Moonlight - Performed by The Calling All Choir

Composed and Directed by Mark Growden

A four part, cycling parts song composed while at The Chalk Hill Artist Residency in Healdsburg, CA

Performed live by The Calling All Choir in San Francisco - November 20, 2013.

Moonlight - Performed by The Calling All Choir, Composed and Directed by Mark Growden

From my 2010 release "Saint Judas" on Porto Franco Records. The album made 3 top 10 for 2010 critics list including "Rekkid of the Year" from music blog Stash Dauber and ranked on the Village Voice National Critic's Poll. Recorded live-in-studio with my SF/Oakland ensemble.

The Gates/Take Me To The Water

Sheet music available here:
http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/grandmother-daydreams/

Dedicated to Dorothy Jane Farrar.

Memory, my fickle friend
I’ve never known you well
The faded scenes you recommend
They ring a distant bell

The blemishes the blooms
The laughter and perfume
My children’s children have children of their own

Memory, my weathered friend
Don’t leave me here alone

Apples to cider
Kindling to fire
The rusted fenders on a ‘47 coupe

November brings the greenest dreams
The moon swings back around

Memory my feathered friend
Let’s take a ride to town
Let’s take a ride to town

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Grandmother Daydreams - Words and Music by Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

Composed for The Calling All Choir while at the Chalk Hill Artist Residency in Healdsburg, CA.

Sheet music available here:
http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/mark-growden-stillness-a-cappella/

Stillness - Words and Music by Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

Words by Pat Schneider
Music by Mark Growden
Performed by Matthew Curtis
Composed for The Calling All Choir.

Sheet music available here:
http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/mark-growden-the-patience-of-ordinary-things/

The Patience of Ordinary Thing - Performed by Matthew Curtis

For SATB chorus and drum.
Composed for The Calling All Choir.

Sheet music available here:
http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/as-the-river-runs/

As the River Runs - Words and Music by Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

Sheet music available here:
http://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/mark-growden-noahs-dove-satb-chorus/

Based on a traditional text and a melody learned from Skate Stone, which he learned from James Harding, which he learned from an unknown source.



Noah's Dove - Arranged by Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

I Will Wait For You - By Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

I spirited take on the text from a classic nursery rhyme.

Sally - Composed by Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

Saguaro (pronounced sa-Wah-ro) was written in response to the Tucson shootings on January 8, 2011 – now known as the Tucson Tragedy. It is a song of compassion and tenderness.

Sheet music available here:
https://www.swirlymusic.org/music/choral-music/mark-growden-saguaro-for-a-cappella-satb-chorus/

Saguaro - Words and Music by Mark Growden - Performed by Matthew Curtis

From the upcoming album "In Velvet".  Recorded live-to-two-track at Piety Studios in New Orleans.  
Featuring LaTosha Brown on vocals, Wendell Brunious on trumpet, Loren Pickford on alto sax, Eric Traub on tenor sax, Myles Boisen on guitar, Larry Sieberth on piano, Peter Harris on bass, and Charlie Kohlmeyer on traps. Engineered by Mark Bingham.

Something Within Me (In Velvet 2012)

My version of Cat Stevens' "Trouble" off my 2003 release "Live at the Odeon". Recorded live at San Francisco's legendary "Odeon Bar" during my residency there in 2002/2003.  This album was never released nationally. I hope to do a reissue someday.

Trouble

From the original film score for Christiane Cegavske's award winning feature film "Blood Tea and Red String".  We hope to release the full album soon.  
You can get the DVD here: http://amzn.to/ihZ9EC

Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR2zL-qErX8

©Christiane Cegavske

This recording is solo accordion.

Blood Tea and Red String - Opening

From the original film score for Christiane Cegavske's award winning feature film "Blood Tea and Red String".    We hope to release the full album soon.

You can get the DVD here: http://amzn.to/ihZ9EC

Watch the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FR2zL-qErX8
©Christiane Cegavske

I made this recording by playing accordion reeds like jaw harps.

Mouse Dance

From the original score for Guido Muzzarelli's "Island of the Gondoliers". 
Featuring myself on accordion and Seth Ford-Young on upright bass.

We hope to release the full album soon.

Composed by myself and arranged with Seth Ford-Young.

See the trailer here: http://vimeo.com/5596904
More info on the film here: http://www.islandofthegondoliers.com/

Florachan Theme

From my first full-length album "Downstairs Karaoke" released in 1999.
Full album available here: http://bit.ly/guAdps
Featuring John Birdsong on cornet, Jim Santi Owen on drums, Tarik Ragab on bass, myself on banjo, and a bunch of friends singing in the chorus.


Lady Lu

From my first full-length album "Downstairs Karaoke" released in 1999.
Full album available here: http://bit.ly/guAdps

Featuring Myles Boisen on guitar and Jim Santi Owen on drums.  I play marimbas, organ, glockenspiel, soprano saxophone, and sing on the song.

I was going through a really bad breakup when I wrote this one.

House Of Love

A moving setting of the classic American lullaby. Good for developing singers, but also a good choice for some lovely unison singing with more advanced ensembles. The students we arranged this for absolutely loved it. We hope your choir does too.

The Bay Bridge Choral Series features works arranged or composed by Mark Growden in collaboration with other San Francisco Bay Area Musicians. It’s a study in bridge building.

All The Pretty Little Horses

A dramatic setting of the classic Russian folk song. 

Good for developing singers, but also a good choice for some lovely unison singing with more advanced ensembles.

The melody is being played by the horn in this recording.

Little Birch Tree

Mark Growden is a composer, singer, writer, multi-instrumentalist, visual artist, and workshop leader.  Growden has released several critically acclaimed albums, including Saint Judas, which was awarded “2010 Rekkid of the Year” by music blog Stash Dauber and ranked in the 2010 Village Voice Critics Poll.  Growden has toured the the US extensively, performing at venues such as the The Fillmore, Cowell Theater, and Great American Music Hall in San Francisco; Snug Harbor in New Orleans; and The Knitting Factory and Tonic in New York.  

Press Quotes
“Influenced by Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Igor Stravinsky, Claude Debussy, Aaron Copeland, John Coltrane, Townes Van Zandt and Alan Lomax's field recordings of African- American prison work songs, Growden cooks his compositions from his own recipes. The taste is a little cabaret, a bit New Orleans brass, a pinch Appalachian folk with a spicy edge,... but hard to pin down, stirred with the gentleness of trees whispering on an easy summer day.” - The Taos News

“think Bertolt Brecht meets Blind Willie Johnson.” - I-94 Bar

"Mark Growden possesses the same raw passion and fury seen in Van Morrison, Tom Waits, and Old Red but also the compositional finesse of Chris Rea, Robert Wyatt, and The Woes" - Folk & Acoustic Music Exchange

"An unusual and voracious talent." - Willamette Week

"Theatrical, dark and sexy." - West Coast Performer

"Mark Growden has to be on of California's most colorful and intriguing musicians.... Growden is a genius." - Albuquerque Alibi

"He writes songs that pulse with drama, songs that slide with grace." - Tucson Weekly

"Part singer-songwriter, part bluesman, part avant-gardist, he's an avatar of bohemian weirdness on a par with Tom Waits or Joe Henry." - Fort Worth Weekly

"as though Harry Smith, Kurt Weill, and John Cage had been reincarnated in a single body" - Stash Dauber

"Fiery, earthy and sublimely sensual." - Comet Magazine

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