Tom Constanten
| Tom Constanten | |
|---|---|
| Born |
March 19, 1944 Long Branch, New Jersey, United States |
| Origin | San Francisco, California, United States |
| Genres | Rock, classical |
| Occupation(s) | Musician |
| Instruments | Piano, harpsichord, organ, other keyboard instruments |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Associated acts | Grateful Dead, Jefferson Starship, Jazz is Dead |
| Website | www |
Tom Constanten (born March 19, 1944, Long Branch, New Jersey, United States) is an American keyboardist, best known for playing with Grateful Dead from 1968 to 1970.
Known among friends and colleagues as T.C., Tom Constanten wrote orchestral pieces as a teenager while growing up in Las Vegas and briefly studied astronomy and music at University of California, Berkeley, where he met future Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh in the summer of 1961. The two became roommates and dropped out; shortly thereafter, they enrolled in a graduate-level course taught by Italian modernist composer Luciano Berio at Mills College. Constanten also studied piano with Mario Feninger. In 1962, he lived in Brussels and Paris, met Umberto Eco, and studied on a scholarship with members of the Darmstadt School, including Berio, Henri Pousseur, and Pierre Boulez.
After briefly rooming with Lesh in Las Vegas and returning to the San Francisco Bay Area, Constanten performed with an improvisational quintet formed by Steve Reich. The group's unusual style was influenced by both jazz and Stockhausen. In a 1964 performance, the ensemble played serialism-influenced compositions by both Constanten and Lesh. Although he walked out from the performance, minimalist composer Terry Riley later allowed the ensemble to premiere In C. However, only Reich and one other member of the group, saxophonist-composer Jon Gibson, appeared in the seminal performance.
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