Featured Musician

James Todd

Quiet Beauty marks Jim's foray in composing, arranging and performing his own music. He is in demand as a studio musician, and has performed on numerous artist's albums and recording projects that include many genres and styles of music. Despite James Todd's classical background and the fact that the cello is most often thought of as a classical instrument, he considers this original recording to be new age music inspired by previous composers in the field such as Michael Hoppe.

The cello -- after centuries as a classical instrument, usually as part of a string section -- is being taken to a new place in contemporary music by James Todd, who brings it to the forefront of his original music collection, QUIET BEAUTY, on which he duets with himself as well as pianist William Morse.

Very few recordings have the cello used as the primary lead instrument, but Todd stepped beyond even that frontier when he composed nine pieces that feature at least two distinctly different cello parts (sometimes three) that he overdubbed to create a rich tapestry of cello sounds either playing harmony with each other, employing counter-melodies or simply entwining in various ways.  At the same time, the cello performances interact with the piano playing of Morse, who not only holds the rhythm and states the chord progressions, but also has his moments improvising the melody line.

The music incorporates cello and piano with a few subtle keyboard-generated string-section sounds in the background. Because of the choice of instruments and the musicians’ distinguished backgrounds in the traditional classical field, the tunes have a strong classical music appeal to them.  But listeners will also hear contemporary, crossover elements that connect with new age music fans.  In fact, James Todd is one of the few cellists to not only have a successful career onstage in the classical world, but to have backed many top pop, rock, folk, country, R&B, new age and opera artists as well.  In addition, he has taken a step that few classical players ever master and has learned the art of improvisation which he utilizes whenever the opportunity presents itself in concert or in the studio.  Todd’s associate on this recording, William Morse, balances his classical career by also being a professional jazz musician.

Todd’s recording can be purchased at his website (www.jtoddcello.com), at online stores such as www.amazon.com or www.cdbaby.com, and at digital download sites such as iTunes.com.

 In the classical arena, James serves as principal cellist with the Arapahoe Philharmonic in Denver, Colorado, where he lives.  He regularly performs with many of the classical ensembles in the Denver area.  Additionally, on numerous concert occasions, Todd has been the special-guest, featured-soloist with orchestras such as the Arapahoe Philharmonic, the Denver Symphony, the MSC Symphony Orchestra and the Aurora Symphony. 

As a professional free-lance musician, Todd has performed in concert backing many touring acts including Ray Charles, Wynton Marsalis, John Tesh, Crosby & Nash, Led Zeppelin, Yes, Brian Wilson, Yanni, Natalie Cole, Mannheim Steamroller, The Three Tenors, Stevie Wonder, Linda Ronstadt, Marvin Hamlisch, Lyle Lovett, Sarah Brightman, Smokey Robinson, Kenny Rogers, Andrea Bocelli and Jose Feliciano.  Todd also has performed with folk singer-songwriter Celeste Krenz as a featured member of her trio or quartet both in concert (including the prestigious Kerrville Folk Festival) and on three of her albums.  He has appeared on three CDs by the new age group Music for Candles in which his parts were totally improvised.  James has worked as a studio musician on many CDs by new, developing, regional acts in the genres of folk, rock and even goth.  Other stage gigs have included touring Broadway shows such as the world premiere of “Dorian,” “Camelot” with Robert Goulet, “Bye Bye Birdie” with Tommy Tune, and “Some Like It Hot” with Tony Curtis.

Todd met William Morse in 1982 when both were associated with the Metropolitan State College of Denver (Morse conducted the college’s symphony orchestra).  Since 1999, Morse has served as the Music Director and Principal Conductor of the Jefferson Symphony Orchestra in Golden, Colorado, in addition to holding the same titles simultaneously with the Evergreen Chamber Orchestra (since its inception in 1983).  William also makes regular appearances as a guest conductor or performer with many different groups.   He holds Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees in music from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, and a Doctorate of Orchestral Conducting from the University of Arizona.  In the jazz world, Morse has performed with Wynton Marsalis, Billy Taylor and Doc Severinson; is part of the Queen City Jazz Band; and gigs with his own William Morse Trio.

