Oren Bloedow
Encyclopedia
Oren Bloedow is an American
singer, guitar
ist, and composer. He founded the band Elysian Fields
in 1995 with Jennifer Charles
.
His father, Jerry Bloedow, b. 1928, is a playwright, poet and film editor, whose theater, the Hardware Poet's Playhouse, was a fixture in the New York avante-garde scene in the 1950s and early 60s.
Oren's first serious musical affiliations were with Phillip Johnston
, Bobby Previte
and Wayne Horvitz
, all of whom worked with him in Bobby Radcliff
's blues band in the 1980s. With Radcliff, Oren backed up Dr. John
, Otis Rush
and Johnny Copeland
, also Paul Butterfield
shortly before he died. Another close collaboration was with underground guitarist Ron Anderson
, later of San Francisco's The Molecules
. In 1985, a friend of Ron's introduced Oren to 101 Crustaceans, whose leader, Ed Pastorini, is Oren's oldest continuing musical associate, and was later a member of Elysian Fields
. Oren consistently names Ed Pastorini as his favorite musical artist.
He attended New England Conservatory in 1987-88, and on returning, started gigging frequently at the Knitting Factory on Houston St. Previte, Horvitz and Johnston were all playing there, and so were many musicians Oren came to play with, like Samm Bennett, The Jazz Passengers
, Marc Ribot
, Bosho, Gary Lucas
and innumerable others.
It was here in 1990 that Oren met Jennifer, and they began working together soon afterwards. During the nineties, Oren made a couple of solo records for the Knitting Factory label, one featuring Medeski, Martin and Wood, toured and recorded as a member of The Lounge Lizards
for whom he played bass, as well as many other groups and projects.
From the nineties to the present, he continues to be a highly in demand player, having toured, recorded, and/or played with Chocolate Genius, Lizz Wright
, Meshell Ndegeocello, Martha Wainwright
, and Yerba Buena
either on bass or guitar. Besides Oren's solo work, and work with Elysian Fields, he also continues his long-term association with Ed Pastorini and 101 Crustaceans.
Another outlet for Oren's music, and one that also features Jennifer Charles
, is the 'Sephardic Diaspora' project La Mar Enfortuna
, who have played in a variety of prestigious funded-arts environments, including the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków
, where they performed for 20,000 people.
Career highlights for Oren include being named Artist of the Year by Greil Marcus
in 2004, musical directing the Randy Newman
tribute at UCLA's Royce Hall for impresario Hal Willner, performing with Lou Reed
, Emmylou Harris
, Steve Earle
, and once with Bruce Springsteen
at Carnegie Hall.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
singer, guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
ist, and composer. He founded the band Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields (band)
Elysian Fields is a Brooklyn, New York based band founded in 1995 by co-composers Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow . Their music has been sometimes described as "noir rock", due to its sultry, dark and mysterious inflections, be it sonically or lyrically...
in 1995 with Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles is an American singer, musician, composer, and poet. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields.-Biography:...
.
His father, Jerry Bloedow, b. 1928, is a playwright, poet and film editor, whose theater, the Hardware Poet's Playhouse, was a fixture in the New York avante-garde scene in the 1950s and early 60s.
Oren's first serious musical affiliations were with Phillip Johnston
Phillip Johnston
Phillip Johnston is an American avant-garde jazz composer and saxophonist.Johnston first gained notice working on the underground music scene of New York City in the 1980s. Among those he collaborated with are John Zorn, Eugene Chadbourne, Elliott Sharp, Wayne Horvitz, Butch Morris, and The DB's...
, Bobby Previte
Bobby Previte
Robert "Bobby" Previte is a drummer, composer and bandleader. Previte earned a B.A. in Economics at the University at Buffalo, where he also studied percussion. He moved to New York City in 1979, and became active in the city's thriving jazz and experimental music scenes...
and Wayne Horvitz
Wayne Horvitz
Wayne Horvitz is an American composer, keyboardist and record producer.-Biography:Horvitz, a "defiant cross-breeder of genres", has led the groups The President, Pigpen, Zony Mash, and the Four Plus One Ensemble...
, all of whom worked with him in Bobby Radcliff
Bobby Radcliff
Bobby Radcliff is an American blues guitarist and singer.Radcliff was raised in Bethesda, Maryland, where he played in blues clubs after picking up the guitar at the age of 12. He also visited Chicago several times, where he met musicians such as Magic Sam...
's blues band in the 1980s. With Radcliff, Oren backed up Dr. John
Dr. John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack, Jr. , better known by the stage name Dr. John , is an American singer-songwriter, pianist and guitarist, whose music combines blues, pop, jazz as well as Zydeco, boogie woogie and rock and roll.Active as a session musician since the late 1950s, he came to wider...
, Otis Rush
Otis Rush
Otis Rush is a blues musician, singer and guitarist. His distinctive guitar style features a slow burning sound and long bent notes...
and Johnny Copeland
Johnny Copeland
Johnny Copeland was an American Texas blues guitarist and singer.-Career:Born in Haynesville, Louisiana, United States, while Copeland was becoming interested in music, he also pursued boxing, mostly as an avocation, and it is from his days as a boxer that he got his nickname "Clyde." Also as a...
, also Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield
Paul Butterfield was an American blues vocalist and harmonica player, who founded the Paul Butterfield Blues Band in the early 1960s and performed at the original Woodstock Festival...
shortly before he died. Another close collaboration was with underground guitarist Ron Anderson
Ron Anderson (musician)
Ron Anderson is a New York City based internationally known musician and composer. He is known for collaborations with many famous musicians, and has a large catalog of releases and compositions.-Molecules:...
