Brian Keane (born January 18, 1953) is an American composer, music producer, and guitarist. Keane has been described as "a musician's musician, a composer's composer, and one of the most talented producers of a generation" by Billboard magazine.

Brian Keane
Brian Keane in his home studio in 2018
Brian Keane in his home studio in 2018
Background information
Born (1953-01-18) January 18, 1953 (age 71)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Occupation(s)Composer, music producer, guitarist
Instrument(s)Guitar
Years active1970s–present
Websitebriankeanemusic.com

Keane grew up in Westport, Connecticut, and started his career as a guitarist, eventually touring and recording with several well-known artists, including in a duo with Larry Coryell. Best known as a composer, Keane's first music score for a documentary came in 1980 with Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey, which was nominated for an Academy Award. As the cable television business bloomed in the 1980s, Keane quickly became one of the foremost pioneers in documentary music scoring. By the 1990s The Hollywood Reporter respectfully called him "the John Williams of the documentary".

Keane has worked with every major network, and many multi award-winning filmmakers including Barry Levinson, Ric Burns, Susan Lacy, Henry Hampton, Stephen King, and Thomas Lennon, scoring some of the most memorable documentaries in television history such as the epic Burns history of New York in New York: A Documentary Film, the inspiring story of the 1980 Olympic hockey team in Do You Believe in Miracles? and The Battle Over Citizen Kane. Keane also pioneered a new approach to scoring sports programming with his innovative Emmy winning work for HBO and ESPN, and created the music for the groundbreaking ABC News Turning Point in the early days of prime-time documentaries. In addition, Brian has scored the music to several feature films, his music catalog is licensed by most major entertainment companies, and his music is performed all over the world.

It was a soundtrack release of his score to the 1987 documentary Süleyman the Magnificent that would launch Keane's career as a Grammy winning world music producer. That score revolutionized Middle Eastern music and launched the career of Omar Faruk Tekbilek. Keane would become a leading producer of world music in the 1980s and 1990s after that, working with artists as diverse as Linda Ronstadt, Pete Seeger, Joanie Madden, Taj Mahal, Michael Hedges, Buckwheat Zydeco, Yomo Toro, Cyrus Chestnut, David Darling, John Sebastian, Arlo Guthrie and The Clancy Brothers. Keane won a Grammy Award for his 1998 soundtrack Long Journey Home: The Irish in America with the Chieftains, Van Morrison, and Elvis Costello, among others. He has received several other Grammy nominations as well. Brian produced more than 300 records in his career, 37 of which were Billboard Top Ten charting.

With a career spanning well over 40 years, scoring over 470 film and television shows, garnering six Academy Awards, nine Peabody Awards, and over 70 Emmy Awards (18 of which won Emmys for Best Documentary or Series), as well as numerous other awards, Keane has received four Emmy Awards for music, and 20 Emmy nominations. He is the recipient of the New York Festivals TV & Film Awards Grand Award, and was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame in 2021.

Biography edit

Early life edit

Keane was born January 18, 1953, in Philadelphia. His mother, Winifred Keane, is an avant garde composer, and his father George F. Keane, while being a successful business man, was also an Irish tenor. Keane's brother, Geoffrey Keane, and his sister, Sheila Keane, are both musical as well. Keane grew up in Westport, Connecticut and played his first professional job as a rock n' roll musician when he was still a sixth grader. He studied privately with the late jazz pianist and Juilliard educator John Mehegan, and then with Czech composer Karel Husa at both Ithaca College, and Cornell where he attended school.[1]

Professional career edit

Guitarist edit

 
Brian Keane and Larry Coryell in concert 1983

Keane began his professional career as a guitarist playing in clubs and as a sideman, and eventually became a world-renowned jazz guitarist, performing with many Jazz greats of the 1970s and 1980s, including touring worldwide and recording for several years in a guitar duo with Larry Coryell, and eventually becoming a Blue Note recording artist.[2] Brian played on hundreds of records, commercials and film scores as a guitarist beginning in the 1970s and has performed or recorded as a guitarist with artists as diverse as disco singer Vicki Sue Robinson, entertainer Eartha Kitt, the rock group Wishbone Ash, jazz bassist Eddie Gómez, jazz fusion group Spyro Gyra, flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucía, blues artist Taj Mahal, cajun icon Buckwheat Zydeco, classical clarinetist Richard Stoltzman, jazz saxophonist Marion Meadows, folk legend Pete Seeger, singers Linda Ronstadt, Bobby McFerrin, The Clancy Brothers, John Sebastian, and many others.

