Electronic music pioneer Patrick Gleeson died July 19 at age 91, according to the Bob Moog Foundation, which announced his death on behalf of his estate.
Gleeson was known for his ownership of Different Fur Studios and his work with Herbie Hancock, but his career also included producing and engineering records, composing film and television scores, releasing solo albums and performing live.
After moving to San Francisco in the 1960s to teach 18th-century English literature at San Francisco State University, Gleeson began experimenting with electronic music on a Buchla system at the San Francisco Tape Music Center. Inspired by Wendy Carlos’ “Switched-On Bach,” he began working with a Moog III modular synthesizer in 1968 and co-founded Different Fur Studios with John Vieira.
At Different Fur, Gleeson worked with Hancock on the albums “Crossings” and “Sextant.” He later toured with Hancock’s Mwandishi band, helping pioneer the use of synthesizers in live jazz performance with an ARP 2600, and became a full-time member of Hancock’s band. Hancock later credited Gleeson with introducing him to synthesizers.
Gleeson’s collaborators across several genres included David Byrne, Charles Earl, Brian Eno, Sammy Hagar, Eddie Henderson, Joe Henderson, Freddie Hubbard, Kronos Quartet, Benny Maupin, Pat Metheny, Julian Priester, Michael Shrieve and Lenny White.
His first solo album, “Beyond the Sun—An Electronic Portrait of Holst’s ‘The Planets,’” was released in 1976 and featured the E-mu polyphonic synthesizer. The project was nominated for the 1977 Grammy Award for best engineered classical album. His subsequent releases included “Patrick Gleeson’s Star Wars,” “Rainbow Delta,” “The Four Seasons,” “Slide,” “Driving While Black” with Maupin and “Fourever.”
Gleeson produced or performed on more than 100 albums. He was a producer and engineer on Devo’s “Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!” and contributed production and editing to Byrne and Eno’s “My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.”
His film credits included “The Plague Dogs,” “Apocalypse Now,” “Crossroads” and “The Bedroom Window.” He was credited as master synthesist on “Apocalypse Now” and scored nine television series, including “Knots Landing.” His scores for artist Bruce Conner are held by the Walker Art Center, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and Museum of Modern Art.
After retiring from film and television scoring in 2017, Gleeson returned to live performance. He appeared at the Cutting Room in New York in 2018, Moogfest in 2019 and Synthplex in 2022, and was the featured guest at the Moogseum’s fourth-anniversary celebration in 2023.
Gleeson is survived by his wife of 34 years, Charmaine McClarie.
For more information, visit moogfoundation.org.
