Biography
Todd Cochran has established himself across decades as a composer, arranger, producer, and keyboardist whose projects have spanned jazz, rock, funk, disco, R&B, and film scores. Born and raised in San Francisco, he demonstrated prodigious talent early by performing classical recitals at age ten, with Glenn Gould and Vladimir Ashkenazy serving as his initial inspirations, themselves childhood prodigies. His formal education included classical and jazz studies at UCLA, the University of San Jose, and later Trinity College of Music in London.
By fifteen, Cochran had begun absorbing the diverse sounds of the Bay Area, ranging from Moby Grape and Sly Stone to the Jefferson Airplane, while jazz clubs regularly featured internationally recognized artists. Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, a Los Angeles native who had spent most of the 1960s in New York, moved to San Francisco in 1971 and assembled a quintet with saxophonist Harold Land. Already familiar with Cochran through the local scene, Hutcherson invited the teenager to contribute to an upcoming Blue Note session. Between July 1 and 3 of that year, the nineteen-year-old arranged the entire date, performed on piano while first exploring the Fender Rhodes, and supplied three of the four compositions on the original Head On; a subsequent reissue disclosed that the ensemble, which expanded from quartet to more than twenty pieces, had actually recorded seven of his pieces.
One month afterward, Cochran joined John Klemmer for a live performance, two selections from which later appeared on the 1973 album Intensity. Early in 1972 he added keyboard work to saxophonist Hadley Caliman’s Impetus. The strong reception for Hutcherson’s Head On led Prestige to offer Cochran his own contract, prompting him to adopt the name Bayeté. On June 26 he returned to the studio with Hutcherson, Caliman, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, bassist James Leary III, trombonist Wayne Wallace, and additional musicians, resulting in the year’s Worlds Around the Sun. Three months later, still billed as Bayeté Umbra Zindiko, he cut a follow-up quintet session released in 1973 as Seeking Other Beauty. In 1974 he appeared as keyboardist on Herbie Hancock’s soundtrack for the film The Spook Who Sat by the Door.
That same year he played piano, Rhodes, and clavinet on Julian Priester’s Love, Love and contributed to James Mtume’s Rebirth Cycle alongside members of Miles Davis’ band. At this juncture Cochran’s interests turned toward progressive rock and fusion. In 1975 he joined Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamashta’s inaugural GO project, which also featured Santana drummer Michael Shrieve and Steve Winwood. Later that year Bayeté and Shrieve formed the progressive-psych rock band Automatic Man, issuing a self-titled debut on Arista in 1976 and Visitors in 1978.
For the balance of the 1970s he concentrated on session work, appearing on Peter Gabriel’s second album and on recordings by Alphonso Johnson, Wilding-Bonus, Airto, Stix Hooper, and Stanley Turrentine. Credited as Bayeté Todd Cochran, he began an extended association with bassist Stanley Clarke that included Modern Man and I Wanna Play for You. The 1980s opened with his participation on ELP drummer Carl Palmer’s solo album 1 P.M., after which Cochran increasingly devoted himself to songwriting and production. Throughout the decade, sometimes listed as Tod T Cochran, he contributed as keyboardist, songwriter, or producer to projects by Clarke, Freddie Hubbard, Arthur Blythe, Aretha Franklin, Cheryl Lynn, Gene Page, Rodney Franklin, Teena Marie, Paulinho Da Costa, George Howard, and Howard Hewett.
In 1991 he issued the limited-edition acoustic jazz album Todd and began performing on the festival circuit while teaching at Stanford University. Additional 1990s activity encompassed producing and arranging guitarist Juan Carlos Quintero’s Through the Winds and playing on further recordings by Clarke and Joan Armatrading. In the twenty-first century Cochran has focused on film and television scoring as well as classical composition, with credits including the scores for Woman Thou Art Loosed, Love and Other Four Letter Words, and The Lena Baker Story. March 2014 saw Omnivore release a remastered edition of Bayeté’s Worlds Around the Sun augmented with bonus material.
By fifteen, Cochran had begun absorbing the diverse sounds of the Bay Area, ranging from Moby Grape and Sly Stone to the Jefferson Airplane, while jazz clubs regularly featured internationally recognized artists. Vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson, a Los Angeles native who had spent most of the 1960s in New York, moved to San Francisco in 1971 and assembled a quintet with saxophonist Harold Land. Already familiar with Cochran through the local scene, Hutcherson invited the teenager to contribute to an upcoming Blue Note session. Between July 1 and 3 of that year, the nineteen-year-old arranged the entire date, performed on piano while first exploring the Fender Rhodes, and supplied three of the four compositions on the original Head On; a subsequent reissue disclosed that the ensemble, which expanded from quartet to more than twenty pieces, had actually recorded seven of his pieces.
One month afterward, Cochran joined John Klemmer for a live performance, two selections from which later appeared on the 1973 album Intensity. Early in 1972 he added keyboard work to saxophonist Hadley Caliman’s Impetus. The strong reception for Hutcherson’s Head On led Prestige to offer Cochran his own contract, prompting him to adopt the name Bayeté. On June 26 he returned to the studio with Hutcherson, Caliman, trumpeter Oscar Brashear, bassist James Leary III, trombonist Wayne Wallace, and additional musicians, resulting in the year’s Worlds Around the Sun. Three months later, still billed as Bayeté Umbra Zindiko, he cut a follow-up quintet session released in 1973 as Seeking Other Beauty. In 1974 he appeared as keyboardist on Herbie Hancock’s soundtrack for the film The Spook Who Sat by the Door.
That same year he played piano, Rhodes, and clavinet on Julian Priester’s Love, Love and contributed to James Mtume’s Rebirth Cycle alongside members of Miles Davis’ band. At this juncture Cochran’s interests turned toward progressive rock and fusion. In 1975 he joined Japanese percussionist Stomu Yamashta’s inaugural GO project, which also featured Santana drummer Michael Shrieve and Steve Winwood. Later that year Bayeté and Shrieve formed the progressive-psych rock band Automatic Man, issuing a self-titled debut on Arista in 1976 and Visitors in 1978.
For the balance of the 1970s he concentrated on session work, appearing on Peter Gabriel’s second album and on recordings by Alphonso Johnson, Wilding-Bonus, Airto, Stix Hooper, and Stanley Turrentine. Credited as Bayeté Todd Cochran, he began an extended association with bassist Stanley Clarke that included Modern Man and I Wanna Play for You. The 1980s opened with his participation on ELP drummer Carl Palmer’s solo album 1 P.M., after which Cochran increasingly devoted himself to songwriting and production. Throughout the decade, sometimes listed as Tod T Cochran, he contributed as keyboardist, songwriter, or producer to projects by Clarke, Freddie Hubbard, Arthur Blythe, Aretha Franklin, Cheryl Lynn, Gene Page, Rodney Franklin, Teena Marie, Paulinho Da Costa, George Howard, and Howard Hewett.
In 1991 he issued the limited-edition acoustic jazz album Todd and began performing on the festival circuit while teaching at Stanford University. Additional 1990s activity encompassed producing and arranging guitarist Juan Carlos Quintero’s Through the Winds and playing on further recordings by Clarke and Joan Armatrading. In the twenty-first century Cochran has focused on film and television scoring as well as classical composition, with credits including the scores for Woman Thou Art Loosed, Love and Other Four Letter Words, and The Lena Baker Story. March 2014 saw Omnivore release a remastered edition of Bayeté’s Worlds Around the Sun augmented with bonus material.
Albums
Singles
