Mocean Worker (pronounced "motion worker") is the recording alias of jazz musician and producer Adam Dorn.
Biography
Philadelphia native Adam Dorn is the son of renowned
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
R'n'B
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly ...
producer
Joel Dorn Joel Dorn (April 7, 1942 – December 17, 2007) was an American jazz and R&B music producer and record label entrepreneur. He worked at Atlantic Records, and later founded the 32 Jazz, Label M, and Hyena Records labels. He called himself "T ...
. He grew up around the jazz and R&B discs his father produced for Atlantic Records in the '60s and '70s. As a 15-year-old, he sent a fan letter to bassist
Marcus Miller
William Henry Marcus Miller Jr. (born June 14, 1959) is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work as a bassist. He has worked with trumpeter Miles Davis, pianist Herbie Hancock, singer Luther Vandros ...
. When Miller responded, inviting Dorn to come by the studio, one visit turned into three years hanging around artists
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1 ...
,
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive P ...
and
Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
. Dorn is a bass player and vocalist. He studied at
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 ...
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 ...
,
.
Dorn adopted the Mocean Worker moniker as a
DJ of
drum 'n' bass
Drum and bass (also written as drum & bass or drum'n'bass and commonly abbreviated as D&B, DnB, or D'n'B) is a genre of electronic dance music characterized by fast breakbeats (typically 165–185 beats per minute) with heavy bass and sub-ba ...
music. The project came about almost by accident, the results of a series of half-serious recording sessions. Since the release of his first album, ''Home Movies from the Brainforest'', the style has varied from a drum 'n' bass sound to a jazz-oriented dance sound that some call Electro-Swing, incorporating elements of
funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the m ...
,
big-band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
and
swing.
Dorn currently resides in Los Angeles after living in New York City for the better part of twenty-five years.
In 2008, Dorn led an eight piece band, which featured some of New York City's most revered soul and funk players. Assembled by Dorn to bring to life the "breakbeat jazz" stylings of the Mocean Worker studio albums, the group gave a series of high-profile performances, including Bumbershoot, Burlington Discover Jazz Festival and a residency at N.Y.C. venue
Nublu.
Dorn's music has been used extensively in TV, advertising and film, including "Tres Tres Chic" in ''The Devil Wears Prada'' and ''The Pink Panther'', "Chick a Boom Boom Boom" in ''Inside Deep Throat'', "Reykjavak" in ''The Namesake'', and "Right Now" in ''Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Elliot Spitzer''. He also scored the Showtime/BBC film documentary about the life of comedian/actor Richard Pryor entitled ''Richard Pryor: Omit the Logic''. Additionally, his song "Intothinair" from the album ''Aural and Hearty'' was featured in the film ''The Bourne Supremacy''.
In early 2014 Dorn and partner Charlie Hunter launched the podcast ''Compared To What'' featuring conversations with a wide variety of people. There has also been a sudden interest in the Japanese market for Mocean Worker's sound. In February 2014 Dorn released an album featuring some new and unreleased material entitled ''It's Pronounced Motion...'' in Japan through the Voil label.
Discography
Albums
* ''Home Movies from the Brainforest'' (released April 7, 1998)
* ''Mixed Emotional Features'' (released February 23, 1999)
* ''Aural & Hearty'' (released September 26, 2000)
* ''
Enter the Mowo!'' (released April 6, 2004)
* ''Cinco de Mowo!'' (released June 26, 2007)
* ''Candygram for Mowo!'' (released September 27, 2011)
* ''It's Pronounced Motion...'' (released April 7, 2014) – Hits compilation featuring three new tracks ("Piano Boogie," "Easy Does It Baby," "The Sky Is Black") and one that would appear on his next album ("Now That's What I'm Talkin' Bout")
* ''Mocean Worker'' (released digitally August 18, 2015, scheduled for physical release February 5, 2016)
* ''The Lost Frame'' (released November 8, 2018)
Singles and EPs
* ''Detonator'' (1998) (features a remix by
DJ Trace
A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...
); one of the CD versions also includes the song "Counts, Dukes & Strays" from ''Mixed Emotional Features'' and two versions of the title track
* ''Diagnosis / Boba Fett'' (1998)
* ''Times of Danger / Heaven @ 12:07'' (1999) (features a remix of "Heaven @ 12:07" by
Technical Itch
Technical may refer to:
* Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle
* Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data
* Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...
); the CD version also includes the song "René M" from ''Mixed Emotional Features''
* ''Intothinair'' (2000) (features remixes by
Joshua Ryan
Joshua Ryan Topolsky (born October 19, 1977) is an American technology journalist. He is also a record producer, and DJ under the stage name Joshua Ryan. Topolsky was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of technology news network ''The Verge'', ...
and
John Selway
John is a common English name and surname:
* John (given name)
* John (surname)
John may also refer to:
New Testament
Works
* Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John
* First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John
* Second E ...
)
* ''Shake Ya Boogie – The Remix EP'' (2009 – Digital release) features remixes by Ursula 1000,
Count de Money
Count (feminine: countess) is a historical title of nobility in certain European countries, varying in relative status, generally of middling rank in the hierarchy of nobility. Pine, L. G. ''Titles: How the King Became His Majesty''. New York: ...
, and
Bill Hamel
Bill Hamel (January 17, 1973 – June 29, 2018) was an American record producer from Orlando, Florida. He was a founding member of American trance group Fatum, and was a two-time Grammy Award nominee.
Bill Hamel was born on January 17, 1973, and ...
.
* ''Shooby Shooby Do Yah! – The Remixes!'' (2012 – Digital release) features remixes by