Composer and record producer edit

1980s edit

In the late 1970s, still making his living primarily as a guitarist, Keane met film directors Jim Burroughs and Suzanne Bauman, while working in his childhood friend Gary Scovil's recording studio in Norwalk, Connecticut. In 1981, Keane scored his first documentary for them, Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey, which was nominated for an Academy Award for best documentary in 1982.[3][4] That early success led to several more scoring opportunities for Keane in the 1980s, an era where few documentaries were scored with original music. Keane's prominence as a composer rose quickly, even as he continued to tour as a guitarist in a duo with Larry Coryell, and eventually as a solo artist with the release of his first solo CD Snowfalls in 1986.[5] In 1987, Keane's score to the documentary Suleyman the Magnificent, was discovered by German publisher Eckart Rahn who heard the documentary on television, and decided to release a soundtrack CD of Keane's score on his Celestial Harmonies label. The record, among the first to harmonize traditional Middle Eastern music, would form the first of a series of enduring and culturally important collaborations with Middle Eastern musician Omer Faruk Tekbilek,[6] and the success of that CD would eventually lead to Brian becoming a prominent producer of ethnic and New Age recordings, both for Celestial Harmonies and a variety of major record labels.

In 1989, Keane scored the music to Chimps: So Like Us, the HBO Academy Award-nominated and Emmy-winning documentary that helped introduce the public to naturalist Jane Goodall.[7] The film was made by Oscar-winning directors Kirk Simon and Karen Goodman whose New York offices happened to be in the same building, one floor down, from the acclaimed filmmaker Ric Burns. After producing the classic Civil War mini series with his brother Ken Burns in the late 1980s, the highest rated television documentary series in history, Burns went on to work with Keane on the 1990 award-winning documentary Coney Island. Keane has scored every one of Burns' award-winning films ever since, and their ongoing collaborations span three decades. By the end of the 1980s, Keane had already established himself as the leading pioneer in scoring documentary films with The Hollywood Reporter calling him "the John Williams of the documentary".

1990s edit

The early 1990s saw Keane's composing career rise dramatically in stature with the multiple-award-winning General Motors' Playwright's Theatre series for Nederlander television, which ran for four years on A&E, the Emmy- and Columbia Dupont-winning miniseries The Great Depression[8] and The War on Poverty[9] for the prominent film maker Henry Hampton, the highly influential Ric Burns documentary The Donner Party[10][11] which won a Peabody in 1992, and the Emmy- and Peabody-winning film The Battle of the Bulge, for Oscar-winning director Thomas Lennon.[12] Keane scored many award-winning films for the PBS history series American Experience, working with producer Judy Crichton, directors Carl Charlson, Ben Loeterman, Mark Zwonitzer and others. He also scored several award-winning specials for National Geographic working with director Oren Jacoby, and again with the Simon and Goodman picture company. In addition, he was hired by ABC News in the early 1990s to be the composer for the first prime-time, hour-long, news documentary series Turning Point. Working with producers Rudy Bednar and Betsy West, Turning Point would become the first of several news documentary series he scored for ABC News in the 1990s, and the musical approach developed for ABC News has been adopted in many subsequent news documentary series. Because of demand, Keane began hiring orchestrators, many of whom would go on to become successful in their own right like Michael Bacon, Richard Fiocca, Don Grady, Michael Terry and others.

 
Brian Keane Blue Note Records Press Photo 1992

Keane's prominence as a record producer was also rising with the release of the critically acclaimed and commercially successful early 1990s albums: Tibetan Bells: The Empty Mirror for Celestial, Firedance, and Beyond the Sky with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, John Boswell's Festival of the Heart, Celtic Twilight for Hearts of Space, and Song of the Irish Whistle featuring Irish whistler Joanie Madden among others. In 1992, Keane produced the Grammy nominated comedy album You're Good Enough, You're Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like You featuring the comic, turned United States senator, Al Franken. Also in 1992, following the success of Keane's production of jazz saxophonist Nelson Rangell's CD for GRP Records, working with executive producers Dave Wilkes and Danny Weiss, he was signed by the music executive Bruce Lundvall, and became a Blue Note recording artist with his debut release of "Common Planet". However, despite the successful debut of "Common Planet", Brian resigned from his career as a recording artist. By that point, he was the father of young children and already in demand as a record producer and composer. He would let go of his career as a touring guitarist from that point on, but continue to record as a guitarist on records and soundtracks.

By the mid-1990s Keane was firmly established as a leading composer in documentary film, and a prominent producer of ethnic and new-age music simultaneously. The later 1990s brought Keane widespread success as a record producer with over three dozen Billboard charting albums for Windham Hill Records, RCA, Sony, Hearts of Space, and other record labels. Keane produced several successful Windham Hill records including the Billboard chart topping CDs Carols of Christmas, Thanksgiving, and several CDs in the hugely popular Winter Solstice and Summer Solstice series. Keane also signed Sean Harkness (a former guitar student) to a deal with Windham Hill and produced several critically acclaimed ethnic records including: Via Jo and Afrika Wassa for Senegalese artist Vieux Diop, and Este Es Mi Mariachi featuring Linda Ronstadt and Mariachi Cobre. In addition, he became well established in producing prominent Irish artists including several RCA records for the female Irish traditional group Cherish The Ladies, Riverdance fiddling sensation Eileen Ivers, and others. In 1998, Brian collaborated with Chieftains founder Paddy Moloney composing and producing the music for the Disney and PBS joint production Long Journey Home: The Irish in America. The RCA soundtrack, featuring the Chieftains, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, and others, won the Grammy Award for Best Traditional Folk Album in 1999.[13]

