I remember the first time I saw Jon Brion perform at Largo (a small club in L.A.), the room was packed with music aficionados all waiting patiently for the virtuoso. I was on my second gin and tonic when out of the corner of my eye he appeared. He walked up to the stage with a what seemed to be a glass of beer (black & tan) in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other — oh, this is going to be good.

Jon Brion’s blurbs:

Music producer/composer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist… it’s safe to say that Jon Brion excels at whichever musical hat he choses to wear. Remarkably self-taught in music, Jon has collaborated with and/or produced albums for Elliott Smith, Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, Rufus Wainwright, David Byrne, the Eels, Sean Lennon.

In addition to producing, Jon has scored several films, including Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and I Heart Huckabees. Brion frequently works with director Paul Thomas Anderson, with whom he has a preferential working relationship. In addition to scoring almost all of his films, Brion contributed music to Boogie Nights and had a cameo in the film as a moustachioed guitar player.

He sat down at the piano and with a quick wave to the crowd, it was on. He proceeded to mesmerize the audience not only with his performance but his amazing musicianship; he played every instrument on stage (guitar, bass, drums, piano, whatever) by himself, no backup band, no nothing, just him; using a live looping technique, he first recorded the bass, drums and keyboard tracks and then sang and played guitar live over them — it was “ah” inspiring…two hours and maybe 20 songs later it was all over and I had just seen the best show of my life.

Found on: Jon Brion’s Myspace page

Must reads:

Jon Brion, Meaningless

Jon Brion Tendentious Report