Boris Midney

Boris Midney (born October 22, 1937) is a Soviet-born American musician, producer, composer and conductor.

Biography

Midney was born in Moscow to a conductor and pianist father and classical singer mother. He studied classical composition and clarinet also teaching himself to play saxophone.[1]

In 1964 he defected from the USSR via the US embassy in Japan.[2] Midney's main reason for leaving the USSR was the censorship of art.[3] After arriving in New York City, he formed The Russian Jazz Quartet with whom he recorded an album for Impulse Records.[2] In the 1960s, Midney married Tania Armour from the Armour & Company family.[4]

Later, Midney became a prolific composer and producer of disco music although he rarely was credited under his own name.[5] Using guises such as USA-European Connection, Masquerade, Double Discovery, Caress, Companion and Festival, Midney produced a large body of disco music. He is recognised as being among the first producers to take full advantage of 48-track recording and one of the creators of the Eurodisco genre.[6]

Describing his disco music, critics Alan Jones and Jussi Kantonen wrote:

On the Mount Olympus of disco there are numerous gods but there is only one Zeus and his name is Boris Midney. He's the Stephen Sondheim, David Hockney and Stanley Kubric of the disco genre all rolled into one.[7]

In 1999 Midney released Trancetter, a progressive trance album.[6]

Discography
  • Music From The Empire Strikes Back (RSO, 1980)
  • Trancetter (Max Music & Entertainment Inc., 1999)

With The Russian Jazz Quartet

  • Happiness (Impulse, 1964)

With Paul Levinson

As USA-European Connection

As Beautiful Bend

  • Make That Feeling Come Again! (Marlin, 1978)

As Festival

  • Evita (RSO, 1979)

As Masquerade

As Caress

As Companion

References
  1. Feather, Leonard Geoffrey (1966). The encyclopedia of jazz in the sixties. The Archive of Contemporary Music. New York : Horizon Press. p. 211.
  2. Ashley Kahn (2006). The house that Trane built. W.W. Norton & Co. p. 128. ISBN 978-0-393-05879-6.
  3. Starr, S. Frederick (1983). Red and hot : the fate of jazz in the Soviet Union, 1917–1980. Oxford University Press. p. 291. ISBN 978-0-19-503163-8.
  4. "Tania Armour Bride of Boris Midney; Former Student of Design Married to a Composer". The New York Times. 1967-06-18. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-24.
  5. Paoletta, Michael (October 23, 1999). "OZ/Hot Unearth Trance's Roots With Midney Reissues". Billboard. p. 39.
  6. Bogdanov, Vladimir (2001). All music guide to electronica : the definitive guide to electronic music. San Francisco : Backbeat Books. p. 326. ISBN 978-0-87930-628-1.
  7. Jones, Alan; Kantonen, Jussi (1999). Saturday night forever : the story of disco. Mainstream Publishing. pp. 78–83. ISBN 978-1-84018-177-7.


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