Joseph Frederick Brent (born April 6, 1976) is an American

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 ...

, mandolinist, multi-instrumentalist, and

teacher A teacher, also called a schoolteacher or formally an educator, is a person who helps students to acquire knowledge, competence, or virtue, via the practice of teaching. ''Informally'' the role of teacher may be taken on by anyone (e.g. whe ...

. He is known for his performances and arrangements of

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and indie songs, as well as his original compositions with the ensemble

9 Horses 9 Horses is a chamber jazz group from the United States consisting of composer and mandolinist Joseph Brent, violinist Sara Caswell, and bassist Andrew Ryan, originating from New York City. History Brent and bassist Shawn Conley first played tog ...

. He teaches classical mandolin at

Mannes College Mannes School of Music is a music conservatory in The New School, a private research university in New York City. In the fall of 2015, Mannes moved from its previous location on Manhattan's Upper West Side to join the rest of the New School cam ...

. Brent attended the

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

, and studied the mandolin under

Carlo Aonzo Carlo is a given name. It is an Italian form of Charles. It can refer to: *Carlo (name) *Monte Carlo *Carlingford, New South Wales, a suburb in north-west Sydney, New South Wales, Australia *A satirical song written by Dafydd Iwan about Prince Char ...

Savona Savona (; lij, Sann-a ) is a seaport and ''comune'' in the west part of the northern Italy, Italian region of Liguria, capital of the Province of Savona, in the Riviera di Ponente on the Mediterranean Sea. Savona used to be one of the chie ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. He also received instruction from

Barry Mitterhoff Barry Mitterhoff is a musician who plays mandolin. He is a former member of Skyline, Silk City, Bottle Hill, and Hot Tuna. Played with Peter Rowan, Tex Logan and Lamar Greer in The Green Grass Gringos. Mitterhoff is also known as a film score p ...

and

Adam Steffey Adam Steffey (born November 24, 1965) is an American mandolin player, best known for playing in the bluegrass and old-time styles. He spent time as a member of bands such as Alison Krauss & Union Station, Mountain Heart, Lonesome River Band, ...

In addition to his teaching responsibilities, Brent is active as a sideman in several rock, jazz, bluegrass, and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Folk Plus or Fol ...

ensembles, most notably with Regina Spektor, Jewel,

Kishi Bashi Kaoru Ishibashi (born November 4, 1975), who performs as Kishi Bashi, is an American singer, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter currently based in Athens, Georgia. He was a founding member of Jupiter One and, for a few years, was a member of t ...

Gary Smulyan Gary Smulyan (born April 4, 1956) is a jazz musician who plays baritone saxophone. He studied at Hofstra University before working with Woody Herman. He leads a trio with bassist Ray Drummond and drummer Kenny Washington (musician), Kenny Washi ...

, and various artists centered on the

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 ...

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

scene. Brent also records and has performed with symphony orchestras such as the Seattle Symphony,

San Francisco Symphony The San Francisco Symphony (SFS), founded in 1911, is an American orchestra based in San Francisco, California. Since 1980 the orchestra has been resident at the Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall in the city's Hayes Valley neighborhood. The San Fr ...

Chicago Symphony The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

, International Contemporary Ensemble, nunc, and the

New World Symphony New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, ...

Joseph Brent with his 10 string mandolin Kumi

On October 16, 2015, Brent's improvising ensemble

, featuring violinist

Sara Caswell Sara Caswell is an American violinist who has worked with 9 Horses, Esperanza Spalding, and David Krakauer. Career Born into a musical family in Bloomington, Indiana, Caswell studied classical violin with Josef Gingold, but from an early age ...

and bassist Shawn Conley released their debut album '' Perfectest Herald'' on Sunnyside Records, and in 2016 were the winners of the 21CM LAUNCH: Emerging Artists Competition. In 2022 Brent founded

Adhyâropa Records 9 Horses is a chamber jazz group from the United States consisting of composer and mandolinist Joseph Brent, violinist Sara Caswell, and bassist Andrew Ryan, originating from New York City. History Brent and bassist Shawn Conley first played tog ...

along with

bandmate Andrew Ryan. In addition to releasing '' Omegah'' and subsequent material by 9 Horses and its associated members, Adhyâropa has also released albums by

Sam Sadigursky Sam Sadigursky (born April 17, 1979) is a clarinetist, saxophonist, flutist and composer. Biography Early life Sam Sadigursky (born April 17, 1979) was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His parents are both classically trained musicia ...

, Dallas Ugly, and others. Brent has published two books of mandolin pedagogy, ''Scales and Arpeggios for Mandolin'' and ''Orchestral and Chamber Excerpts for Mandolin'', and his book of transcriptions of the lute music of John Dowland for two mandolins, conceived with

Alon Sariel Alon Sariel (born 11 May 1986 in Beersheba, Israel) is an Israeli mandolinist, lutenist and conductor. Early musical education Alon Sariel was born in Beersheba, Israel, the youngest of five siblings. He started playing the mandolin at the age of ...

, was published in 2015 by paladino music.

Customized instruments

In 2008, Brent collaborated with

Nova Scotia Nova Scotia ( ; ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. Nova Scotia is Latin for "New Scotland". Most of the population are native Eng ...

-based

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers o ...

Brian Dean to design a grand concert mandolin he named 'Pähkinä', which is Finnish for 'nut', a reference to the walnut top of the instrument. Among the instrument's many distinctive features are the walnut/maple/spruce wood combination, a zero

fret A fret is any of the thin strips of material, usually metal wire, inserted laterally at specific positions along the neck or fretboard of a stringed instrument. Frets usually extend across the full width of the neck. On some historical instrume ...

, a semi-lute construction with minimal bracing, a built-in tone guard with a sound pressure relief hole cut into the back, and ornate

f-holes A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the v ...

which reach around the sides of the instrument. Dean has since built a 10-string version of this model nicknamed 'Kumí', which is currently Brent's primary acoustic instrument. In 2016,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

-based luthier Adam Buchwald built him a 5-string, fanned fret electric mandolin.

Discography

Solo

* ''Point of Departure'' (2007) * ''Nocturnes and Caprices by David Loeb'' (Vienna Modern Masters) (2011) * ''solo. EP'' (2011) * ''An Englishman In New York'' (2013) with

With 9 Horses

* ''Joe Brent & Sara Caswell EP'' (2013) * ''Perfectest Herald'' (2015) * ''Blood From A Stone EP'' (2019) * ''Omegah'' (2021)

With others

Books

*''Scales and Arpeggios for Mandolin.'' Lulu Publishing. 2007. *''Orchestral and Chamber Excerpts for Mandolin.'' Lulu Publishing. 2007. *''An Englishman in New York: Famous Lute Pieces Arranged for Two Mandolins.'' paladino media gmbh. 2015.paladino media gmbh
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References

External links

Official home page9 Horses
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brent, Joseph Living people Musicians from Queens, New York American jazz composers American folk rock musicians American jazz mandolinists American classical mandolinists People from Flushing, Queens Musicians from Tampa, Florida People from Dutchess County, New York People from Beacon, New York American music educators 1976 births American jazz musicians Chamber jazz musicians American multi-instrumentalists Jewish American classical musicians Jewish violinists American expatriates in Italy American folk musicians American male violinists American jazz violinists Berklee College of Music alumni Jazz musicians from New York (state) Educators from New York City Classical musicians from New York (state) 21st-century American violinists American male jazz composers 21st-century American male musicians 9 Horses members 21st-century American Jews