Harold Budd facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Harold Budd
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| Birth name | Harold Montgomory Budd |
| Born | May 24, 1936 Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Died | December 8, 2020 (aged 84) Arcadia, California, U.S. |
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| Years active | 1962–2020 |
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Harold Montgomory Budd (born May 24, 1936 – died December 8, 2020) was an American composer and poet. He was born in Los Angeles, California. He grew up in the Mojave Desert area.
Harold Budd became a well-known composer in the late 1960s. He was part of the minimalist and avant-garde music scene. Later, he became famous for working with artists like Brian Eno and Robin Guthrie. Budd created a special way of playing the piano. He called it the "soft pedal" technique. This involved playing slowly and letting the notes ring out for a long time.
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Early Life and Music Beginnings
Harold Budd was born in Los Angeles, California. He spent his childhood in Victorville, California. This town is on the edge of the Mojave Desert.
When Harold was 13, his father passed away. His family faced financial challenges. He often stayed with friends and relatives in the desert. But in Los Angeles, he had to grow up quickly. As the oldest son, he took on many responsibilities. During his teenage years, he loved jazz music. He especially enjoyed a style called bebop. He often played drums in jazz clubs in South Central Los Angeles.
He joined the army and played drums in the regimental band. Another famous jazz musician, Albert Ayler, was also in the band. Budd played gigs with him in the Monterey area. His time in the army made him want to get a good education.
Education and Early Compositions
Budd went to Los Angeles High School but did not finish. He worked many different jobs. These included being a cowboy and a mailman. At age 21, he briefly moved to San Francisco. There, he worked at a store called Gump's.
He soon returned to Los Angeles. He started studying architecture at Los Angeles City College. But he switched to music, studying harmony and counterpoint. A teacher noticed his musical talent. This teacher encouraged him to compose music. He also started going to concerts by artists like Chet Baker. He said that from then on, he had a huge interest in music.
Harold Budd began his career as a composer in 1962. He quickly became known in the local avant-garde music scene. He studied music at California State University, Northridge. His teachers included Gerald Strang and Aurelio de la Vega. He then went to the University of Southern California. He studied with Ingolf Dahl and graduated in 1966. During this time, Budd created drone music. This style was influenced by composers like John Cage and Morton Feldman. He also found inspiration from the painter Mark Rothko.
After finishing his degree in 1969, Budd became a teacher. He taught at the California Institute for the Arts. In 1970, he released his first piece. It was called The Oak of the Golden Dreams. He recorded it using an early Buchla modular synthesizer.
Later, he moved to London. He decided to stop composing for a while. He felt that the academic music world was too complicated. In London, he found new musical friends. These included Brian Eno, Gavin Bryars, and members of the Cocteau Twins.
In 2004, Budd and his wife moved to Monument House in Joshua Tree.
Becoming a Recording Artist
In 1972, Harold Budd started composing again. He was still teaching at the California Institute for the Arts. From 1972 to 1975, he created four works. They were all part of a collection called The Pavilion of Dreams. These pieces mixed popular jazz with avant-garde styles.
His 1972 work, Madrigals of the Rose Angel, was sent to English composer Gavin Bryars. Bryars shared it with Brian Eno. Eno contacted Budd and invited him to London. There, Budd recorded music for Eno's Obscure Records label.
Budd left his teaching job in 1976. He began recording his new music. Brian Eno produced these recordings. In 1978, Harold Budd's first album was released. It was called The Pavilion of Dreams. The first time this music was performed live was in a church in California. Daniel Lentz conducted the performance.
Working with Eno made Budd focus on studio recordings. He used synthesizers and electronic sounds. He often worked with other musicians. Budd developed his special "soft pedal" piano style. This style is slow and uses long, ringing notes. Even though his music is often called "Ambient," he said he was not an Ambient artist. He felt he was "kidnapped" into that category.
He worked with Brian Eno on two important albums. These were Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980) and The Pearl (1984). These albums helped define his unique piano sound. On his album Lovely Thunder, he added subtle electronic sounds. His 2000 album, The Room, went back to a simpler, minimalist style. In 2003, Daniel Lanois recorded Budd playing piano at home. Lanois was a producer for bands like U2. This recording was released in 2005 as the album La Bella Vista.
Harold Budd also worked a lot with guitarist Robin Guthrie. They first collaborated in 1985. This was on the album The Moon and the Melodies with Guthrie's band Cocteau Twins. This album was released under all the artists' names. Budd's name was listed first because of alphabetical order. The album reached number 46 on the UK album chart in 1986. Budd and Guthrie made several more albums together. They created soundtracks for two films by Greg Araki. These were Mysterious Skin (2004) and White Bird in a Blizzard (2014). Their last album together, Another Flower, was recorded in 2013. It was released just four days before Budd passed away in 2020.
Budd also collaborated with other musicians. He worked with Andy Partridge of XTC on the album Through the Hill (1994). He also worked with John Foxx on Translucence/Drift Music (2003). In 2002, he performed and recorded with Jah Wobble for the Solaris concert.
He composed music for the TV miniseries I Know This Much Is True in 2020.
Death
Harold Budd had a stroke on November 11, 2020. He was recovering in a rehabilitation center. While there, he caught COVID-19. He died from complications of COVID-19 on December 8, 2020. He was 84 years old. He passed away at a hospital in Arcadia.
Selected Albums
- The Pavilion of Dreams (1978)
- Ambient 2: The Plateaux of Mirror (1980) with Brian Eno
- The Pearl (1984) with Brian Eno
- Lovely Thunder (1986)
- The Moon and the Melodies (1986) with Simon Raymonde, Robin Guthrie and Elizabeth Fraser
- The White Arcades (1988)
- By the Dawn's Early Light (1991)
- Music for 3 Pianos (1992) with Ruben Garcia and Daniel Lentz
- Luxa (1996)
- The Room (2000)
- Translucence/Drift Music (2003) with John Foxx
- Avalon Sutra / As Long as I Can Hold My Breath (2004)
- Mysterious Skin – Music from the Film (2005) with Robin Guthrie
- White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) with Robin Guthrie
- Another Flower (2020) with Robin Guthrie
See also
In Spanish: Harold Budd para niños
- Experimental music
- List of ambient music artists
