Harold Budd | Artist

Harold Budd is an American avant-garde composer and poet born 1936 in Los Angeles, California. Budd was raised in the Mojave Desert and served in the US Army at an early age. Whilst in the Army he played drums in the regimental band alongside fellow recruit the avant-garde saxophonist Albert Ayler. Budd and Ayler would later gig together around the Monterey area. In 1966 he graduated from the University of Southern California with a degree in musical composition then began a teaching career at California Institute of The Arts. Over the period 1972–75 Budd composed four individual works under the collective title "The Pavilion of Dreams". The style of these works was an unusual blend of popular jazz and the avant-garde. In 1976 he resigned as a teacher and began recording his new compositions, produced by British ambient pioneer Brian Eno. Two years later Harold Budd's debut album The Pavilion of Dreams was released. That album along with the others he would undertake with Eno and other collaborators established his trademark atmospheric piano style which he terms "soft pedal". Budd has released 29 studio recordings either as soloist or in collaboration with artists including Eno, Daniel Lanois, John Foxx, and Robin Guthrie from the Cocteau Twins. Standout releases include The Pavilion of Dreams, Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror, The Pearl, The Moon and the Melodies, Translucence/Drift Music, Avalon Sutra/As Long as I Can Hold my Breath, and the soundtrack to the film Mysterious Skin.

Artist Website: myspace.com/haroldbudd

Featured Albums: Harold Budd

Related Artists: Brian Eno, John Foxx, Robin Guthrie, Cocteau Twins