Lee Townsend


Lee Townsend is an American independent music producer, curator, artist manager and co-owner of Songtone, specializing in recordings of singer-songwriters, contemporary composers, improvising musicians, and cross-cultural musical collaborations. He is also a psychotherapist in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Background and career

Since 1983, Townsend has produced albums by Bill Frisell, John Scofield, Loudon Wainwright III, Kelly Joe Phelps, Rinde Eckert, Vinicius Cantuaria, Shweta Jhaveri, Dino Saluzzi, Gabriela Anders, Petra Haden, Viktor Krauss, Elvis Costello/Bill Frisell, Choying Drolma & Steve Tibbetts, Pat Metheny/John Scofield, Joey Baron, Charlie Hunter, T. J. Kirk, Dave Holland, Hank Jones, John Abercrombie, Jerry Granelli, Marc Johnson, Jonah Smith, Noe Venable, Crooked Still, Paul Dresher, Marty Ehrlich, Dusan Bogdanovic, Paul Sprawl, and Stephen Yerkey.
Townsend is a member of the cooperative group, Floratone, with Bill Frisell, Matt Chamberlain, and Tucker Martine. He has collaborated on motion picture soundtracks and theater music. Additionally, he has been producer of the Century of Song program for the Ruhr Triennale Arts festival in Germany, Vice President of Artists and Repertoire for Verve/Polygram Records in New York, General Manager and Director of United States Operations at ECM Records in New York, Producer of Music Programming at the Montalvo Arts Center in Saratoga, California, and a staff producer at National Public Radio affiliate, KCRW-FM in Santa Monica, California.
Townsend graduated from the University of California, Santa Cruz, majoring in psychology and earned his graduate degree in psychology from The Wright Institute, Berkeley.

Discography

Bill Frisell
Bill Frisell/Elvis Costello
Petra Haden and Bill Frisell
Carrie Rodriguez
Kelly Joe Phelps
Loudon Wainwright III
John Scofield
John Scofield/Pat Metheny
Rinde Eckert
Shweta Jhaveri
Ani Choying Drolma/Steve Tibbetts
Dino Saluzzi/Anthony Cox/David Friedman
Gabriela
Vinicius Cantuária
Viktor Krauss
Dave Holland
Hank Jones/Dave Holland/Billy Higgins
John Abercrombie
Joey Baron
Charlie Hunter
T. J. Kirk
Marc Johnson
Jerry Granelli
Crooked Still
Jonah Smith
Doug Wamble
Dusan Bogdanovic
Quentin Dujardin
David Soler Denga
Kalaban Coura
Blame Sally
Noe Venable
Real Vocal String Quartet
Paul Sprawl
Will Bernard
Pothole
Stephen Yerkey
Zubot and Dawson
Laughing Stock
Fred Hersch/Bill Frisell
Living Daylights'