 
Brian Keane with Walter Cronkite and Jim Mckay 2003

In 1997, Keane started working with Hollywood agent Bruce Teitell, and scored several feature films including The Vernon Johns Story: Road to Freedom with James Earl Jones; Stephen King's The Night Flier[14] for New Line Cinema, and Illtown for director Nick Gomez. He continued scoring documentaries as well, with the award-winning Burns mini series and Shanachie double CD soundtrack The Way West, Thomas Lennon's Oscar-nominated and Peabody Award-winning The Battle Over Citizen Kane,[15] the award-winning PBS Nova series A Science Odyssey, and more award-winning American Experience documentaries for its new executive producer Margaret Drain. American Experience won Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Non-Fiction Series in both 1998 and 1999. Also in 1999, Brian scored the multiple Emmy-winning Ric Burns series New York: A Documentary Film which, after the World Trade Center attack of September 11, 2001, became among the biggest selling documentary series of its time.[16]

 
Brian Keane and director Ric Burns working on The Way West 1995

In 1996, Keane was asked to score Spirit of the Games, a documentary on the Olympics by Emmy-winning director George Roy for HBO Sports. It began a long relationship with HBO Sports and a very successful run of sports documentaries including the Peabody-winning films Babe Ruth, Ali Frazier: One Nation Divisible, Dare to Compete and Fists of Freedom, which were part of a new series of documentaries entitled Sports of the 20th Century. Keane also scored HBO's Inside the NFL during that period.[17]

2000s edit

By the year 2000, Napster and other downloading entities were beginning to take over record distribution, and several long established record companies went out of business. In the space of just a year, the record producing business that Keane had enjoyed and accumulated over the previous decade and a half collapsed, along with most record companies. He was still among the most widely recognized composers for documentary film however, and by then, he had extended his notoriety to become a leading composer in the world of sports. In addition to continuing to score Emmy-winning documentaries like Ric Burns' Ansel Adams,[18] Bill Moyers' Becoming American: The Chinese Experience collaborating with Chinese musician George Gao, and several more award-winning American Experience episodes for its new executive producer Mark Samels, Keane composed the music to many classic Emmy- and Peabody-winning HBO sports documentaries in the early 2000s. These included Do You Believe in Miracles, Legendary Nights, Picture Perfect, The Curse of the Bambino and Nine Innings From Ground Zero. He worked with producer Ross Greenburg, directors George Roy, Joe Lavine, and other Emmy-winning sports documentarians, and composed a number of Emmy-nominated and Peabody-winning films for ESPN as well such as Kentucky Bluegrass Basketball, The Complete Angler, You Write Better Than You Play, and David Halberstam's Teammates for directors Fritz Mitchell, Johnson McKelvey, Neil Leifer, and others. Brian also scored several documentary specials for CBS Sports including Pistol Pete, for which he won a music Emmy for his collaborative score with Cajun musician Buckwheat Zydeco.

 
Brian Keane at the 2004 Emmy Awards with his son Dylan

In 2001, Keane became the first, and only composer in the history of the Emmys, to sweep all the Emmy nominations for music composition in a single year,[19] and he won Emmys in 2002, 2003, and 2004 for music composition as well. In 2005, he had three more Emmy nominations for music composition, and scored all five Emmy nominated films for best sports documentary that year, including the best documentary Emmy-winning Rhythm in the Rope for ESPN.[20] In 2006, Keane scored Thomas Lennon and Ruby Yang's The Blood of Yingzhou District, which won an Academy Award for Best Documentary: Short Subject.[21] In addition, he scored the Emmy- and Peabody-winning Ric Burns' films Andy Warhol[22] for American Masters and Eugene O'Neil for American Experience.[23] In 2007, Brian received Emmy nominations for his scores to HBO's Barbaro, Mickey Mantle and Johnson McKelvey's Kabul Girls Club.[24] In addition, Keane's compositions were being used in several major feature films, and being adapted for symphony orchestras throughout the world, including the London Symphony Orchestra, The Istanbul State Symphony Orchestra, The Boston Pops Orchestra, and the Colorado Symphony Orchestra.

Keane enjoyed a nonstop series of successes in the entertainment business for over two decades, but by 2008, the era of reality TV, digital media, and multi channel cable television was coming of age. The high end documentary was falling out of favor due to the expense of making them. A 2007 writer's strike crippled the film and television industry, budgets for live musicians were becoming a thing of the past, and the abundance of new cable channels meant smaller budgets and lower standards. Emmy judging was no longer monitored and, although he continued to score Emmy nominated films like Ric Burns' Into the Deep for American Experience, HBO's Joe Louis: A Hero Betrayed, and The Running Rebels of UNLV, as well as the 2011 Academy Award nominated documentary The Warrior of Quigang,[25] Keane decided to work less.

