Dennis James (musician)

Dennis James is an American musician and historic preservationist who played "a pivotal role in the international revival of silent films presented with period-authentic live music." Beginning in 1969, he presented historically informed live accompaniments for silent films, with piano, theatre organ, chamber ensemble and full symphony orchestras, throughout the United States, Canada, Mexico and overseas. He is now primarily active as a noted multi-instrumentalist, specializing on musical glasses and the glass armonica, prominently performing in New York at the Caramoor Festival and Lincoln Center's Mostly Mozart Festival (2011) plus debuting at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the summer of 2013.

James has also recently become active in the preservation and restoration of historic theremins and Ondes Martenot instruments plus has begun performing syncopated and moderne period piano repertoire within a multitude of other specialist musical activities generally considered of marginal cultural impact subject to the whims of amateurs and enthusiasts.

James was born in Philadelphia in 1950 and began formal organ training at the age of 12. At the age of 16, he replaced his teacher, Leonard MacClain, in concert when the latter suffered a heart attack before the performance, and that exposure put him on an international touring circuit. James attended Indiana University's School of Music as a student of concert and church organ performance, earning his bachelor's and master's degrees under the tutelage of Dr. Oswald G. Ragatz.

James' interest in silent film performance with live music dates from 1969 at the Tower Theatre in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania. As James recalls, "The late 'Flicker Fingers' himself, California touring theatre organist Gaylord Carter, was at the Wurlitzer theatre pipe organ console and on the screen Douglas Fairbanks, Sr. in The Mark of Zorro. In classic 'Chorus Line' fashion, I turned to my Dad at the end and said 'I can do that!'"

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