Gentry Bronson has been a musician since he was seven years old. He is a classically trained pianist, award winning songwriter, dynamic singer, and electric performer. He has been an alterna-rock front man, composer, spoken word poet, solo and ensemble pianist, and House DJ.
Gentry began studying classical piano when he was seven years old, an...
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Gentry Bronson has been a musician since he was seven years old. He is a classically trained pianist, award winning songwriter, dynamic singer, and electric performer. He has been an alterna-rock front man, composer, spoken word poet, solo and ensemble pianist, and House DJ.
Gentry began studying classical piano when he was seven years old, and during the next ten years he won seven Minnesota Music Teachers' Association awards for piano performance. At 15 years old, he became the lead singer and lyricist for the alternative rock and punk band The Eviction Committee.
In 1991, Gentry moved to Seattle, where he was the lead singer and lyricist for the acoustic band Buried Child and was also lead singer and lyricist for the alternative rock band Bastard Slide. In 1993, at the age of 20, Gentry began to suffer from chronic pain and other disorders, and he retreated into music and poetry. He composed the music for Goddess, a contemporary dance piece, and also composed the music for two silent French films as part of a Withered Wall film festival. During this time, he began to perform spoken word and became a professional spoken word performer in the Seattle spoken word scene.
In 1994, Gentry moved to San Francisco, where he became the pianist for the experimental jazz quintet The Partial Orchestra and also continued spoken word performances in the Bay Area. It was during this time, that Gentry was attacked, robbed, beaten, and sent to the hospital by four young strangers a block from his home, which caused him to quit playing piano for several months and added a notch to his chronic pain.
Three months later, in January 1995, he left for a year-long stay in the Czech Republic. While there, he became a DJ at the Roxy Klub in Prague, playing Acid Jazz, Dub, and Drum n' Bass, and during that same year, he was asked to travel to Germany to DJ at the Eima Club in Berlin.
Returning to San Francisco in 1996, Gentry began studying classical piano under Dr. Fillipa Francia and finished his degree in International Studies. In 1997, he left to travel through Central America and ended up back in San Francisco, at age 24, broke, in pain, and desperate. He began working various contract consulting jobs and became a project and marketing manager.
In 1999, he realized he had left music behind and began writing again. He emerged again in 2000 with a new catalog of songs, and began playing Bay Area gallery openings and open mic nights. Within six months, he won three Northern California Songwriters' Association awards for best song and best performance and people began to take notice.
In 2001, Gentry traveled to Vietnam to rid himself of his father's ghosts. He returned shell-shocked, and again, broke and in pain, so he turned immediately to what to what he knew best, music and words. He formed the Night Watchmen in 2001 with good friend, Dr. John Hudy. Gentry wrote and produced the Night Watchmen's debut EP Illumination, performed as a trio, which was released in December 2001. After a full year of local shows and several line-up changes, the Night Watchmen recorded their full-length release Lost In California, self-produced by Gentry, and released the CD in April 2003. They immediately began receiving critical international acclaim and a worldwide fanbase.
In 2002, Gentry began working as music director for Alchemia, a Northern California-based non-profit organization that specializes in music, art and drama therapy for adults with different abilities. He completed piano work on the jazz film soundtrack, After Hours, composed by Brian Hawlk, which debuted at UCLA film school in October 2002. He also co-wrote and recorded the music with Brett Fenex for metal singer and lyricist, Will Rovegno's, demo release.
By April 2003, Gentry, Brett Fenex and Lorin Kaufman had co-written all the songs for the Alchemia musical, Wabi Sabi, and Gentry had formed a rock band with the clients at Alchemia called Ten Seconds Of Silence. Wabi Sabi was performed in June and November 2003 and Ten Seconds Of Silence opened for the Night Watchmen in July 2003 and January 2004.
In December 2003, Gentry and Night Watchmen drummer/engineer, Alex Aspinall recorded, Tranquillo, a CD of Gentry's instrumental piano compositions that critics and fans have compared to George Winston. At the same time, he and Alex began recording the Night Watchmen's new CD.
In March 2004, Gentry's close friend and bassist for the Night Watchmen, Dr. John Hudy, took his own life.
In April 2004, Gentry recorded, Home, a solo acoustic CD of 14 raw and emotional songs, which was released in June 2004.
Gentry now performs solo and continues to lead the Night Watchmen. A new CD is planned for release in late 2004 now joined by Adam Thompson on upright and electric bass. Gentry is also a music teacher and continues to help develop a positive music and art community in the Bay Area and the world.
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