, later of San Francisco's The Molecules
The Molecules
The Molecules or Molecules is a band.Ron Anderson formed the Molecules with Chris Millner and Tom Scandura in 1990, a “hyper-brid” style of music, that combined free improvised noise and notes with tightly arranged angular songs...
. In 1985, a friend of Ron's introduced Oren to 101 Crustaceans, whose leader, Ed Pastorini, is Oren's oldest continuing musical associate, and was later a member of Elysian Fields
Elysian Fields (band)
Elysian Fields is a Brooklyn, New York based band founded in 1995 by co-composers Jennifer Charles and Oren Bloedow . Their music has been sometimes described as "noir rock", due to its sultry, dark and mysterious inflections, be it sonically or lyrically...
. Oren consistently names Ed Pastorini as his favorite musical artist.
He attended New England Conservatory in 1987-88, and on returning, started gigging frequently at the Knitting Factory on Houston St. Previte, Horvitz and Johnston were all playing there, and so were many musicians Oren came to play with, like Samm Bennett, The Jazz Passengers
The Jazz Passengers
The Jazz Passengers are an American jazz group founded in 1987 by saxophonist Roy Nathanson and trombonist Curtis Fowlkes.The band grew out of a partnership between Nathanson and Fowlkes in 1987, after the two had played with John Lurie's band The Lounge Lizards. Other regular members include...
, Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot
Marc Ribot born May 21, 1954) is an American guitarist and composer.His own work has touched on many styles, including no wave, free jazz, and Cuban music. Ribot is also known for collaborating with other musicians, most notably Tom Waits, Elvis Costello, and composer John Zorn.-Biography:Ribot was...
, Bosho, Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas
Gary Lucas is an American guitarist, a Grammy-nominated songwriter, a soundtrack composer for film and television, and an international recording artist with over a dozen solo albums to date. He has been described as "one of the best and most original guitarists in America" ; a "legendary leftfield...
and innumerable others.
It was here in 1990 that Oren met Jennifer, and they began working together soon afterwards. During the nineties, Oren made a couple of solo records for the Knitting Factory label, one featuring Medeski, Martin and Wood, toured and recorded as a member of The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards
The Lounge Lizards are a jazz group formed in 1978 by saxophone player John Lurie.Initially a tongue in cheek "fake jazz" combo, drawing on punk rock and no wave as much as jazz, The Lounge Lizards have since become respected for their creative and distinctive sound.-History:Lounge Lizards were...
for whom he played bass, as well as many other groups and projects.
From the nineties to the present, he continues to be a highly in demand player, having toured, recorded, and/or played with Chocolate Genius, Lizz Wright
Lizz Wright
Lizz Wright is an American jazz/R&B singer and composer.Wright was born in the small town of Hahira in the US state of Georgia; one of three children and the daughter of a minister and the musical director of their Church. She started singing gospel music and playing piano in church as a child,...
, Meshell Ndegeocello, Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright
Martha Wainwright is a Canadian-American folk-rock singer-songwriter. She is the daughter of American folk singer and actor Loudon Wainwright III and Canadian folk singer-songwriter Kate McGarrigle...
, and Yerba Buena
Yerba Buena
Yerba buena is a rambling aromatic herb of western and northwestern North America, ranging from maritime Alaska southwards to Baja California Sur...
either on bass or guitar. Besides Oren's solo work, and work with Elysian Fields, he also continues his long-term association with Ed Pastorini and 101 Crustaceans.
Another outlet for Oren's music, and one that also features Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles
Jennifer Charles is an American singer, musician, composer, and poet. Along with Oren Bloedow, she co-founded the New York band Elysian Fields.-Biography:...
, is the 'Sephardic Diaspora' project La Mar Enfortuna
La Mar Enfortuna (band)
La Mar Enfortuna is the Sephardic side project from the alt rock group Elysian Fields, Oren Bloedow and Jennifer Charles. La Mar Enfortuna is a modern interpretation of lost or forgotten music, mostly of the Sephardim, from the 11th to the 16th century, with songs sung in Ladino, Arabic, Aramaic,...
, who have played in a variety of prestigious funded-arts environments, including the Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków
Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków
The Jewish Culture Festival in Kraków is an annual cultural event organized since 1988 in the once Jewish district of Kazimierz by the Jewish Culture Festival Society headed by Janusz Makuch, a self-described meshugeneh, fascinated with all things Jewish...
, where they performed for 20,000 people.
Career highlights for Oren include being named Artist of the Year by Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus
Greil Marcus is an American author, music journalist and cultural critic. He is notable for producing scholarly and literary essays that place rock music in a much broader framework of culture and politics than is customary in pop music journalism.-Life and career:Marcus was born in San Francisco...
in 2004, musical directing the Randy Newman
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
tribute at UCLA's Royce Hall for impresario Hal Willner, performing with Lou Reed
Lou Reed
Lewis Allan "Lou" Reed is an American rock musician, songwriter, and photographer. He is best known as guitarist, vocalist, and principal songwriter of The Velvet Underground, and for his successful solo career, which has spanned several decades...
, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...
, Steve Earle
Steve Earle
Stephen Fain "Steve" Earle is an American singer-songwriter known for his rock and Texas Country as well as his political views. He is also a producer, author, a political activist, and an actor, and has written and directed a play....
, and once with Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
at Carnegie Hall.
Discography
- Oren Bloedow 1993
- Luckiest Boy in the World 1998
- La Mar Enfortuna 2001, Tzadik RecordsTzadik RecordsTzadik Records is a record label based in New York City specialising in avant-garde and experimental music. The label was established by the eclectic composer and saxophonist John Zorn in 1995; Zorn is the executive producer of all Tzadik releases...
- She Goes with me to a blossom World 2006