David Bagsby
David Bagsby (born September 4, 1960) is an American musician, film maker, photographer and composer born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.[1] His original take on contemporary progressive music lead his work to appear on feature films, including Steve Balderson's Watch Out (2009), based on the novel by Joseph Suglia and starring Matt Riddlehoover. Bagsby has studied under Jazz guitarist Stanley Jordan in St. Louis, Missouri. His music encompasses progressive/symphonic rock, humanly impossible rhythmic hierarchies, translated nature recordings, acoustic guitar works and pieces utilizing perfect tuning systems & Euclidean Space.
David Bagsby | |
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Birth name | David Bagsby |
Born | Tulsa, Oklahoma | September 4, 1960
Genres | Progressive, Experimental, Fusion, Easy Listening |
Occupation(s) | Musician, Songwriter, Producer |
Instruments | Guitar, Synthesizer |
Years active | 1990–present |
Labels | Esotericity |
Associated acts | XEN, The Snap-On Voles, Spastic Ink |
Website | www.bagsby.com/. |
Esotericity Music
Esotericity Music is an ASCAP publisher established in 1990 by David Bagsby.
"When I was growing up, in the mid to late sixties, everything was multi-tracked with backward tapes, but I didn't know that. I would go 'What's this? That's the instrument I want to play.' And it would be some multi-tracked thing by The Beatles."[2]
Good Taste Theatre
Bagsby's Good Taste Theatre has produced many short films, including the YouTube TV show entitled Phantasmagoria.
"If someone asks me what kind of music I do, the best way I could put it is cinematic," Bagsby says. "At worst, people will think of Kenny Loggins and '80s movies, but I'm thinking more of Fantastic Voyage and Planet of the Apes, scores that can stand on their own two balls, even away from the films."[3]
Discography
The Aviary
- Released: 1991
- Format: CD
- Label: Esotericity Music
- Producer: David Bagsby
Early in his career, Bagsby released The Aviary (1991), an album that used conventional instruments to reproduce bird songs captured on digitized field recordings.
"People can basically hear anything from 20 hertz to 20 megahertz. I basically just jump off from there and make clouds of sound that crash into each other."[4]
Xen
- Released: 1995
- Format: CD
- Label: Esotericity Music
- Producer: David Bagsby
Xen (1995) was a collaborative project featuring David Bagsby and keyboardist Kurt Rongey from Underground Railroad.
David Bagsby explained his incorporation with Xen as follows:
"I met Kurt running sound for his prog band The Choice years ago. I found out later that they were interested in having me play guitar for them but the band fell apart and I was playing in a (Gasp!) Country band when this came down. I didn't know how to contact those guys and eventually ran into Kurt again at an Adrian Belew concert a few years later. He invited me to a prog group he was in called Crunchy Frog which also featured Bill Pohl on guitar. In a few months, I was the Lead Singer/Bass Player/Keyboardist for the Frog."[5]
Transphoria
- Released: 1996
- Format: CD
- Label: Esotericity Music
- Producer: David Bagsby
Noted in The New Gibraltar Encyclopedia of Progressive Rock, "Transphoria" (1996) featured symphonic/progressive Art Rock with guest vocalists.[6]
Happy Hour for a Pack of Screaming Monkeys
- Released: 1998
- Format: CD
- Label: Esotericity Music
- Producer: David Bagsby
"Happy Hour for a Pack of Screaming Monkeys" (1998) was a tribute to Raymond Scott to which David Bagsby produced on his label, including performances of David Bagsby's brother Steve Bagsby and Ron Jarzombek of Spastic Ink.
Live in London
- Released: 2002
- Format: CD
- Label: Esotericity Music
- Producer: David Bagsby
In 2002, Progression Magazine] praised Bagsby's collection of Acoustic guitar works, digitally recorded live on tour in the United Kingdom in 2002.[7]
Hallucinographs
- Released: 2006
- Format: CD
- Label: Esotericity Music
- Producer: David Bagsby
David Bagsby explained his 2006 release Hallucinographs as follows:
"(Hallucinographs) is too brash to be Ambient/Trance but not groove oriented enough to be Electronica. Think Jean-Michel Jarre meets Mike Oldfield at an outer space industrial park."[8]