Jeffrey Reid Baker (born 1947) is a

pianist A pianist ( , ) is an individual musician who plays the piano. Since most forms of Western music can make use of the piano, pianists have a wide repertoire and a wide variety of styles to choose from, among them traditional classical music, ja ...

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and Defi ...

arranger In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orches ...

best known for his work as a pioneer in the world of computer recording using

synthesizer A synthesizer (also spelled synthesiser) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis and ...

s and digital instruments in the mid-1980s. He gained national media attention, from major publications such as the

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, Digital Audio, and

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among others, when he produced four cross-over classical albums
Lisztronique (Now Fantastic Liszt)
Rhapsody In Electric Blue, Carmina Burana Synthesized, and Everyone's Favorite Synthesizer Pieces. His work was also featured in both the BMG and Columbia House record clubs in the late 1980s and early 1990s. During the 1990s, Baker went to work for an Atlanta-based corporation and spent several years composing music in all styles ranging from walking tapes to

children's music Children's music or kids' music is music composed and performed for children. In European-influenced contexts this means music, usually songs, written specifically for a juvenile audience. The composers are usually adults. Children's music has hi ...

. His work on a Christmas project led him, in the spring of 1996, to start his own musical production company and

record label A record label, or record company, is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and trademarks, coordinates the produ ...

- JRB Records. Its first release was “A Composer’s Christmas”. And in 1999, Baker released a Rachmaninoff CD containing the Third Piano Concerto in its original 2-Piano form (only recording), and his own arrangement of the Cello Sonata for two-pianos (world premiere). In the year 2000, Baker was asked by the Musicland/Sam Goody chain if he would produce a “Scott Joplin Greatest Hits” album. Since then JRB Records, he has released “Grand Russian Fantasy” and “Fingerbreakers”. And in 2018 released his most recent album “Concrete Jungle”.

References

External links

Official Website

JRB Records - Catalog

JRB on iTunes

JRB on AllMusic
{{DEFAULTSORT:Baker, Jeffrey Reid Living people Date of birth missing (living people) 1940s births 20th-century American composers 20th-century American pianists American male pianists American male composers 21st-century American pianists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American male musicians