Rob Mounsey - Producer/Composer/Arranger | ||
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Shortly after studying at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Rob began his professional career in New York playing piano and keyboards on albums by George Benson, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Roberta Flack, Cissy Houston, Taj Mahal, John Mayall, Michael Franks, Art Garfunkel and his friend, guitarist Steve Khan. Rob performed on and arranged Diana Ross' #1 hit, "Why Do Fools Fall In Love" as well as playing the piano and all keyboards on Phil Collins' #1 smash, "Against All Odds" with the late Arif Mardin producing. Yearning to contribute more, stretching his abilities, becoming further involved in the sounds of the recordings, Rob began producing, composing, arranging and conducting Grammy-winners such as James Taylor, Paul Simon, Steely Dan, Aretha Franklin, Elton John, Madonna, Aaron Neville, Michael Buble and Natalie Cole. Working out of his celebrated West SoHo studio with the Hudson River rising just beyond his Steinway grand piano, Rob just completed producing and arranging Deborah Cox' latest release for Decca Classics, Destination Moon: Songs of Dinah Washington. Previously, he composed the score and wrote six songs for the Sonny Grosso A&E television film, Kings of South Beach. Rob also wrote arrangements for the A Tribute To Ella project (Verve) and the smash Dave Koz album, At The Movies (Capitol), doing arrangements for "The Pink Panther," "Over The Rainbow," "The Way We Were," "It Might Be You," "The Shadow of Your Smile (Love Theme from The Sandpiper)". Rob just produced and arranged Leslie Mendelson's debut release for Rykodisc. Additionally, Rob just arranged "Forever Young" for Usher's new release. Earlier, Rob arranged "What Love Is?" for Mary J. Blige's 2008 release, Growing Pains. Rob also conducted and arranged the BBC Orchestra for the Opening Night "Salute to Ella Fitzgerald" at the London Jazz Festival featuring Lizz Wright, Melody Gardot, Jamelia, Terri Walker, Ian Shaw, Lea DeLaria, David McAlmont, Juliet Roberts and Claire Martin. Rob arranged, conducted and played piano on Billy Joel's single, "All My Life". This is Billy's first original release since 1993's River Of Dreams. Rob also arranged several tracks and played keyboards on Kurt Elling's Nightmoves (Concord). One of the most critically-acclaimed albums Rob has produced in recent years is Aaron Neville's Nature Boy: The Standards Album (Verve). Nature Boy includes a gorgeous rendition of "The Very Thought Of You" by Aaron Neville and Linda Ronstadt. Rob arranged, conducted and played piano on Nature Boy. In addition to Rob, Nature Boy features an incredible array of musicians including Ry Cooder, Grady Tate, Roy Hargrove, Ron Carter, Ronnie Cuber, Ray Anderson and Michael Brecker. Critics sometimes compare Rob's musical contributions to the celebrated composer Dave Grusin. Rob's contributions include music for film, television, albums and soundtracks, yet he's equally proficient creating rock, jazz, soul, R and B as well as classical music. To that end, Rob's had the pleasure of working with Linda Ronstadt, Dave Koz, Aretha Franklin, Kurt Elling, Etta James and k. d. lang. When you listen to Rihanna's Top Five release, A Girl Like Me and hear those strings (Rob arranged and conducted) on her Top Ten single, "Unfaithful", the incredible horn section hook on "You Can Call Me Al" from Paul Simon's 5x platinum Graceland, Steely Dan's joyous "Babylon Sisters" from the platinum Gaucho, Donald Fagen's amazing cover of Leiber/Stoller's "Ruby Baby" and the bold, shimmering gems "I.G.Y." and "Maxine" from the million-selling Nightfly, Aretha Franklin's magnificent orchestral accompaniment on the Grammy-nominated "Nessun Dorma" or Madonna's gold #1 hit "Crazy For You", those stellar arrangements are all Rob's! Rob's film and television credits include his aforementioned score for A&E's Kings of South Beach television movie (March 2007) as well as two different themes for CBS' A Guiding Light. Further television work includes quite a bit of original music for Sex In The City and scored many episodes to Central Park West. Rob's also scored the films Big Mama, Working Girl and Bright Lights, Big City. Rob's also arranged and performed songs featured in For The Love Of The Game, Where The Heart Is, The King of Comedy and The Warriors. On the Verve Records web site, Rob is described as "one of the best kept secrets in the music industry". With multiple platinum and gold album awards, five Grammy nominations and two Emmy Awards, he's truly one of the most easily approachable and most in-demand triple-threats (producer/composer/ arranger) working in music today. | [DOWNLOAD PDF]
RIHANNA PAUL
SIMON DONALD
FAGEN STEELY
DAN MADONNA ARETHA
FRANKLIN SEX
AND THE CITY |