About Gordon

Professional Bio (updated Dec. 2023)

Gordon is a composer and multi-instrumentalist from Chicago, USA currently living in Busan, South Korea. He composes, arranges and orchestrates music in a wide range of styles including electronic, orchestral, ambient, jazz, modern dance, and experimental avant-garde in contexts such as film, multimedia, modern dance and the concert stage. He performs with a gypsy-swing ensemble known as The Three Players (삼인용) as trumpeter and has performed in rock, jazz, avant-garde, experimental improvisation, classical and music theatre productions. He holds a Bachelor of Music (Illinois Wesleyan University, USA) and a Master of Music Composition (Northwestern University, USA). He also teaches courses on creativity and music production at Dong-seo University in Busan. His current creative interests include generative, interactive music and sound-reactive animation.

origin story

I'm from a small farm town on the edge of Chicago's gravitational pull. And pull it did. After a music performance/composition liberal arts education I found myself in the city proper, struggling to reconcile internal and external expectations about how my life should go. So I allowed that inertia to sweep me further out.

Initially intending my stay in Korea to be only a year or two, I found the flow of life here to be just the right speed and temperature, and heading in directions beyond even my 20-something fantasies. So I stayed, rarely encountering resistance to my desired lifestyle, even as it has matured. I found my ideal friend and co-conspirator in Mi-sun Lee. One thing has led to the next in ways that I wouldn't completely attribute to luck, but I certainly have been lucky.

I've had the time, energy and available resources to compose and perform music that I want to make and like, even finding time to explore a variety of extramusical projects. I've developed as a musician and as a human being. I meet people regularly from all over this amazing planet, of different worldviews and starting points, some passing through, others sticking around. I'm living the life I want and doing new things all the time. I can't say there haven't been difficult times, but Mi-sun and I are growing and learning new ways to navigate life as it unfolds.

Currently (2024) I'm trying to develop as a collaborator with some of the most fascinating artists in my community. It's a challenge to relinquish some control over projects, but I know I have much to learn from these incredible people.

home studio 2023