YOU CAN HEAR 12 OF GAYLE ELLETT's SONGS ON THE PLAYER ABOVE

Gayle Ellett has been composing and producing music for over 35 years, and has performed on more then 50 CDs. He has written music for numerous Film projects such as "The Black Dahlia Movie", many TV shows, commercials, animations and computer games. He has created many charity fund-raiser CDs such as "After The Storm" (which raised $40,000 for HABITAT FOR HUMANITY) and "Topanga Music Of The Mountains", and numerous award-winning albums.

He plays a wide range of instruments such as: electric guitar, bouzouki, ruan, analog synths, guitar synth, oud, koto, piano, mandolin, bulbul tarang, jal tarang, dotara, gimbri, dilruba, rababa, swarsangam, Tibetan singing bowls, Theremin, ocean drum, gopichand, cumbus, flute, suling, harmonium, mizmar, shehnai, upright bass, and other instruments. Many of these exotic sounds can be heard in his all-acoustic ensemble FERNWOOD. Working with Todd Montgomery and producer Wayne Yentis, FERNWOOD creates beautiful pan-cultural music with a strong cinamatic feel. GUITAR PLAYER Magazine discribed the music as "Wonderfully melodic, expertly layered, masterfully interwoven, luscious yet rootsy."

Currently, his music can be heard on MTV-International, ABC-TV, I-Tunes, 300 radio stations, numerous films, TV commercials, computer games, and other outlets.

During the first three months of 2008, Gayle Ellett has recorded tracks on CDs by The Lovin' Spoonful's Randy Chance, EcoVillage (a Swedish Psychedelic band), The Nihil Project (an Italian Psychedelic band), CCA (a Progressive band), and his own ensemble FERNWOOD.

One of the four music groups he currently performs in, Djam Karet, has released 16 CDs so far, and has received great reviews and awards in hundreds of magazines world-wide, including Rolling Stone Magazine's "#2 Independent Album Of The Year" and Billboard Magazine's "Critic's Choice Award". He has received awards in a wide range of musical styles, including "# 6 NEW AGE Album Of The Year" in PULSE magazine, "#2 Album Of The Year" in Electronic Musician magazine, and his Experimental Music album was described as "The 'Apocalypse Now' of field recordings" by Progressive World. He has sold his music in a wide range of styles including Traditional WORLD music (available from any country), Acoustic Contemporary-Folk, Jazz, Progressive, Deep Electronic, Soundtrack, Hard Rock, and other styles.

BIOGRAPHY:
Born in 1960, Gayle Ellett grew up in the Linda Vista neighborhood of Pasadena, California. He began piano lessons at age 5, but hated the recitals immensely. At thirteen, he bought an electric guitar, joined a few bands, and was soon performing at local high school dances, church musicals, and collegiate competitions. He spent his summers at his family's cattle ranch in New Mexico, where he built a large log cabin by hand, and later attended college and graduate school in Claremont, California. He currently lives in Topanga Canyon with his wife and two kids, where he has resided for the past 22 years.
When he's not busy working in the studio, Ellett can often be found flying his hang glider 5,000 meters high over the mountains of Southern California and Northern Mexico.

AWARDS:
"#2 Independent Album Of The Year" ROLLING STONE magazine
"Critic's Choice Award" BILLBOARD magazine
"#2 Album Of The Year" ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN magazine
"#2 Album Of The Year" GAGLIARCHIVES
"#3 Album Of The Year" SEA OF TRANQUILITY
"#6 New Age Album Of The Year" PULSE! magazine
"Top 10 Album Of The Year" DEEP LISTENING magazine
"Top 10 Album Of The Year" EXPOSE' magazine
"Top 20 Album Of The Year" PROGRESSOR