 
Brian Keane at the 2005 Emmy Awards with his son Wylder
2010s edit

In 2012, after scoring Death and the Civil War,[26] which won the Erik Barnauw Award and received an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Non-Fiction Program, Keane got a call from Oscar-winning director Barry Levinson to score the BBC America television series Copper about an Irish policeman, set in 1864 New York.[27] The Levinson Fontana produced series debuted as the highest rated series in the history of BBC America,[28] and garnered Keane another Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Main Title Music. Copper was renewed for a second season in 2013,[27] with the soundtrack, Copper: Original Soundtrack, released via Valley Entertainment.

 
Brian Keane performing with Omar Faruk Tekbilek to a sold-out Carnegie Hall on April 14, 2018

Beginning in 2014, Keane returned to a "semi-retired" schedule. He launched his music library ScoreToPicture.com which was leased to several networks and movie studios. He continued scoring more Emmy award-winning shows for ESPN, including Fritz Mitchell's It's Time, which garnered Keane his 20th Emmy nomination for music, and worked on several other projects including the unusual festival film Enquiring Minds about the history of the National Enquirer, a commission to compose music for the 75th anniversary of the American Ballet Theatre, the joint BBC and PBS special of The Pilgrims, a world music symphony commission resulting in finishing his first symphony A Speck of Time (which was actually mostly written in 1984). He also produced an early music soundtrack to the 1922 Douglas Fairbanks Sr. silent film of Robin Hood, and composed the score to an important film about racism and American history called The Chinese Exclusion Act.[29] In 2018 Keane returned to sports with the 12-hour series Saturdays in the South for ESPN, which won two New York Festival Gold awards. In 2019, he scored a debut feature documentary for the new Disney+ streaming service called One Day At Disney, and Very Ralph, a documentary biopic about Ralph Lauren, which won the New York Festival's Grand Award for its music score.[30] Also in 2019, Brian scored the music to Oliver Sacks: His Own Life,[31] which debuted to sellout crowds at the Telluride and New York Film Festivals in 2019, was the Audience Favorite Award-winner at the Hampton Film Festival and the Sarasota Film Festival, and went on to earn a "100% Fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes from both audiences and critics alike.[32]

Keane also returned to performing on guitar occasionally in 2017 following the death of his one time duo partner Larry Coryell, playing numerous tribute concerts at first, and eventually playing a wide variety of concerts, selling out Carnegie Hall in April 2018 with Omar Faruk Tekbilek, and touring internationally again, after almost 35 years, in 2019.

 
Brian with Ralph and Ricky Lauren at the premier of HBO's Very Ralph
2020s edit

In 2020, Keane helped make a film about his long-time friend and accomplished guitarist Charlie Karp. The documentary features a concert he produced in Charlie's honor, and is called Charlie and Us: The Charlie Karp Story. Keane also scored a critically hailed two-hour PBS special documentary by film maker Gretchen Sorin, working with Ric Burns, called Driving While Black. The film aired about the same time that Oliver Sacks: His Own Life was released, due to the Coronavirus delay, and both soundtracks were released by Valley Entertainment. In 2021, Brian was inducted into the New England Music Hall of Fame.[33] In the same year, he scored a 3-hour documentary, Dante Alighieri and his Divine Comedy, for Italian broadcast, produced by Steeplechase Films. In 2022, Brian scored several sports documentaries for director Fritz Mitchell and ESPN, including Yankees-Dodgers: an Uncivil War with his good friend Roger Ball of The Average White Band, and the seven-part series Southern Hoops: A History of SEC Basketball. In 2023, Brian scored the 3 Generations Holocaust film Here Lived for British director Jane Wells. Brian's music continues to be leased by major entertainment corporations, and played all over the world.

In addition to performing some concerts, Keane continues to work on composing music with his long time engineer Jeff Frez-Albrecht, helping out promising musicians with their music, and occasionally making appearances as a guest lecturer for universities and film festivals. Many of Brian's former employees, interns, and students have gone on to substantial careers of their own.

Personal life edit

Keane's studio is located in his first home in Monroe, CT which he bought in 1985, and converted into a recording studio in 1993. He married Susan St. Louis in 1987, who had a son, Chris Laskowski, born in 1971. They had their first son, Wylder, in 1987 and a second son, Dylan, in 1988. They lived at first in the studio they called "Little Big Feet Studios", after which the family moved to Newtown in 1994. Following his divorce in 2010, Keane commuted to the studio from Newtown for 15 years but eventually moved back in 2009. He has shared his home with actress, theatre producer and former high school classmate Bonnie Housner Erickson since 2015. Although he toured throughout the world in his early career as a guitarist, most of Keane's composing career has taken place at his studio in the woods of Connecticut, near friends that he has known for over sixty years in some cases. In an era where most television and film production took place in New York or Los Angeles, he was able to develop his substantial career simply through the notoriety and emotional power of his music.

