TOMMY
MANDEL -
Born in New York City a
good while ago, Tommy began studying music at the age of six, in suburban New
York. He took ten years of piano lessons, and mutated at the age of sixteen,
joining and forming a series of bands performing Dixieland, James Brown, and
Beatles-Stones music along the East Coast in the sixties. He studied
songwriting with Paul Simon at NYU in 1969-70 in a class which included the
Roches. After receiving his degree from Bowdoin College in Maine,where he
played in a blues band and studied Music History, Theory, Electronic Music, and
Orchestration, he found work at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y.,
accompanying classes combining Theater, Song and Dance, and composing music and
songs for several original John Braswell theater productions, a position he
held for seven years. He is now Musical Director of their Theater Department.
During this earlier period, while represented by the William Morris Agency and
signed to Epic Records (by Stephen Paley,) he wrote two Pop-Operas, "Joe's
Opera" and "Sea of Simile," the former being twice
optioned for Broadway production, and staged at both Cafe LaMama, and the
Stuart Ostrow Musical Theater Lab at St. Clement's N.Y.C. They were both
directed by John Braswell, R.I.P., but the St. Clements' production was
directed by Robert Allan Ackerman. A third show, "The Maurice LaRue
Rhythm Revue"©, was mounted at Sarah Lawrence in 1979, and when
restaged could unite Rock Music and Cabaret Theater in a way not yet seen on
Earth. Right...A children's opera, "Animal Stew," was co-written and
produced with Bobby Puleo a few years later.
Next, Mandel toured the US and Canada with the National Lampoon
Travelling Road Show; he traveled to West Berlin with the Rock Revue,
"Shindig 77" and returned a few months later to form an
"international all-star blues band," with musicians from England,
Poland, and West Germany.
The following year, while preparing to record Ellen Foley's
debut album, he met Ian Hunter and Mick Ronson, two Brits who were putting
together a band after their David Bowie experiences. He played on three albums
and three tours with them, and began to make the contacts that led to his work
on many records over the years. Mandel's touring experience includes stints
with Ian Hunter-Mick Ronson (79-81), David Johansen (post- NY
Dolls, but before he became Buster Pointdexter... in 1980), Sylvain Sylvain
(a Dolls mate of Johansen,) Dire Straits (82-83), Todd Rundgren -Ian
Hunter-Mike Shrieve (1980), John Waite (84-85), Peter Wolf
(86), Little Steven, (86), Bryan Adams, (88-98), and Richie
Sambora and Friends (98), as well as local (New York City) gigs with Bo
Diddley, Lou Christie, Paul Butterfield, Elaine Caswell,
and Otis Rush, not to mention The Miami's, whose torrid gigs at
CBGB's and Broadway Charlie's bar in the Village landed them on the Live At
CBGB's compilation. A list of his credits as a studio musician (sideman,) can
be found at http://www.tommymandel.com/famous.html/disco.html
Early in his touring career, Mandel formed a production team
with Wayne Vlcan and JP that resulted in the EP, "Tommy Mandel",
released in 1981 on Songshop Records, and distributed by Important; he was
chosen by WNEW-FM, NYC, as a Prisoner of Rock and Roll for it. In addition to
the four songs contained on the EP, seven others were recorded, and found their
way on to the psychedelic travelog, "..id... " This has recently been re-released on
Invisible City Editions, in vinyl. In 1984, Mandel released "Music
for Insomniacs," a nine song collection of primitive pieces
created with the intention of making a pleasing pastel sonic backdrop that
could be useful in falling asleep, or simply relaxing at home. This tape has
been sold at Star Magic stores, in New York City and on the West Coast. Mandel's
2nd instrumental collection, "The Secrets of Marital Bliss",
was composed in a multi-track MIDI sequencer environment, leading to its blend
of high-tech sound and the gutsy feel of his rock "roots." "Further
Adventures", continued the journey into newer realms of musical
and self exploration, and a fourth collection of compositions, entitled "Road
Games," is now complete, as he is finally home from the road,
perhaps only for a while. He has also composed and recorded a song cycle based
on the touring experience, entitled "Starlight,"
featuring the vocals and writing talents of Marianne Faithful, John
Waite, Joe Cerisano, Fran Eckert, Jeff Southworth and Pete
Hewlett. In the nineties, Mandel compiled the following CD's of his
instrumental compositions: "Watusi (the Tribe Gets Down) b/w Mello'
Magic," "Themes for Dreams" (his
favorite), "Groan Up", "Virtual Rock(just
add vocals)", "Tearful but Cheerful",
"Setsuko's Inner Journey" (new age piano), "Music
for Insomniax II" (sleepy synths),and recently, "Every
Dog" and "The Enlightenment of Age", 2
collections of his songs sung by him. These collections are available at cdBaby.com and also now, at the Apple
iTunes Store. He has put together a pile of songs demo'd by and intended for
other singers, and "Sea
of Simile" is now a soundtrack/radio-play, as well as an 87
minute DVD Cartoon-Opera. Like many other musical artists, now he's into
graphic arts / Photoshop as well.