REVIEWS:
"Pink Floydian dreamscapes intersect with the jagged complexity of King Crimson."-ROLLING STONE magazine
"Never less than exhilarating in its virtuoso interplay, while never succumbing to jam band histrionics''-BILLBOARD magazine
"Hose down your living room, or your furniture will be burned to a cinder by the intense guitar playing of Gayle Ellett"-GUITAR PLAYER magazine.
"The greatest undiscovered band in the world! Rivals the glory days of Pink Floyd"-ELECTRONIC MUSICIAN magazine
"The most important band of the last decade"-EXPOSE' magazine
"One of the best damn ROCK bands on the planet"-AURAL INOVATIONS
"One of the best bands in the genre"-THE WAILING WELL
"One of the most satisfying and imaginative recordings to emerge from the ambient genre in the past decade"-SYDNEY MORNING HERALD
"Some of the most exciting and intense progressive music of the last 20 years"- PROGARCHIVES
"The ultimate Jam band...just a little ahead of its time"-RELIX magazine
"Guitars crunch, slash, crash and bang through a bundle of hard driving prog rock cookers. Think 1973 and King Crimson."-KEYBOARD magazine
"The writing, arranging and performances are of the highest order. Highly Recomended" -RECORDING magazine
"The near telepathic chemistry displayed by these four musicians was dead-on, and they proved themselves masters of their chosen instruments. This is one of the major releases of the year."-PROGRESSION magazine
"They can burn the paint right off your walls"-WHOLE EARTH REVIEW
"If you yearn for top-drawer, metal tinged prog chockful of classic synth textures, spacey yet incendiary dual guitars, and tight drum and bass grooves - this tasteful and well produced CD is for you."-GUITAR PLAYER magazine
"They will dazzle you with breathtaking instrumental performances"-SPACE.com
"Djam Karet seems to be a benchmark that bands of this ilk are measured against"-SONUS WEST RECORDS
"Highlights abound throughout, the band's rich legacy continues to unfold with each subsequent release"-ALL ABOUT JAZZ
"These guys never cease to amaze or entertain me"-MUSIC STREET JOURNAL
"Emerson, Lake and Palmer never really grooved as wel as Djam Karet do"-DUTCH PROGRESSIVE ROCK PAGES
"Unearthly voices speak to each other, as strange animal sounds provide a counterpoint to the chiming melody"-THE UNION
"They hit the bullseye again with yet another progressive masterpiece"-MWE3.com
"A must have for any lover of good musicianship"-MUSIC EXTREME
"Their music has a sweeping, epic sound very much in the classic tradition."-ALL MUSIC GUIDE
"Progressive" in the purest sense of the term." -SEA OF TRANQUILITY
"Wonderfully melodic, expertly layered, masterfully interwoven, luscious yet rootsy." -GUITAR PLAYER magazine
"If you're looking for modern guitar soundscapes to carry on the traditions of "Meddle" or "Lark's Tongues In Aspic", check this disc out"-JAMBANDS.com


CD DISCOGRAPHY for Gayle Ellett (composer & producer)
2008: The Nilhil Project
2008: CCA
2008: Set Me Free
2008: The Quest And That Magic Summer
2008: Almeria
2007: Rhythms Of Topanga
2007: Ethnic Ambiences
2007: Exotic Acoustic
2007: Island Sounds
2007: Christmas Music Collection
2006: Oriental Far East
2006: Topanga Earth Day
2006: World One
2006: World Two
2006: World Three
2006: Riding The Range
2006: After The Storm
2006: World Music Collection
2006: World Music Loops
2006: Mid-Tempo Background Tracks
2006: IO Pages European Compilation
2005: Recollection Harvest
2005: Topanga, Music Of The Mountains
2005: World Tour, Volume 1
2005: Kinections: ProgDay
2005: ProgWest 2001
2004: Globetrotter
2004: Winds Of War
2004: Live At NEARfest
2003: A Night For Baku
2002: Heaven Machine
2002: No Commerical Potential...And Still Getting The Ladies
2002: Flourescent Tunnelvision
2002: A Beginners' Guide, Volume I
2002: A Beginners' Guide, Volume II
2001: The 4th Wave
2001: Ascension
2001: New Dark Age
2001: Afghan, Live at the Knitting Factory
2001: DK#1
2001: DK#2
2001: Past, Present, Future
2000: Pacific Rim
1999: Live At Orion
1998: Still No Commercial Potential
1997: The Devouring
1996: Music For Televisions
1996: Stacy Board Simple Things
1994: Collaborator
1993: Dali: The Endless Enigma
1991: Suspension & Displacement
1991: Burning The Hard City
1990: Kafka's Breakfast
1990: Auricle Sampler #1
1990: Auricle Sampler #2
1990: Escape From The Cage
1989: Reflections From The Firepool
1989: Book Of Alchemy
1987: The Ritual Continues
1985: No Commercial Potential