“William is a gracious and superb musician,” explains Todd, “who did a wondrous job on this CD supporting what I was doing on cello.  He created all his parts beyond the basic melody.  His instincts are well developed and beautifully refined.  He offered the perfect counterpoint to me because he knows both classical music and jazz so well.”

James Todd calls the original material on his debut album “heartsongs” because: “As I wrote these songs, each one evoked strong emotions from deep within me.  I can only hope that the music is able to convey some of the feelings -- love, longing, hope, sorrow, doubt, joy and wonder -- that I was expressing.  I wanted the music to have a ‘Quiet Beauty’ to it that people would find peaceful and relaxing, but with enough internal movement and complexity to make deeper listening a rewarding experience too.”

His instrumental compositions on the CD include “New Day” (“it represents rejuvenation, a fresh beginning, a hopeful promise for another chance”), “I Wonder” (“I tried to capture hopeful, questioning anticipation”), “Quiet Beauty” (“Not surface loveliness, but the subtle beauty within people like gentleness or a kind heart”), and “Shadows of My Mind” (“Reflective of the complexities of our thoughts and emotions”).

“On this album I wanted to showcase what an expressive instrument the cello can be,” explains James Todd, who plays an Italian cello made by Giuseppe Sgarbi in 1861.  “The cello has a deep, rich voice that can be stretched to over four octaves.  In writing this music, I think of the cello as almost singing a vocal line.  The cello section in an orchestra most often is playing the same part, so it is very unusual on this recording to have two cellos playing two distinctly-different parts at the same time.  I look for different ways for each instrument to develop the melody and offer separate, distinctive, expressive thoughts on that melody, which is why several of the songs run over seven-minutes.”

James was born and raised in Denver.  His great-grandfather also was a cellist and his grandfather was a violinist and conductor of an orchestra.  An older sister studied violin and his older brother took cello lessons, and all of his siblings were in a performing group called Old World Musicians.  When James was five, he performed on mandolin with their group.  James started piano lessons in second grade and switched to cello in fourth grade.  He was selected for Denver’s All-City Orchestra each year through high school.  He remembers being infatuated with the recording of Jascha Heifetz performing the Tchaikovsky violin concerto.  “From that time on I was drawn to the romantic, lyrical, melodic music of Tchaikovsky as well as Brahms, Rachmaninoff, Dvorak and Elgar.”

Todd spent a year at the University of Denver on scholarship before transferring to Metro State College where he was the principal cellist in the orchestra and chamber ensemble.  He pursued a business education, despite his involvement with music, and graduated magna cum laude with a B.S. Degree in Business.  During these years he was selected as a featured performer for a concert with the Denver Symphony, performed concerts with Hollywood-composers Patrick Williams and Emil Newman conducting, played on-stage with jazz saxophonist Tom Scott, and was coached by legendary violinist Mischa Mischakoff.

More recently James played in a string quartet that opened a Meatloaf concert, had a one-on-one coaching session with cellist Yo-Yo Ma, and performed several concerts with jazz musicians such as Billy Taylor, Terence Blanchard and Wynton Marsalis.  Todd also helped develop and teach “the art of strolling strings,” and became the top strolling cellist in the country.  He has performed with orchestras throughout Italy and England.  At the Shrewsbury International Music Festival, Todd’s “New Day” was arranged for a full orchestra by William Morse and was performed several times to enthusiastic audiences.  In addition to being a longtime, accomplished private instructor, Todd has served on the faculties of Metro State College and the University of Colorado at Denver as Professor of Cello.

“I didn’t create the music on QUIET BEAUTY to fit into a specific genre or category.  For me it was simply self-expression with the idea that if the music was heartfelt, it also would touch the listener.”

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