelps

Loudon Wainwright III

John Scofield

John Scofield/Pat Metheny

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/Steve Tibbetts

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)

Viktor Krauss

Dave Holland

Hank Jones/Dave Holland/Billy Higgins

John Abercrombie

  • Getting There (ECM, 1988)

Joey Baron

Charlie Hunter

T. J. Kirk

  • T. J. Kirk (Warner Bros., 1995)
  • If Four Was One (Warner Bros., 1996)

Marc Johnson

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

Jonah Smith

  • Jonah Smith (Relix, 2006)

Doug Wamble

  • Doug Wamble (Blue Note, 2009)

Dusan Bogdanovic

  • Early to Rise (Palo Alto, 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

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

Pothole

  • Dirty Picnic (Intuition - Songline/Tone Field series, 1997)

Stephen Yerkey

  • Confidence, Man (Heyday, 1994)

Zubot and Dawson

  • Chicken Scratch (True North, 2002)

Laughing Stock

  • Underskin (Poor Me, 2003)

Fred Hersch/Bill Frisell

  • Songs We Know' (Nonesuch, 1998)

Living Daylights

  • Electric Rosary (Liquid City, 2000)

References

  1. ^ Georgievsk, Nenad (2007-10-26). "Lee Townsend: Originality and Feeling". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2008-05-31.
  2. ^ Patterson, Ian (2008-06-02). "All Hat". All About Jazz. Retrieved 2008-06-18.
  3. ^ http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/article.php?id=644 Lee Townsend - AAJ Interview