Hi. I'm Geoff. I write, record, perform and generally produce music. I've been doing it since I was 5 years old, and getting paid to do it since I was 18. I'm originally from New York City and lived there my entire life until this past September, when my (then) pregnant wife and I picked up and moved out west to LA. Now we have a little baby boy who neither of us can get quite enough of.
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I've been composing scores and soundtrack music over the last 10 years or so, including some films, tv commercials, documentaries, radio themes and fundraising videos. I'd, of course, very much like to continue that out here in LA, though that's not the main reason we moved here. I am, I realize, one of, about, a-frak-ing*-
gazillion folks trying to make soundtrack music right now. This is a very competitive time to be "starting out" in this field, but by the same measure, it's a wonderful time to be a part of something that's changing so much with the influx of so many types of music being brought into so many different styles of film and media. It seems like, musically, anything is possible these days, especially if you can find a niche that fits. I'm going along with the philosophy that: As long as you stay honest to what you truly believe your music should sound like, you will be the best "you" there is, as opposed to being a half-assed "someone else".
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I've spent the majority of my adult life so far as a professional gigging/touring/recording drummer (and sometimes mandolinist and/or trumpet/cornet player) and contributing composer/arranger with a bunch of groups, playing almost every little/big/good/bad jazz and rock hole in NYC at one point or another, as well as touring frequently around the US and Europe. Some groups that I've spent extended amounts of time doing this with are: The
Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra (with whom I had the fortune to travel to Japan, as well),
Ori Kaplan (of Balkan Beat Box),
Fire of Space (led by Antibalas' trumpeter Jordan Mclean),
Yuganaut (a collective-run composed & improvised music/multi-media trio),
Balthrop, Alabama (a really big "small-town" band), and
Mansfields (an amazing rock-ish group that doesn't really play much anymore, but we're still working on our debut record that we started back in, like, 2002. When it's done [which actually might not be that far off], it'll be totally awesome.)
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I also played drums with my father, jazz flutist
Herbie Mann, from 1997 until his death in 2003. That was an amazing bonding and musical experience as well as an interesting psychological one... I would imagine not too different from anyone else working under a parent in a (sort of) family business.
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On top of that, I currently lead
The Eternal Buzz Brass Band, which I describe as a "soul-jazz marching chamber orchestra", comprised of many of my close friends from some of those bands previously mentioned. I put it together with the attempt at creating a texturally rich, artistic environment to showcase my compositions and arranging, as well as my drumming, all while being fun and groovy "music for the people", that could perform equally well in parks, parades, festivals or nightclubs. At this point, it has grown to be so much more than the sum of it's parts (pardon the cliché), and is a constant source of personal inspiration and musical joy. The link to that band's page is right down there at the top of my "friends" list. Check it out when you have a second!
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My other musical life has revolved around being a recording engineer/producer/studio owner. I officially opened
DrummerMan Records & Recording Studio in the commercial space below my old apartment in Red Hook, Brooklyn in 2000. It's changed locations and functions a few times, but, throughout, has allowed me to work with some great people/groups/labels like
The National,
Volney Litmus (Stuart Bogie, Antibalas' Tenor Sax Man), Nonesuch Records,
The Ne'er Do Evers (Chris Buckridge, of Carroll Gardens' fame and fortune, leads this awesome group of rock misfits),
The Funkey Monkeys (an awesome kids band led by "Dora the Explorer" theme composer, Josh Sitron), and Daptone Records, among others, as well as giving me a place to create not only my own music, but also to produce some other very fine artists' work.
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DrummerMan Records is currently embarking upon it's latest incarnation. Now in L.A., I've started construction on a new studio, geared specifically towards my own scoring and soundtrack work. I'm building it inside a vintage 1953 Pan American travel trailer and parking it in our driveway, so it'll be separated from our living space, but still close enough to home to see my wife and kid throughout the day... and it also looks super cool. In the meantime, until it's ready, I
am fully functioning and setup in our apartment. It's kind of cool, actually bringing me back to the old days and the feeling of having a 4-track cassette recorder in my bedroom in high school. There's a certain creative intimacy and immediacy to having your all artistic tools right there where you make your nest. It's nice to be reminded of that, and I'm hoping that it translates, somewhat, when that space is only 50 feet away.
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Well, that's about all I've got to say about myself for now. Feel free to contact me for any music you might need, of course. There are more samples of my work on the drummermanrecords.com site, as well as a resume and a (mostly) complete album discography.
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I'm putting some more of my music up there on the right side of this page, under the "
Band Members" section so I don't have to feel like I need to constantly re-cycle the MySpace playlist every time I finish something I like...Enjoy!
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that's right, I said "frak
"-ing
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