Award-winning / nominated films scored By Brian Keane edit

Award Description Title Status Year
Academy Award Best Documentary Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey (PBS) Nomination 1982
Columbia Dupont Award Journalism Against Wind and Tide: A Cuban Odyssey (PBS) Winner 1982
Golden Hugo Award Chicago Film Festival Cuba In the Shadow Of Doubt (PBS) Winner 1983
Cine Golden Eagle Best Documentary Costa Rica: Child in the Wind (PBS) Winner 1984
First Prize San Francisco Film Festival Women of Summer (PBS) Winner 1985
First Prize London Film Festival Suleyman the Magnificent (PBS) Winner 1986
Golden Athena Athens Film Festival Light of the Gods (PBS) Winner 1987
Cine Golden Eagle Documentary Merchants and Masterpieces (PBS) Winner 1988
Ace Award - Pool Hall (A&E) Nomination 1989
Ace Award - 27 Wagons Full of Cotton (A&E) Nomination 1989
Emmy Award Best Documentary Chimps: So Like Us (HBO) Winner 1990
Academy Award Best Documentary: Short Subject Chimps: So Like Us (HBO) Nomination 1990
Ace Award - Clara (A&E) Nomination 1990
Ace Award - Last Act is a Solo (A&E) Winner 1990
Columbia Dupont Award Best Cultural/Artistic Programming Coney Island (PBS) Winner 1991
Ace Award - Avenue Z Afternoon (A&E) Nomination 1991
Erik Barnauw Award Outstanding Historical Documentary Coney Island (PBS) Winner 1992
Ace Award - Paralax Gardens (A&E) Nomination 1992
Peabody Award - The Donner Party (PBS) Winner 1992
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Programming The Great Depression (PBS) Winner 1993
Emmy Award Best Historical Programming The Great Depression (PBS) Winner 1993
Emmy Award Best scientific Programming National Geographic Explorer (TBS) Winner 1994
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Programming America's War On Poverty (PBS) Winner 1994
Columbia Dupont Award Best News Documentary Series Turning Point (ABC) Winner 1995
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Mini Series The Way West (PBS) Winner 1995
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Programming Battle of the Bulge (PBS) Winner 1995
Emmy Award Best Historical Programming Battle of the Bulge (PBS) Nomination 1995
Peadbody Award - Battle of the Bulge (PBS) Winner 1995
Columbia Dupont Award Best Scientific Programming Buckminster Fuller (PBS) Winner 1996
Emmy Award Best Scientific Programming Buckminster Fuller (PBS) Nomination 1996
Emmy Award Best Cultural or Artistic Programming The Battle Over Citizen Kane (PBS) Winner 1996
Academy Award Best Documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane (PBS) Nomination 1996
Columbia Dupont Award Best Cultural or Artistic Programming The Battle Over Citizen Kane (PBS) Winner 1996
Peabody Award - The Battle Over Citizen Kane (PBS) Winner 1996
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Programming Murder of the Century (PBS) Winner 1996
Ace Award - Spirit of the Games (HBO) Winner 1996
Columbia Dupont Award Best Documentary Series Turning Point (ABC) Winner 1996
Erik Barnauw Award Outstanding Historical Documentary America's War on Poverty (PBS) Winner 1996
Ace Award - Inside The NFL (HBO) Winner 1997
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Programming New York Underground (PBS) Winner 1997
Fangoria Awards - Stephen King's Night Flier (New Line) Winner 1998
Ace Awards - Inside The NFL (HBO) Winner 1998
Emmy Award Best Historical Programming Long Journey Home (Disney/PBS) Nomination 1998
Columbia Dupont Award Best Scientific Series A Science Odyssey (PBS) Winner 1998
Sundance Film Festival Jury Award Illtown (Shooting Gallery) Winner 1998
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Babe Ruth (HBO) Nomination 1998
Peabody Award - Babe Ruth (HBO) Winner 1998
Emmy Award Outstanding non-fiction series American Experience (PBS) Winner 1998
Peabody Award - Dare To Compete (HBO) Winner 1999
Peabody Awards - Fists of Freedom (HBO) Winner 1999
Emmy Award Outstanding non-fiction series American Experience (PBS) Winner 1999
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Fists of Freedom (HBO) Winner 1999
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Bill Russell (HBO) Nomination 2000
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary When It Was A Game (HBO) Winner 2000
Peadbody Award - Ali/Frazier (HBO) Winner 2000
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Ali/Frazier (HBO) nomination 2000
Emmy Award Outstanding Achievement in Non - fiction Programming New York: A Documentary Film (PBS) Winner 2000
Emmy Award Best Documentary Do You Believe In Miracles? (HBO) Winner 2001
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Do You Believe In Miracles? (HBO) Nomination 2001
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Pistol Pete (CBS) Winner 2001
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Shot Heard 'Round The World (HBO) Nomination 2001
Columbia Dupont Award Best Historical Programming New York: A Documentary Film (PBS) Winner 2002
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Picture Perfect (HBO) Winner 2002