Mandel's first movie music was composed in 1976, when with
Brad (The Terminator) Feidel, he scored the soundtrack for the AVCO-Embassy
film, "Deadly Hero". It stars James Earl Jones (as a gallant
kidnapper who quotes King Lear), and Don Murray, (as the trigger happy cop who
blows him away). He also scored "Up Up and Away," starring the All
American Girls in 1982, and "Wunderkind," an "experimental"
film, in 1984. One of his secret skills is playing piano at Silent Movies. He
has also composed and recorded jingles for Antonovich Furs (sorry,
Greenpeace!), Gorton's Fish Product, Fa (European) bath soaps, and The City of
St. Louis Tourism Bureau, as well as played as a sideman on campaigns for Coke,
Cadillac, Promise, Starburst, Chemical Bank, and Chevrolet, among others.
The long-awaited memoirs, formerly titled" Famous A*holes I Have
Known, (or) 'I'll Never Work Again” now resides on his hard disk and Palm Pilot and is
ready to beam to perspective publishers, as soon as negotiations with (any)
Literary Agent are completed and a more suitable title found. "RockTales
- One from the Road" is the current front runner.
In1984. he married his former manager, a practicing psychanalist.
His daughters were blessedly born in 1987 and 1991. His father, Joe Mandel,
once the catcher on the U of Pennsylvania Baseball Team, lace importer, real
estate mogul and golfer, died in 1979, and is now breaking par four days a week
with his ancestors. The twin sister still rocks daily as an elementary school
music teacher in Long Island, New York. (Chairman of her district's Music
Department, she's quite a performer herself, leading huge choirs of kids and
composing for and conducting holiday shows as well.) His mother, after
outrunning Adolf Hitler through Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Italy, France and
Portugal in 1939-41, settled in New York City, where she is now studying
computers and German cinema. (Mom has
since passed away.)
Back in 1981, Mandel collapsed on stage at the Richfield Coliseum
in Cleveland, while playing an Ian Hunter concert. He was later diagnosed with
a cerebral aneurysm, but not till after he played 2 more concerts with Ian, at
Cobo Hall in Detroit, and Park West in Chicago. . . Dr. Robert Ratcheson, head
of Neurosurgery at University Hospital in Cleveland, successfully operated 8
days later. Ever since then, people expect strange things from Mandel. The fact
is that he was equally strange before he underwent brain-surgery!
After trips to Paris, Australia, and the Far East, including
Vietnam, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Korea, and Japan (for the tenth time), and a
2 month tour with Richie Sambora, Mandel has been staying 'in town.’ He's busy
writing, bringing up his daughters, looking at colleges, etc. and working at
Sarah Lawrence College himself, as Musical Director of their Theater
Department. For the curious, some of his current gigs are listed on http://www.tommymandel.com/NewTom.html.
Another movie soundtrack, TV work, and successful distribution of his New Music
collections, as well as eventual productions, live or animated, of his
PopOperas, are the events "on the edge of sea and sky", to which he
is irresistibly being drawn. Tommy Mandel lives in and around New York City,
lives for visits with his two grown daughters, and cherishes his awesome
girlfriend, a psychic, every chance he gets.
In the years since this document was created
(2004) TommyMandel has released one more CD, “Curio-City –or- How I Got Myself
Killed” and recently signed with http://www.invisiblecityeditions.com
, represented by a pair of Canadian DJ’s who release recordings of ethnic and
world pop artists and techno-finds, on vinyl. He’s in three bands, Denis Leary
(including S&D&R&R TV show’s recording band), Holidelic, and Nalani
& Sarina, and is preparing a new collection of Synth-strumental pieces
promoting well-being and reverence.