Isadar

Isadar
Background information
Birth name	Fabian Isadore Thibodeaux
Born	(1968-03-07) March 7, 1968 Church Point, Louisiana, US
Genres	Jazz, art pop, electronic, synthpop, new-age
Occupation(s)	Musician, singer, songwriter, record producer
Instruments	Vocals, piano, keyboards, flute, piccolo, oboe
Years active	1990–present
Labels	Sony Music Entertainment, Mainya Music, The Orchard (Digital Distribution Company)
Associated acts	William Ackerman Rufus Thibodeaux
Website	isadar.com
Notable instruments
Fairlight CMI Yamaha Disklavier Howarth of London Oboe Muramatsu Flute

Isadar (born Fabian Isadore Thibodeaux (/ˈtɪbədoʊ/ TIB-ə-doh); March 7, 1968) is an American pianist, singer-songwriter, musician, recording artist, music video director, and record producer.^[1] He is known for his one-man band approach of multi-tracking his vocal music in recording studios as well as self-producing his music videos. Although he does not perform live often, he occasionally tours promoting his solo piano projects and actively promotes his music videos on public access television. His piano music is featured on Pandora Radio,^[2] (including a separate Isadar (Holiday) station featuring his Christmas piano music),^[3] the "Soundscapes" channel of Music Choice, XM Sirius Radio – Channel 68 The Spa, in Canada on the Stingray Music channel The Spa, and on the Donovan Johnson created Enlightened Piano Radio (EPR) online radio station.^[4][5]

Isadar performed as a guest artist at Carnegie Hall in New York City on October 24, 2015 along with other Enlightened Piano Radio artists during their 2015 Awards Ceremony and Concert.^[6] In March 2016, it was announced that Isadar was nominated (and will be performing again) for "Best Jazz Driven Solo Piano" album for Enlightened Piano Radio's 2016 Awards Ceremony and Concert being held aboard the Carnival Cruise Line's "Triumph" on October 6th through the 10th, 2016. ^[7][8]

Early life

Isadar was born in Church Point, Louisiana, and is a Cajun of Acadian ancestry. He is a graduate of Notre Dame High School in Crowley, Louisiana.^[9] He is a graduate of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. In his teens, Isadar played flute, piccolo and oboe in his high school band and was the Drum Major during marching band season. He was a member of the mixed vocal and hand-bell choirs at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church in Lafayette, Louisiana and frequently was featured as flute and oboe soloist. He had minor roles and contributed musically in area community and college theatre productions. According to an interview published in The Huffington Post, he is distantly related to the former child actor Keith Thibodeaux best known for playing "Little Ricky" in the popular I Love Lucy and The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hour television shows.^[10]

Musical style

Isadar was first inspired by 80s British pop music, particularly the music of Kate Bush. He was also inspired by music made with the Fairlight CMI. However, after attending a Baton Rouge, Louisiana concert in 1989 by Windham Hill pianist Liz Story, Isadar began to also compose solo works for the piano.^[11]

In March 2012, Grammy award winning guitarist and founder of Windham Hill Records, William Ackerman produced a solo piano project for Isadar at his Imaginary Road Studio in Windham County, Vermont. The project, titled Reconstructed, is a re-working and re-recording of tracks Ackerman felt were the strongest from the six solo piano albums Isadar released since 1990. After working together, Ackerman stated, "The music we recorded ranged from the achingly beautiful to the breathtakingly technical, all of this rendered expertly through the unique musical lens that Isadar offers us."^[12] The album peaked at the No. 2 chart position of the Zone Music Reporter^[13] for June of the same year and was nominated for "Album Of The Month" for July, and subsequently nominated for "Album Of The Year" by the Spanish website, ReviewsNewAge.^[14][15] The album went on to be submitted for consideration into 5 categories for the 55th Annual Grammy Awards.^[16] In September 2014, the track "Uncertainty" from Reconstructed was included on The Gathering II, a compilation featuring a new generation of musicians produced by Ackerman continuing the Windham Hill Sampler legacy.^[17] The compilation peaked at the No. 1 chart position of the Zone Music Reporter^[18] during September 2014.

Instruments

During the production of his 1998 album Cycles, Isadar acquired a Fairlight CMI from Herbie Hancock through Hancock's producer Bill Laswell. Isadar also utilizes the Disklavier player-piano in the production of his solo piano recordings. He additionally releases his piano music in this unique software format.

Isadar owns and exclusively performs on a Howarth of London hand made Oboe and a special custom made Muramatsu flute.^{[19] [20]}

Cover songs

Isadar has covered two Madonna songs, "Burning Up"^[21] & "Get Together".^[22] He also made a cover of Kate Bush's "Running Up that Hill (A Deal with God)".^[23] Music videos were made for all three of these covers.^[24][25][26] For his 2007 album, LiFe v.2.o he made a cover of Toni Childs' song "Dreamer."^[27] He has also made two solo piano covers of two compositions written by pianist Liz Story, "Wedding Rain"^[28] & "Things With Wings".^[29]

Video projects

Isadar has appeared in many self-produced and directed music videos designed to accompany his vocal music.^[30] Among the best known is "Dream Of The Dead"^[31] which was directly influenced by the album The Dreaming by Kate Bush.