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary The Bear (CBS) Nomination 2002
Emmy Award Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming Ansel Adams (PBS) Winner 2002
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Life Behind the Lens (ESPN) Nomination 2003
Peadbody Award - The Complete Angler (ESPN) Winner 2003
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Bluegrass Basketball (ESPN) Nomination 2003
Emmy Award Best sports Documentary Bluegrass Basketball (ESPN) Nomination 2003
Emmy Award Best sports Documentary The Teammates (ESPN) Nomination 2003
Emmy Award Best Music Composition The Teammates (ESPN) Nomination 2003
Emmy Best Music and Sound New York: The Center of the World (PBS) Nomination 2003
Emmy Award Best Historical Programming:Long Form New York: The Center of the World (PBS) Winner 2003
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Jim McKay: My World in My Words (HBO) Nomination 2003
Emmy Award Best Edited Sports Series Legendary Nights (HBO) Winner 2003
Emmy Award Best Documentary Curse of the Bambino (HBO) Winner 2003
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Curse of the Bambino (HBO) Winner 2003
Emmy Award Best sports Documentary Jim McKay: My World in My Words (HBO) Nomination 2003
Emmy Award Best Sports Entertainment Program On the Record (HBO) Winner 2004
Emmy Award Best Documentary Mini Series NYPD 24/7 (ABC) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Best Documentary Hitler's Pawn (HBO) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Hitler's Pawn (HBO) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Sports Illustrated 50 Years (ESPN) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Nine Inning From Ground Zero (HBO) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Nine Innings From Ground Zero (HBO) Winner 2004
Emmy Award Best Non Fiction Mini Series Becoming American: The Chinese Experience (PBS) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Historical programming: Long Form Becoming American : Gold Mountain Dreams (PBS) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Historical programming: Long Form Becoming American : Between Two Worlds (PBS) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Historical programming: Long Form Becoming American : No Turning Back (PBS) Nomination 2004
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Mickey Mantle (HBO) Nomination 2005
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Mickey Mantle (HBO) Nomination 2005
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary The Perfect Upset (HBO) Nomination 2005
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary You Write Better Than You Play (ESPN) Nomination 2005
Emmy Award Best Music Composition You Write Better Than You Play (ESPN) Nomination 2005
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Dare To Dream (HBO) Nomination 2005
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Rhythm in the Rope (ESPN) Winner 2005
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Rhythm in the Rope (ESPN) Nomination 2005
Academy Award Best Documentary: Short Subject Blood of Yingzhou District (HBO) Winner 2006
Emmy Award Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming Eugene O'Neill (PBS) Winner 2006
IDA Award Best Series The Supreme Court (PBS) Winner 2006
Peabody Award - Andy Warhol (PBS) Winner 2006
Emmy Award Outstanding Cultural and Artistic Programming Andy Warhol (PBS) Winner 2006
Cine Golden Eagle Best Music Composition America's Lost Landscape: The Tall Grass Prairie (PBS) Winner 2006
Cine Golden Eagle Best Documentary America's Lost Landscape: The Tall Grass Prairie (PBS) Winner 2006
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Barbaro (HBO) Nomination 2007
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Kabul Girls Club (ESPN) Nomination 2007
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary Wait Till Next Year (HBO) Nomination 2007
Emmy Award Best Documentary Joe Louis: America's Hero Betrayed (HBO) Nomination 2008
Emmy Award Best Non Fiction Program Into the Deep (PBS) Nomination 2010
Academy Award Best Documentary - Short Subject The Warrior of Qiugang (Theatrical) Nomination 2011
Emmy Award Best Documentary Running Rebels Of UNLV Nomination 2012
Erik Barnauw Award Outstanding Historical Documentary Death and the Civil War (PBS) Winner 2013
Emmy Award Best Documentary Death and the Civil War (PBS) Nomination 2013
Emmy Award Best Music Composition Copper - Main Titles (BBC America) Nomination 2013
Emmy Award Best Music Composition It's Time (SEC /ESPN) Nomination 2015
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary It's Time (SEC /ESPN) Nomination 2015
Emmy Award Best Sports Documentary 30 For 30 (ESPN) Winner 2015
New York Festival Awards Grand Award - Music Very Ralph (HBO) Winner 2020
New York Festival Awards Gold Award - Music Very Ralph (HBO) Winner 2020
New York Festival Awards Gold Award - Documentary: History & Society Saturdays In The South (ESPN) Winner 2020
New York Festival Awards Gold Award - Sports Documentary Saturdays In The South (ESPN) Winner 2020

