Gerald Jay Markoe

Gerald Jay Markoe earned a B.A. in classical music from Juilliard and an M.A. from the Manhattan School of Music. Beginning in the early 1960s he pursued parallel studies in meditation and astrology, developing a practice of converting planetary placements into original compositions and frequently producing individualized cassette recordings keyed to a client’s natal chart. His debut commercial release arrived in 1988 with Music from the Pleiades, prompted by the well-known poster image of that constellation. To handle distribution he established the independent label AstroMusic, after which the album became a leading seller within the New Age category. At least one of his titles has continued to appear among that market’s strongest performers ever since. He sustained the Pleiades sequence through 1993, at which point popular interest shifted toward angels; the resulting series of angel-themed recordings reflects his affinity for Baroque idioms while maintaining a balance between faithful orchestral textures and subtle spiritual coloration. In 1995 he collaborated with several Native American musicians, producing Inka Sunrise with Cuzco medicine man Wachan Bajiyoperak, Where the Earth Touches the Stars with Navajo flautist Brent Chase, and Navajo Chants with the Four Mountain Nation Singers. He has also supplied instrumental accompaniments for spoken-word meditation recordings featuring narrators Alma Daniel and Stacey Dean. With his primary residence now in Puerto Rico, the next phase of his work remains an open question.