Graham Reynolds
Encyclopedia
Graham Reynolds Austin, Texas based, Composer-bandleader Graham Reynolds creates, performs, and records music for film, theater, dance, rock clubs and concert halls with collaborators ranging from Richard Linklater to DJ Spooky to the Austin Symphony Orchestra. As bandleader of the jazz-based but far reaching Golden Arm Trio, Reynolds has repeatedly toured the country and released three critically acclaimed albums. As Co-Artistic Director of Golden Hornet Project with Peter Stopschinski, Reynolds has produced more than fifty concerts of world-premier alt-classical music by more than sixty composers, as well as five symphonies, two concertos and countless chamber pieces of his own. Reynolds music has been heard through-out the world on TV, on stage, in films, and on radio, from HBO to Showtime, Cannes Film Festival to the Kennedy Center, and BBC to NPR. His score to the 2006 Robert Downey, Jr. feature "A Scanner Darkly". was named Best Soundtrack of the Decade by Cinema Retro magazine. His awards include the Lowe Music Theater Award, four Austin Critic’s Table awards, an Amp Award, five Austin Chronicle Best Composer wins, a B. Iden Payne Award. Meet the Composer and Map grants, as well as support from the National Endowment for the Arts for several projects. 2011 sees twin CD releases on Innova Records, the label branch of the American Composers Forum, of “Three Portraits of Duke Ellington”, a triptych of band, strings, and remixes in tribute to and inspired by the seminal composer-bandleader, and “The Difference Engine”, a triple concerto for violin, cello, piano, and string orchestra.
Golden Arm Trio
Reynolds’ regular performance and recording vehicle, Golden Arm TrioGolden Arm Trio
Golden Arm Trio is the performance and recording vehicle of Graham Reynolds, a composer, bandleader, pianist and drummer based in Austin, Texas who works constantly in theater, dance, film, concert halls, and nightclubs...
, is a band in name only, with Reynolds the sole constant member. The Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
based band has performed throughout the US, released three CDs in addition to the soundtrack to the Warner Brothers’ film A Scanner Darkly
A Scanner Darkly
A Scanner Darkly is a BSFA Award winning 1977 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994...
.
Golden Hornet Project
Along with fellow composer Peter Stopschinski, Reynolds is Co-Artistic Director of Golden Hornet Project, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organizationNon-profit organization
Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...
the commissions, presents and records new music. This is Reynolds primary outlet for composed music in which he is not the performer. The organization produces between four and six concerts a year.
Compositions
Reynolds prolific output includes five symphonies, two operas, string quartets, and countless chamber music pieces, in addition to the work with Golden Arm Trio and in film, dance, and theater.Film
Of Reynolds' many film scores, the soundtrack to Richard Linklater's A Scanner DarklyA Scanner Darkly
A Scanner Darkly is a BSFA Award winning 1977 science fiction novel by American writer Philip K. Dick. The semi-autobiographical story is set in a dystopian Orange County, California, in the then-future of June 1994...
is the most prominent. The 2006 Warner Brothers release featured Keanu Reeves
Keanu Reeves
Keanu Charles Reeves is a Canadian actor. Reeves is perhaps best known for his roles in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Speed, Point Break and the science fiction-action trilogy The Matrix...
, Robert Downey Jr.
Robert Downey Jr.
Robert John Downey, Jr. is an American actor. Downey made his screen debut in 1970 at the age of five when he appeared in his father's film Pound, and has worked consistently in film and television ever since. During the 1980s he had roles in a series of coming of age films associated with the...
and Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder
Winona Ryder is an American actress. She made her film debut in the 1986 film Lucas. Ryder's first significant role came in Tim Burton's Beetlejuice as a goth teenager, which won her critical and commercial recognition...
. The soundtrack was released by Lakeshore Records.
Other features have included The Journeyman, Moonlight by the Sea, All About Tesla, Gretchen
Gretchen
Maria Odete Brito de Miranda, known as Gretchen is a Brazilian singer. She became notorious as the Rainha do Bumbum in the late 1970s...