Emmy Awards (composer) edit

Award Type Status Work Year Role
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Babe Ruth (HBO) 1998 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Bill Russell (HBO) 2000 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Do You Believe In Miracles? (HBO) 2001 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Winner Pistol Pete (CBS) 2001 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Shot Heard 'Round The World (HBO) 2001 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Winner Picture Perfect (HBO) 2002 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Bluegrass Basketball (ESPN) 2003 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated The Teammates (ESPN) 2003 Composer
Emmy, Best Music and Sound Nominated New York The Center of the World (PBS) 2003 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Jim McKay: My World in My Words (HBO) 2003 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Winner Curse of the Bambino (HBO) 2003 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Hitler's Pawn (HBO) 2004 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Winner Nine Innings From Ground Zero (HBO) 2004 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Rhythm in the Rope (ESPN) 2005 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated You Write Better Than You Play (ESPN) 2005 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Mickey Mantle (HBO) 2005 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Girl's Club of Kabul (ESPN) 2007 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Barbaro (HBO) 2007 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated Copper - Main Titles (BBC America) 2013 Composer
Emmy, Best Music Composition Nominated It's Time (SEC /ESPN) 2013 Composer

Grammy Awards (music producer) edit

Award Type Status Work Year Role
Grammy Awards, Best Folk or Traditional Album Nominated Fire Dance (Celestial Harmonies) 1990 Composer/Producer
Grammy Awards, Best Folk or Traditional Album Nominated Beyond The Sky (Celestial Harmonies) 1992 Composer/Producer
Grammy Awards, Best Comedy Album Nominated "You're Good Enough..." (BMG /Bantam Audio) 1992 Composer/Producer
Grammy Awards, Best Folk or Traditional Album Winner Long Journey Home Soundtrack (RCA) 1998 Composer/Producer

Soundtrack releases edit

Year Title Label Notes
1987 Suleyman The Magnificent Celestial Harmonies Billboard Charting
1992 You're Good Enough... BMG /Bantam Audio Grammy Nominee
1995 The Way West Shanachie Indie Award
1998 Long Journey Home: The Irish In America RCA Grammy Winner, Billboard Charting
1998 Stephen Kings: The Night Flier RCA Fangoria Award
1999 New York RCA Billboard Charting
2002 Ansel Adams Green Linnet Billboard Charting
2005 The War That Made America Valley Entertainment
2006 Andy Warhol: A Documentary Film Valley Entertainment
2009 Kelebek Celestial Harmonies
2011 Into The Deep Valley Entertainment
2012 Death And The Civil War Valley Entertainment
2013 Copper: Original Soundtrack Valley Entertainment
2020 Oliver Sacks: His Own Life Valley Entertainment
2020 Driving While Black: Original Soundtrack Valley Entertainment

