Frank London

The efforts of trumpeter and keyboardist Frank London extend to klezmer music, film music, avant-garde jazz, contemporary classical music, pop and rock, and more; he has performed with musicians ranging from vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:4X8QFzZ1HqwPfwDfyjtwXC">Mel Tormé</a> to avant-garde composer <a href="spotify:artist:3gkJ7lXtLpE4KauFHpk2vK">John Zorn</a>. Much of his music has some connection with Jewish themes.

London was born into a Reform Jewish family in 1958 in New York. He took up the trumpet when he was four. London attended the New England Conservatory of Music, graduating in 1980 with a degree in what was then called Afro-American music. That year, he made his recording debut on the album Film Noir by jazz pianist <a href="spotify:artist:5Oe2el698y8tac9DMvlI7o">Ran Blake</a>. London's activities were diverse from the beginning, encompassing jazz, klezmer, avant-garde rock, and music for films, plays, and even a Czech marionette show, The Golem. In the 1980s and '90s, he was prominent in the field of film music, writing scores for The Brother from Another Planet (1984) and Men with Guns (1987), both directed by John Sayles, the Cannes Film Festival prizewinner The Debt (1993), by Bruno de Almeida, and The Shvitz (1993). His collaborators included a striking variety of music, such as rock band <a href="spotify:artist:6zB02lwP6L6ZH32nggQiJT">They Might Be Giants</a>, rapper <a href="spotify:artist:1P8IfcNKwrkQP5xJWuhaOC">LL Cool J</a>, avant-garde composer <a href="spotify:artist:5h2yl4fuAyztOOBgMRyQhE">LaMonte Young</a>, and singer <a href="spotify:artist:1b8kpp4DUwt1hWaxTiWQhD">Gal Costa</a>, in addition to <a href="spotify:artist:4X8QFzZ1HqwPfwDfyjtwXC">Tormé</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3gkJ7lXtLpE4KauFHpk2vK">Zorn</a>. A recording of the soundtrack to The Shvitz was released by the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Knitting+Factory%22">Knitting Factory</a> label, and London also recorded with <a href="spotify:artist:3gkJ7lXtLpE4KauFHpk2vK">Zorn</a>'s <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Tzadik%22">Tzadik</a> label on its Radical Jewish Culture series.

London's activities in the 21st century have been similarly diverse. He is a longtime member of the progressive klezmer band the <a href="spotify:artist:0tgCD1jE7zLillCOoG4h8d">Klezmatics</a> and has founded two groups of his own, <a href="spotify:artist:1tWm8IRbDev26ifeytyKpq">Frank London's Klezmer Brass All-Stars</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:1k6NGhAzEzl93xjL7bMStx">Hasidic New Wave</a>. He also co-founded the Les Miserables Brass Band and the <a href="spotify:artist:6Skv3nEfu6hjlpvnYTV7Zx">Klezmer Conservatory Band</a> and made several albums with <a href="spotify:artist:0tgCD1jE7zLillCOoG4h8d">Klezmatics</a> lead vocalist <a href="spotify:artist:4wQV2CDmZTIoTcKQck928B">Lorin Sklamberg</a>. His music was featured in the television series Sex and the City. London's recordings range from cantorial music and Jewish mystical songs to the folk opera A Night in the Old Marketplace. In 2023, London appeared on the multi-artist album Killdeer; by that time, he had appeared on well over 200 recordings. London has taught Jewish music at various institutions in the U.S. and Canada and is on the faculty at the State University of New York at Purchase. ~ James Manheim, Rovi