Boris Midney Explained

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. Midney's main reason for leaving the USSR was the censorship of art.[2] After arriving in New York City, he formed The Russian Jazz Quartet with whom he recorded an album for Impulse Records.[3] 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] Among his productions were disco adaptations of the Broadway musical Evita and of the score for The Empire Strikes Back.[7]

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.[8]
In 1999 Midney released Trancetter, a progressive trance album. In 1999, OZ/Hot Records reissued Midney's entire catalog on CD.[9]

Discography

With The Russian Jazz Quartet

With Paul Levinson

As USA-European Connection

As Beautiful Bend

As Festival

As Masquerade

As Caress

As Companion

Notes and References

  1. Book: Feather, Leonard Geoffrey. The encyclopedia of jazz in the sixties. 1966. New York : Horizon Press. The Archive of Contemporary Music. 211.
  2. Book: Starr, S. Frederick. Red and hot : the fate of jazz in the Soviet Union, 1917–1980. Oxford University Press. 1983. 978-0-19-503163-8. 291.
  3. Book: Ashley Kahn. The house that Trane built. 2006. W.W. Norton & Co.. 978-0-393-05879-6. 128.
  4. News: 1967-06-18. Tania Armour Bride of Boris Midney; Former Student of Design Married to a Composer. en-US. The New York Times. 2022-01-24. 0362-4331.
  5. Web site: Billboard. OZ/Hot Unearth Trance's Roots With Midney Reissues. Michael. Paoletta. October 23, 1999. August 12, 2024.
  6. Book: Bogdanov, Vladimir. All music guide to electronica : the definitive guide to electronic music. 2001. San Francisco : Backbeat Books. 978-0-87930-628-1. 326.
  7. Web site: Billboard. OZ/Hot Unearth Trance's Roots With Midney Reissues. Michael. Paoletta. October 23, 1999. August 12, 2024.
  8. Book: Jones. Alan. Saturday night forever : the story of disco. Kantonen. Jussi. 1999. Mainstream Publishing. 978-1-84018-177-7. 78–83.
  9. Web site: Billboard. OZ/Hot Unearth Trance's Roots With Midney Reissues. Michael. Paoletta. October 23, 1999. August 12, 2024.