Select discography (music producer) edit

Year Title Record Label Notes Artists
1982 At The Airport WEA - Larry Coryell, Brian Keane
1983 Just Like Being Born Flying Fish - Larry Coryell, Brian Keane
1986 Snowfalls Flying Fish Billboard Top 20 New Age Charts Brian Keane
1988 Boléro Evidence - Larry Coryell, Brian Keane
1989 Tibetan Bells 3: The Empty Mirror Celestial Harmonies Top 20 Billboard New Age Charts Henry Wolff, Nancy Hennings
1990 Fire Dance Celestial Harmonies Grammy Nominated, Top 20 Billboard New Age Charts Brian Keane, Omar Faruk Tekbilek
1991 Yamantaka Celestial Harmonies - Mickey Hart, Henry Wolff, Nancy Hennings
1991 Nelson Rangell GRP Billboard Top 20 Contemporary Jazz Charts Nelson Rangell
1992 Mariachi Cobre Celestial Harmonies Top 20 Billboard World Charts Mariachi Cobre
1992 Beyond The Sky Celestial Harmonies Grammy Nominated, Echoes "Record Of The Year", Top 20 Billboard New Age Charts Brian Keane, Omar Faruk Tekbilek
1992 Common Planet Blue Note Billboard Top 20 Contemporary Jazz Charts Brian Keane
1992 Festival Of The Heart Hearts of Space Records Billboard Top 20 New Age Charts John Boswell
1993 Count Me In Hearts of Space Records Billboard Top 20 New Age Charts John Boswell
1993 Khenany Celestial Harmonies - Khenany
1994 Whirling Celestial Harmonies Top 20 Billboard New Age Charts Omar Faruk Tekbilek
1994 Celtic Twilight Hearts of Space Records Billboard's "New Age Album Of The Year", #1 Billboard New Age Charts Various
1995 VIa Jo Triloka/Polygram #1 On World Music Charts In Europe Vieux Diop
1995 Este Es Mi Mariachi Celestial Harmonies /Kuckuck Top 20 Billboard World Charts Linda Ronstadt, Mariachi Cobre
1995 Song Of The Irish Whistle Hearts O' Space Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Joanie Madden
1995 Celtic Twilight 2 Hearts O' Space Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Nightnoise, Bill Douglas, John Doan, Alasdair Fraser & Paul Machlis, Kevin Braheny & Tim Clark, Steve McDonald, Mychael Danna, Joanie Madden, Loreena McKennitt, Talitha MacKenzie
1996 Closer To Far Away Windham Hill Billboard Top 20 New Age Charts Douglass Spotted Eagle
1996 Mystical Garden Celestial Harmonies Top 20 Billboard World Charts Omar Faruk Tekbilek
1996 Carols Of Christmas Windham Hill/BMG Billboard #1 On New Age Charts George Winston, Michael Hedges, Steve Morse, David Darling, Ray Lynch, Richard Stoltzman, Marion Meadows, Jim Brickman, Manuel Barrueco
1997 Summer Solstice Windham Hill/BMG Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts For 4 Months George Winston, Michael Hedges, William Ackerman, Liz Story, Keola Beamer, Sean Harkness
1997 Celtic Twilight 4: Celtic Planet Hearts O' Space Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Davy Spillane, Bill Douglas, Carlos Núñez, John Doan, Mychael Danna, Joanie Madden, Anúna, Aoife Ní Fhearraigh
1997 Winters Solstice VI Windham Hill/BMG Billboard #1 New Age Charts George Winston, Michael Hedges
1997 Crescent Moon Celestial Harmonies - Omar Faruk Tekbilek
1997 Conversations with God Windham Hill Billboard #1 New Age Charts Ray Lynch, Gabrielle Roth and The Mirror, Jim Brickman, David Arkenstone, Yanni, Shadowfax, Patrick O'Hearn, Mark Isham
1998 Long Journey Home Unisphere/RCA Victor/BMG Grammy Award Winner: Best Folk / Traditional Album. Billboard Top 10 World Music Charts Various, The Chieftains, Van Morrison, Elvis Costello, Sinéad O'Connor, Mary Black, Sissel Kyrkjebø, Vince Gill,
1998 Threads of Time RCA Top 20 Billboard World Charts Cherish the Ladies
1998 The Renaissance Album Windham Hill/BMG - Various, Nancy Wilson, Ann Wilson, The Baltimore Consort, Angels of Venice, John Doan
1998 Summer Solstice 2 Windham Hill/BMG Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Buckwheat Zydeco, Taj Mahal, Ladysmith Black Mambazo, Tuck & Patti, Earl Klugh, W.G. Snuffy Walden,
1998 Thanksgiving Windham Hill/BMG Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Paul Winter, George Winston, Carlos Nakai, Paul McCandless, Michael Manring, Philip Aaberg, John Sebastian
1998 Song Of The Irish Whistle 2 Hearts O' Space Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Joanie Madden
1998 Sanctuary Windham Hill Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Jim Brickman, William Ackerman, Tracy Silverman, Michael Hedges, Michael Manring, Liz Story, Alex De Grassi, William Edward Childs, Douglas Spotted Eagle, Metamora
1999 Here There Everywhere Windham Hill Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts W. G. Snuffy Walden, Tuck & Patti, Wayne Johnson, Liz Story, Michael Hedges, George Winston, Doyle Dykes, Angels of Venice
1999 Winter Solstice On Ice Windham Hill Billboard #1 New Age Charts W. G. Snuffy Walden, Peabo Bryson, Mark Snow, Jim Brickman, George Winston, Janis Ian, Michael Hedges, Roberta Flack, Jeffrey Osborne, The Rippingtons, Yani, Mark Isham
1999 Song Of The Hills Shanachie - John Sebastian, Bill Keith, Jay Ungar, Eric Weissberg, Norman Blake, Tony Trischka
1999 Crossing The Bridge Sony Billboard Top 10 On The World Music Charts Eileen Ivers, Al Di Meola, Steve Gadd, Randy Brecker, Bakithi Kumalo, Séamus Egan,
1999 Sundance Summer Solstice Windham Hill/BMG Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts George Winston, Will Ackerman, Jim Brickman, Jay Beckenstein, Angels of Venice, Phil Aaeberg, Paul McCandless, Michael Nanring, David Arkenstone
1999 Celtic Twilight 5 Hearts O' Space Billboard Top 10 New Age Charts Méav Ní Mhaolchatha, Bill Douglas, Jeff Danna, John Doan, Mychael Danna, Joanie Madden, Jeff Johnson
1999 At Home RCA Billboard Top 10 World Charts Cherish The Ladies
2000 Afrika Wassa Sony/Triloka Top 20 Billboard World Charts Vieux Diop
2000 The Girls Won't Leave The Boys Alone RCA Top 20 Billboard World Charts Cherish the Ladies, Pete Seeger, Liam Clancy, Arlo Guthrie

References edit

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External links edit