Leon Gruenbaum


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U.S. pianist and keyboards player. Leon Gruenbaum started playing classical piano at the age of 5. During this period he attended classes in piano and clarinet, as well as music theory at the New England Conservatory. In the Summer before high school, he also took jazz lessons at Berklee. Throughout his youth he performed with his brothers in the Dapele Trio, writing arrangements of jazz and pop tunes.

In 1985 he received a BA in Mathematics from Harvard University. He then spent a few years in Baltimore, performing extensively with Rumba Club - a Latin jazz band.

When he moved to New York in 1988, he came up with the idea of the Samchillian, a relativistic keyboard controller, for which he received a patent, and subsequently began recording and performing on it worldwide with such artists as Vernon Reid, James Blood Ulmer and many others.

In addition, over the years he has performed with many world-renowned musicians, such as: Bruce Hornsby, Chaka Khan, Nana Vasconcelos, Cyro Baptista, Burnt Sugar, Rebellum, Corey Glover, Aaron Comess, Jojo Mayer, Micah Gaugh, MCPS, and many others.

He has showcased his music invention with his own various projects: L.E.G. Slurp, Math Camp and most recently with Genes and Machines, a band which features his compositions, vocals and the Samchillian as well. Greg Tate describes their debut recording, Heart Shaped Ass, as a sweet blend of mood, romp and ruckus...quite stochastically Krunk

With Genes and Machines and other projects he has played at the following venerable New York institutions: BAM Cafe, CBGB, Carnegie Hall, Irving Plaza, Lincoln Center, The Stone, Rockwood Music Hall, Tonic, The Cooler, The Knitting Factory, Roulette, Carnegie Hall, and Summer Stage in Central Park.

He also creates soundtracks for several media such as feature movies, spots for television and dance plays.

He writes and performs beautiful compositions for piano.

In 2015 he began a completely free, improvised solo looping project, Creative Apocalypse. In August 2015 he was invited to debut this project at Shapeshifter Lounge in Brooklyn. Creative Apocalypse regularly performs in an internet streaming broadcast, via Periscope.

In early 2016, he will release an EP on vinyl of his abstract music on the Agenda Del Mondo label.

APPEARANCES +


Bob Gaulke
The Humanities Part 1
2023, CDr, MiniAlbum, BobGaulke Productions
Bob Gaulke
The Humanities Part 2
2023, CDr, MiniAlbum, BobGaulke Productions
Bob Gaulke
Strawberry Fields
2023, CDr, MiniAlbum, BobGaulke Productions, ,
Alt-Pop
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber
Angels Over Oakanda
2021, CD, File,
Various
The Record Man (A Tribute To Ron Kane)
2018
Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber
All You Zombies Dig The Luminosity
2017, CD, Album, Avant Groidd Musica,
Pierce Turner
Songs For A Verry Small Orchestra
2012, ,
Folk Rock/Alternative Rock/Classic Rock
Frattura Waltz
Frattura Waltz
2010, 12", EP + CD, EP, Enh, Agenda Del Mondo Records, ,
Experimental
Brian Charette
Missing Floor
2009, CD, Album, Car, Not On Label (Brian Charette Self-Released)
Lunapark*
Upright Acoustic
2009, CD, Album, ATS Records
Yohimbe Brothers
Freedom Now
2007, DVD-V, NTSC, La Huit, ,
Illbient/Funk Metal/Neo Soul
James Blood Ulmer
Bad Blood In The City: The Piety Street Sessions
2007
Shy Child
Noise Won't Stop
2007, CD Slip-Case, ,
Electro/Indie Rock
Graham Haynes
Full Circle
2007, ,
Avant-garde Jazz/Free Jazz/Drum n Bass
Vernon Reid & Masque
Other True Self
2006
Micah*
Everything
2006, ,
RnB/Swing/Future Jazz/Downtempo
Various
Juncture
2004, CD, Comp, Pi Recordings (2), ,
Electro/Experimental/Avant-garde Jazz
Jorge Amorim and Hank Schroy
Orixás
2004, CD, Album, Not On Label,
Various
Juncture: Pre-Master 4/22/04
2004, CDr, Comp, Pi Recordings (2), ,
Electro/Experimental/Avant-garde Jazz
Vernon Reid & Masque
Known Unknown
2004,
Beans
Tomorrow Right Now
2003
James Blood Ulmer
No Escape From The Blues: The Electric Lady Sessions
2003
David Rothenberg
Sudden Music
2002
Yohimbe Brothers
Front End Lifter
2002
Antipop Consortium
Arrhythmia
2002, ,
Hip Hop/Experimental
Joy Askew
The Same Desperado
2000, CD, Not On Label, ,
Folk Rock
Rumba Club
Mamacita
1997, CD, Palmetto Records, Palmetto Records, ,
Fusion
Vernon Reid
Mistaken Identity
1996, CD, ,
Alternative Rock/Experimental/Prog Rock/Hard Rock
Various
Sixty Interpretations Of Sixty Seconds By Sixty Solo Improvisers
2010, CD, APPRISe
Various
State Of The Union 2.001
2001, 3xCD, Album, Comp, Electronic Music Foundation, ,
Spoken Word/Free Jazz/Modern Classical/Avantgarde/Contemporary/Experimental
James Blood Ulmer
Bad Blood In The City: The Piety Street Sessions
2007