, I'll Come Running, and others.
Syndicated radio-show host and documentary filmmaker Alex Jones
Alex Jones
Alex or Alexander Jones may refer to:*Alex Jones , U.S. radio host and filmmaker*Alex Jones , Major League Baseball pitcher from 1889 to 1903...
has become Reynolds' most frequent film collaborator. Live film-collage artist Luke Savisky is another frequent collaborator. The multi-projectionist has been a featured artist at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and tours regularly.
Theater
Reynolds composes regularly for theater and is a member of two theater companies, Rude Mechs and Salvage Vanguard Theater. Rude Mechs are an internationally known experimental theater company that has toured throughout the United States and in Europe. Salvage Vanguard was the birthplace of the live sci-fi radio serial The Intergalactic Nemesis, which is now touring nationally; plans are under way to premiere Off-BroadwayOff-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
.
Evel Knievel vs. Godzilla: Soundtrack to the Play Stadium Devildare was released on CD in 2004. More of Reynolds’ theater music is featured on Golden Arm Trio albums.
Dance
Reynolds has composed for dance throughout his career, most recently completing a concert length ballet with Ballet AustinBallet Austin
Ballet Austin is one of the largest classical ballet academies in the country. Each year the Ballet Austin company performs ballets from a wide variety of choreographers, including Stephen Mills....
called Cult of Color: Call to Color with choreographer Stephen Mills
Stephen Mills
Under the artistic leadership of Stephen Mills, Ballet Austin has emerged as one of the nation's premiere developing ballet organizations. In his inaugural season as artistic director he attracted attention from around the United States with his world-premiere production of Hamlet, hailed in Dance...
and visual artist Trenton Doyle Hancock
Trenton Doyle Hancock
Trenton Doyle Hancock is an American artist. He was born in 1974 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and grew up in Paris, Texas.Hancock received a BFA from Texas A&M University, and an MFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, Philadelphia...
. Other dance collaborators have included choreographers Yakov Sharir, Andrea Ariel, Ellen Bartel, Margery Segal, and others.
The full score to Cult of Color was released on CD and online in April 2008, and music from other dance pieces are featured on Golden Arm Trio’s Why the Sea is Salt and The Tick-Tock Club.
He also collaborated with Ballet Austin
Ballet Austin
Ballet Austin is one of the largest classical ballet academies in the country. Each year the Ballet Austin company performs ballets from a wide variety of choreographers, including Stephen Mills....
in 2010 for "The Bach Project" and will be working with Mills on "The Mozart Project" which will premiere in Fall 2011 at the beginning of their 2011-2012 season. Graham will select Mozart pieces to abstract and recreate in his own vision. The score will be for amplified and effected violin and cello.
Miscellaneous
Reynolds is a vegan and does not smoke. He has only recently learned the pleasures of drink.Christina Marrs of Asylum Street Spankers
Asylum Street Spankers
The Asylum Street Spankers, formed in Austin, Texas in 1994, was a band whose music was rooted in early 20th century American musical forms. In fall 2006, the band's anti-war satire video "Stick Magnetic Ribbons on Your SUV", directed by Morgan Higby Night garnered 1,054,743 views on YouTube within...
is now collaborating with Reynolds.
As a free-lance writer, he scripts feature articles and book reviews for the Austin Chronicle
Austin Chronicle
The Austin Chronicle is an alternative weekly, tabloid-style newspaper published every Thursday in Austin, Texas, United States. The paper is distributed through free news-stands, often at local eateries or coffee houses frequented by its targeted demographic...
.
Reynolds teaches music theory
Music theory
Music theory is the study of how music works. It examines the language and notation of music. It seeks to identify patterns and structures in composers' techniques across or within genres, styles, or historical periods...
and composition
Musical composition
Musical composition can refer to an original piece of music, the structure of a musical piece, or the process of creating a new piece of music. People who practice composition are called composers.- Musical compositions :...
at the Austin Chamber Music Center.