Biography

Spencer Brewer is not only a multi-million-selling composer, pianist and producer, but also a connoisseur of many of the greatest film scorers of all time. For his latest contemporary instrumental recording, Cinematic, Brewer has turned his talents to creating a collection of original material specifically meant to evoke visual imagery and also serve as his homage to movie music.

“I have been a fan of film music since I was a small boy,” explains Brewer, “and as a tribute to that often over-looked art-form, I decided to make an album filled with pieces I feel have the same ambience of classic movie and television scores.” In fact, some of the music has already been used in films and television. Brewer, who extensively collects recordings by his favorite film composers, has been most influenced by Bernard Hermann, John Barry and Ennio Morricone, but also has studied the works of Erich Korngold, Franz Waxman, Max Steiner, Alfred Newman, Thomas Newman, Miklos Rozsa, Esquivel, John Williams, Maurice Jarre, Howard Shore, Mark Isham and Danny Elfman.

Cinematic is a two-CD set featuring a cover painting by Salvador Dali. The first CD is subtitled “Black & White” and features Brewer playing solo piano on a dozen pieces with the addition of guitar and flute on the final tune. The second CD, subtitled “Technicolor,” contains compositions played by various artists led by Brewer on piano, synthesizers, Hammond B-3 and a pump organ built in 1888. “Technicolor” has ensemble arrangements of ten of the same tunes that appear on “Black & White” plus four different pieces. The musicians on Cinematic are top new age, classical and jazz players including acoustic guitar virtuoso Alex de Grassi, reedman Paul McCandless (Paul Winter, Oregon), flutist Matt Eakle (David Grisman, Suzanne Ciani), harmonica player Norton Buffalo (Steve Miller, Kenny Loggins), drummer Mark Walker (Oregon, Paquito D’Rivera), and bassists Steve Rodby (Pat Metheny, Chuck Mangione), Todd Phillips (David Grisman, Psychograss) and Cliff Hugo (Rick Braun, Richard Elliott), plus other percussion, wind and string players including the renowned Quartet San Francisco led by Jeremy Cohen.

Spencer, who was born and raised in Dallas, Texas, began playing piano at age seven, and although he took lessons for several years, he learned the most from his grandmother, who taught him Southern blues and boogie-woogie. He played in rock’n’roll bands throughout high school and then moved to Austin for its thriving music scene. Brewer became the accompanist for modern dance troupes (Deborah Hay, Martha Graham, Daniel Llanes and Suzanne Grace), which “pushed my envelope as to the possibilities of spontaneous and interpretive music.” Brewer also wrote the music for “Once Upon A Time” and “Willowmancifoot the Dragon,” two musicals written in New York City. His first recording, Stellar Notion, was done in 1980 and was vocal music from those musicals.

After moving to Northern California at the beginning of the Eighties, Brewer began recording original instrumental music, became a leader in the forefront of the burgeoning new age music movement and sold more than a million albums under his own name. He also was involved in producing, arranging, engineering and contributing tunes to albums that sold an additional several million units. It began with his albums Where Angels Dance, Shadow Dancer, Emerald, Portraits (a Gold Album with sales over half a million), Dorian’s Legacy (Top 10 on Billboard’s New Age sales chart and #1 on the R&R’s NAC airplay chart with sales of more than a quarter-million), Piper’s Rhythm (#1 on both of those same charts), Romantic Interludes and a half-dozen more. He created the music for several dozen NorthSound concept albums in which he often went uncredited, but stretched beyond new age music by exploring pop, jazz, bluegrass, big band and world music. Spencer also recorded several projects with other musicians who shared credits on the album covers – one with Tingstad & Rumbel, another with electronic music pioneer Craig Anderton and a jazz CD with Paul McCandless.                  

Brewer opened his own studio, Laughing Coyote, near Ukiah, California, nestled in the redwoods, and from the mid-Nineties to the mid-00s, he spent most of his time recording many other artists (plus some time out recuperating from a head-on car collision). He produced, engineered or performed on recordings by artists such as Alex de Grassi, Holly Near, Gene Parsons, Darol Anger, Steve Erquiaga, Kostia, Joe Craven, Barbara Higbie, Michael Manring, Phil Aaberg, Fred Simon, Georgia Kelly, Kirtana and many others; and oversaw productions that featured acts from John Bucchino to the Duke Ellington Band.