Ghost Train Orchestra is a

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

-based

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, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

and

chamber ensemble Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numbe ...

led by Boston-based musician Brian Carpenter. The band formed in 2006 when an historic theater in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

commissioned Carpenter as musical director for its 90th year celebration. For the commission, Carpenter transcribed and arranged a set of overlooked music from late 1920s

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

and

Harlem Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street (Manhattan), 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and 110th Street (Manhattan), ...

and formed a

side project In popular music, a side project is a project undertaken by one or more people already known for their involvement in another band. It can also be an artist or a band temporarily switching to a different style. Usually these projects emphasize a ...

from his regular band

Beat Circus Beat Circus is a band from Boston, Massachusetts, US, fronted by the multi-instrumentalist / singer-songwriter Brian Carpenter, who has been its only constant member since its inception. Musical style The band's songs are characterized by lush ...

to perform it. The following year the group started performing under the name Ghost Train Orchestra.

Recordings

The band first recorded in 2009 at

Avatar Studios Power Station at BerkleeNYC, formerly known as Avatar Studios (1996–2017) and Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The bui ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

and released ''Hothouse Stomp'' in 2011 on Accurate Records. The album featured Carpenter's rearrangements and often avant-garde treatments of early jazz from the 1920s and 1930s, drawn from recordings by such artists as Tiny Parham, Charlie Johnson,

Fess Williams Fess Williams ''(né'' Stanley R. Williams; April 10, 1894 – December 17, 1975) was an American jazz musician.''Biography Index, A Cumulative Index to Biographical Material in Books and Magazines, Volume 10: September 1973 — August 1976'', Ne ...

, and

McKinney's Cotton Pickers McKinney's Cotton Pickers were an American jazz band, founded in Detroit, Michigan, United States in 1926, and led by William McKinney, who expanded his Synco Septet to ten players. Cuba Austin took over for McKinney on drums, with the latter bec ...

. GTO's 2013 album, ''Book of Rhapsodies'', featured chamber-jazz works from the 1930s and '40s culled from found

78s A phonograph record (also known as a gramophone record, especially in British English), or simply a record, is an analog sound storage medium in the form of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove. The groove usually starts near ...

and rediscoveries by music historians and collectors such as Mitchell Kaba and

Irwin Chusid Irwin Chusid (born April 22, 1951 in Newark, New Jersey) is a journalist, music historian, radio personality, record producer, and self-described "landmark preservationist". His stated mission has been to "find things on the scrapheap of history tha ...

. The album included compositions by

Raymond Scott Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow; September 10, 1908 – February 8, 1994) was an American composer, band leader, pianist, record producer, and inventor of electronic instruments. Though Scott never scored cartoon soundtracks, his music is ...

Reginald Foresythe Reginald Foresythe (28 May 1907 – 28 December 1958) was a British jazz pianist, arranger, composer, and bandleader. Early life Foresythe was born and died in London. His father was a West African barrister of Sierra Leone Creole descent and h ...

, John Kirby, and

Alec Wilder Alexander Lafayette Chew Wilder (February 16, 1907 – December 24, 1980) was an American composer. Biography Wilder was born in Rochester, New York, United States, to a prominent family; the Wilder Building downtown (at the "Four Corners") ...

. GTO's next album, ''Hot Town'', issued in 2015, contained more arrangements and reimaginings by Carpenter of 1920s and '30s vintage jazz. ''Book of Rhapsodies Vol. II'', issued in 2017, featured more works by Scott, Foresythe, and Wilder. In 2023, GTO collaborated with

Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for almost 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classic ...

on the album ''Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of

Moondog Louis Thomas Hardin (May 26, 1916 – September 8, 1999), known professionally as Moondog, was an American composer, musician, performer, music theoretician, poet and inventor of musical instruments. Largely self-taught as a composer, his ...

''. In April 2024, GTO performed the album's repertoire with Kronos Quartet live at New York's

Town Hall In local government, a city hall, town hall, civic centre (in the UK or Australia), guildhall, or a municipal building (in the Philippines), is the chief administrative building of a city, town, or other municipality. It usually houses ...

, with guest vocals by

David Byrne David Byrne (; born 14 May 1952) is a Scottish-American singer, songwriter, record producer, actor, writer, music theorist, visual artist and filmmaker. He was a founding member and the principal songwriter, lead singer, and guitarist of ...

Karen Mantler Karen Mantler (born 25 April 1966, in New York City, New York (state), New York, United States) is an American jazz pianist, singer, and composer. She is the daughter of Carla Bley and Michael Mantler. Career Her musical debut consisted of contri ...

, and others.

Members

''Note: Personnel has changed from project to project'' * Brian Carpenter – trumpet, harmonica, musical director *

Curtis Hasselbring Curtis Rae Hasselbring (born July 12, 1965,in Fort Wayne, Indiana) is an American jazz trombonist. Hasselbring learned trombone and guitar while young, though he did not play guitar professionally until the 1990s. He studied formally at the New E ...

– trombone * Ron Caswell – tuba *

Andy Laster Andrew Jay Laster (born May 25, 1961 in Bethpage, New York) is an American jazz saxophonist. Laster studied early in his career with Joe Dixon and Dave Burns, both in the 1970s; he lived in Seattle in the early 1980s, where he attended Cornish ...

– alto saxophone *

Matt Bauder Matt Bauder (born 1976) is an American jazz saxophonist, clarinetist and composer. He is the bandleader of the jazz trio Hearing Things, the jazz quintet Day in Pictures, and the modern doo-wop group White Blue Yellow & Clouds. He is a member of t ...

– tenor saxophone, clarinet * Dennis Lichtman – clarinet * Mazz Swift – violin, vocals * Emily Bookwalter – viola * Avi Bortnick – guitar * Brandon Seabrook – guitar, banjo * Michael Bates – double bass *

Chris Lightcap Chris Lightcap is an American double bassist, bass guitarist and composer born in Latrobe, Pennsylvania. Career In addition to his work as a bassist he has led a variety of bands since 2000 and has produced six albums of original music. Lightcap' ...

- double bass, electric bass *

David Cossin David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...

- marimba, percussion * Rob Garcia – drums

Discography

* ''

Hothouse Stomp ''Hothouse Stomp'' is the debut album by Ghost Train Orchestra featuring new arrangements of previously obscure music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem, specifically Tiny Parham, Charlie Johnson, Fess Williams, and McKinney's Cotton Pickers. It ...

'' (2011) - Music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem * ''Book of Rhapsodies'' (2013) - Carpenter's reimagining of chamber jazz from the late 1930s * ''Hot Town'' (2015) - More music from late 1920s Chicago and Harlem, with guest

Colin Stetson Colin Stetson (born March 3, 1975) is a Canadian-American saxophonist, multireedist, and composer based in Montreal. He is best known as a regular collaborator of the indie rock acts Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Bell Orchestre, and Ex Eye. In additio ...

* ''Book of Rhapsodies, Vol. II'' (2017) - More rearrangements of chamber jazz from the late 1930s for orchestra and choir * '' Songs and Symphoniques: The Music of Moondog'' (2023) - Collaboration with

reimagining the music of Louis Hardin aka

References

External links

Homepage of the orchestra
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ghost Train Orchestra Jazz ensembles from New York City Experimental big bands Musical groups established in 2006 Musical groups from Brooklyn