FILM:
"The Black Dahlia Movie"
"Agnan Agnan"
"Biowall 451"
"High Seas"
"The Search"
"Wind Addiction"

TELEVISION:
"Fuggy Fuggy" on MTV-International
"Knock First" ABC-TV
"Surfer" on ESPN-TV
"Powder" on ESPN-TV
"Hard Copy" on ABC-TV
"Eye On L.A." on ABC-TV

COMMERCIALS:
"Priceline"
"Vison Sportswear"

INFORMERCIALS:
"Power Bar-Speed Golf"

COMPUTER GAMES:
"Whack The Haggis"
"Winter Solstice"

BOOKS about Gayle Ellett's music:
"The BILLBOARD Guide To Progressive Music"
"The Strange Sound of Cthulhu"



FAVORITE MOVIE QUOTE:
"If I had a tumor...I'd name it Marla"

RECENTLY READ BOOKS:
Stephen Wolfram's "A New Kind Of Science" Complexity Theory, and non-linear dynamic systems analysis
Brian Greene's "The Fabric Of The Cosmos" Theoretical Cosmology, and M-Theory



WEBSITES Owned and controlled by Mr.Ellett:
www.DjamKaret.com
www.virb.com/Fernwood
www.TopangaBands.com
www.myspace.com/MontgomeryTSingh
www.myspace.com/DjamKaret.com
www.myspace.com/UkabMaerd
www.myspace.com/TheMasketChamber

ON THE MUSIC PLAYER ABOVE:
1) "Sandpiper" by FERNWOOD (Gayle Ellett, Todd Montgomery)
2) "Open Seas" by FERNWOOD (Gayle Ellett, Todd Montgomery)
3) "The March To The Sea Of Tranquility" by Djam Karet (Gayle Ellett, Mike Henderson, Aaron Kenyon, Chuck Oken)
4) "Traditional World Folk Music edits" by Gayle Ellett
5) "Hungarian Holiday" by FERNWOOD (Gayle Ellett, Todd Montgomery)
6) "LIVE at Pitzer College" by Ukab Maerd (Gayle Ellett, Chuck Oken)
7) "The Packing House" by Djam Karet (Gayle Ellett, Mike Henderson, Aaron Kenyon, Chuck Oken)
8) "White Sands" by FERNWOOD (Gayle Ellett, Todd Montgomery)
9) "Kosovo" by The Masket Chamber (Gayle Ellett)
10) "Free Tibet" by The Masket Chamber (Gayle Ellett)
11) "LIVE at Analogue Haven" by Ukab Maerd (Gayle Ellett, Chuck Oken)
12) "Consider Figure Three" by Djam Karet (Gayle Ellett, Mike Henderson, Henry Osborne, Chuck Oken)



CONTACT:
topangamusic@netzero.net
POBox 1421 Topanga, CA. 90290 USA

NEW FILM MUSIC

"Agnan-Agnan Dreams", a film by Ron Dayoc, of the Philippines
Music by Gayle Ellett, Todd Montgomery, Uwang Ahada, and other local Philipino musicians



"THE BLACK DAHLIA MOVIE" Music by David J (of Bauhaus) and Gayle Ellett's group Djam Karet

Discography - see all 1

• 

  Gayle Ellett's Music