Several collections of Isadar's music videos have been released on DVD.^{[32][33][34][35]} Additionally, DVD volumes of his solo piano performances have also been released.^{[36][37][38][39]}

Series One & Two of his music videos and piano performances were cable-casted in 2009 and 2010 (re-aired in 2012) on New York City's public access television station, Manhattan Neighborhood Network. In 2010 and 2011, these same two Series also aired in California on Channel LA36, a public access television station reaching the greater Los Angeles area.^[40] Series One was converted into an iTunes Store Video Podcast.^[41]

On May 11, 2012, Isadar performed a live solo piano concert to promote the release of his Will Ackerman produced Reconstructed album at the historical "Grand Opera House of the South" in Crowley, Louisiana.^[42] The concert was filmed and released on DVD as The Grand Opera House Of The South Presents: ISADAR.^[43]

Major label association

While working as a musician, songwriter, and recording artist, Isadar held several records management positions of employment within major record labels for over 20 years.

Beginning in 1995, Isadar was hired by Sony Music Entertainment's Legal & Business Affairs (Columbia Records, Epic Records, Legacy Recordings, Sony Classical, and Sony Masterworks) to manage their artists' recording contracts and correspondence files based on his background in both Music and Library Science, particularly his experience relating to confidential U.S. Government Documents gained while working for the Edith Garland Dupré Library on the campus of the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, in a state of Louisiana civil service position for five years prior to relocating to New York City.

In 2001, shortly before 9/11, he was recruited by Bertelsmann Music Group (BMG) by a previous Sony Music colleague to spearhead a scanning initiative of their Legal & Business Affairs documents which included their labels, RCA Records, Arista Records, Jive Records, Zomba Music Group, and BMG Heritage Records. He led and managed a team of eight in indexing and creating complex meta-data which merged with scans of their critical documents designed to be accessed and used in perpetuity with regard to day-to-day operations.

In 2003, BMG created a new position for Isadar as the sole ("Officer of") Records Manager, handling all aspects of Records Management for BMG. In 2005, BMG Entertainment merged with Sony Music to create a joint venture. Sony had no "Officer of Records Management" in their company's structure, nor a Records Manager day-to-day position. Due to Isadar's vast previous intimate knowledge regarding both company's legal documents, he assumed the roles for the joint venture for the entire U.S. territory, and continued through to the forming of the latest corporate version of Sony Music Entertainment, as the joint venture was dissolved in 2008 when BMG sold the majority of its assets to Sony Corporation of America.

Isadar left Sony Music in March 2016 in order to focus exclusively on his own music.^[44][45]

Discography

• Near The Edge of Light (piano solos) (1990)
• Elevations (Electronic Soundscapes) (1994)
• Dream of the Dead (1997)
• Dream of the Dead (Instrumental Version) (1997)
• ...And on Earth, Peace! (1997) (credited as Fabian Thibodeaux) [Sony Music]^[46]
• Cycles (1998)
• Cycles (Instrumental Version) (1998)
• Active Imagination (solo piano) (1999)
• In Search For The Meaning Of Christmas (solo piano) (1999)
• The Journey (piano) (2000)
• The Purple Heart (improvisational solo piano) (2003)
• Lessons In Love (3-disc set) (2005)
• Lessons In Love (3-disc set) (Instrumental Version) (2005)
• Private Property (2006)
• Private Property (Instrumental Version) (2006)
• Scratching The Surface – Sampler (Disc One – Solo Piano) (2006)
• Scratching The Surface – Sampler (Disc Two – Electro-Voice) (2006)
• Scratching The Surface – Sampler (Disc Two – Electro-Voice) (Instrumental Version) (2006)
• LiFe v.2.o (2007)
• LiFe v.2.o (Instrumental Version) (2007)
• The Omega Point (2008)
• The Omega Point (Instrumental Version) (2008)
• Solo Piano Anthology: 1990–2010 (6-disc set) (2010)
• Reconstructed (solo piano) (2012) [produced by Will Ackerman]
• O Christmas (solo piano) (2012)
• Red (piano) (2013)
• Compilation: "The Gathering II" (Various Artists) (2014) [produced by Will Ackerman]
• Compilation: "Sounds from the Circle, Volume VII" (Various Artists) (2015) [produced by Suzanne Doucet]
• Magical Fantasy Flute (2016)

Music videos

External links

• Official website
• Isadar discography at MusicBrainz

See also

• List of Cajuns
• List of cover versions of Madonna songs
• List of new-age music artists
• List of people related to Cajun music
• List of stage names
• Mononymous persons

References