click tunes to listen & covers to order

Yol K'u (Inside the Sun)
Mayan Mountain Music
2008
coaching compositions by Mayan schoolchildren in San Mateo Ixtatan, Guatemala

Oracion de la Cruz
El Bello Quetzal
Casamiento de los Apaches
Xan Matin Mix
Noble Cazador
Fiesta de los Mayas

watch a video of the kids performing

Chamber Music
Volume 1
2007

East St. Louis 1968
Richard Auldon Clark, viola
Dave Soldier, electronics, harmonica
Duo Sonata
Laura Seaton, violin
Erik Friedlander, cello
Little Andre
Robert Dick, bass flute
To Spike Jones in Heaven
William Schimmel, accordion
Dave Soldier, electronics
Utah Dances
Michael Swartz, alto saxophone

Chamber Music
Volume 2
2007

Sontag in Sarajevo
1. Fluor, Phosphor, Lumen & Candle
2. Dance for the Tetragrammaton
Regina Carter, violin
Anne De Maranis, accordion
Dawn Avery, cello
Dave Soldier, el .guitar
Clever Hans
ballet for violin, cello, harpsichord
Hockets & Inventions
Walter Hilse, organ
The Unfolding Opium Poppy
Rebecca Cherry, violin, Michael Mizrahi, piano

Da Hiphop Raskalz
2006

Music composed by 5-10 year old children in East Harlem or Watertown Massacusetts, coached by Dave Soldier

T Rex Chelea & The Mighty Lions
I Want Candy  Muffletoes
Ghosty  Isabella  (my niece!)   
Do the Lollipop  Sweetness 
1,2,3,Go 911 Rock N Roll Coyotes    
What's My Name?  Boys & Girls Club Of The Night
Chickenwing  Looneytunes     
I Don't Want You No More  Tuff Kids 
Feel Tha Beat The School Rock Band 
Schooldogs Rule The Halls         Muffletoes
Xtreme Team Funkydelic Mix        Woke Up Los Nonameos
Jumpin'  Abc Group        
Happy Go Lucky Day Michelle (another niece!)
Barney Mac Hiphop Skyhigh
Listen to the Children on the Radio Franchize Children

Soldier Stories
with Kurt Vonnegut
2005

The Soldier's Story
a 30 min radio opera
featuring Phil Schaap as the radio MC

lyrics and narration by Kurt Vonnegut

The Apotheosis of John Brown
a 30 min oratorio with text adapted from Frederick Douglass

Inspect for Damaged Gods
Soldier String Quartet
2004

Bo Diddley
Bo Diddley, arranged Soldier,
(Bo heard/approved this arrangement!)
Preachin' Blues
Robert Johnson, arranged Soldier
Ugly
Robert Pete Williams, arranged Dave Soldier
In Time
Sly Stone, arranged Dave Soldier
Michael Callen
Here Comes the King
Raymond Scott, arranged Soldier
Boogie on party people
N'Orleans
Marsh Fugue
unlisted outdoors cut on the CD

Regina Carter, Dave Soldier, violins, Judith Insell viola, Dawn Avery, cello, Tiye' Giraud & Jimmy Justice, vocals, Tiye, small percussion, Jonathan Kane & Richard Bona, drums & bass

Thai Elephant Orchestra
Elephonic Rhapsodies
2004

A Child's Guide to the Elephant Orchestra
Phong's Solo
improvisation by a 5 year-old elephant
The Ganesha Symphony Symphony #1 in four movements
1 The Birth of Ganesha
2 Shiva Beheads Ganesha
3 A Head is Found
4 Ganesha Trimuphant
Rhapsody in Grey
An Elephant's Swan Song
Three Baht Opera
Little Elephant Saddle (Trad.) Elephants with Dave on violin
Floating Down the Pin River (Trad.) Elephants with a local mahout hillbilly band
Pin Pia (Smithitham) Elephants with a traditional Thai instrument
Bamboolin (Muangling) Elephants with a bamboo violin
An Adult's Guide to the Elephant Orchestra
Kaw-Liga (Williams/Rose) Yes, they play Hank Williams with Thai hillbilly players
Pastorale Lite (Beethoven, Arr. Soldier) Elephant orchestra with marching band
Homage to Harry Partch
Mr. Elephant (Trad., Arr. Soldier) with Japanese saxophonist
Chang! Chang! Chang! (Trad., Arr. Soldier) Thai nursery rhyme, kids and elephants
Beethoven’sPastorale Symphony, First movement (Beethoven, Arr. Soldier) Marching band and elephant orchestra

Thai Elephant Orchestra
2001

Thung Kwian Sunrise
Temple Music
Rainforest
Jojo
Duo for Renats
Big Band
Swing Swing Swing
Percussion Trio
Luuk Kob's Diddley Bow Feature
Harmonica Music
Heavy Logs
Now We're off to Paint
Elephant Field Recordings
Somneuk & Four Elephants
Trio for Theremin & Electric Keyboard
Ken's Wind Instrument

Ice-9 Ballads
with Kurt Vonnegut
2001

Annihilation Life
Dyot Meet Mat
Nice Very Nice
119th Calypso
Duo For Clarinet and Meade Lux Lewis
14th Calypso
Mona's Funeral Music
Big Tyrant
Folly

lyrics and narration by Kurt Vonnegut

the Kropotkins
Five Points Crawl
2000

Truckstop Girls 
Seconds Past Midnight   (with Lorette)
Sissy Wa Wa    (with Lorette)
Crazy Hannah  (Mo Tucker)  
Junior's Groove  (Lorette Velvette)
I Gotta Man (Charlie Burnham)
Starkweather  (lyrics Jim Tucker)
Forever Motel (lyrics Jim Tucker)
Drivin' To Spring       
Justice Down South

Lorette Velvette, Charlie Burnham, Dave Soldier, Dog, Jonathan Kane, Mo Tucker

Tangerine Awkestra
Aliens Took My Mom
2000

Music composed by 2-9 year old children in Fort Greene Brooklyn, coached by Dave Soldier & Katie Down

Aliens invade from Jupiter
Spaceships on the Empire State Building
Volcanoes explode at the center of the earth
The aliens blow up Antartica
Minuet for recorder & violin
Aliens took my Mom
The navy bombs them
Twelve bar blues
All of the humans blow up
The aliens get nuclear bugs in them and pop
The aliens blow up Part II
Everything is soft

with Komar and Melamid
The People's Choice Music
1997

The most wanted song
The most unwanted song

Robert Dick & Soldier String Quartet
Jazz Standards on Mars
1997

arrangements by Soldier

India (J Coltrane)
Gazzeloni (E Dolphy)
Water Babies (W Shorter)
Machine Gun (J Hendrix)
Something sweet, something tender (E Dolphy)
Sometimes, perpetually (R Dick)
Three wishes (O Coleman)

Robert Dick, flute
Regina Carter, Dave Soldier, violins, Judith Insell viola, Dawn Avery, cello
Richard Bona, Mark Dresser, Kermit Driscoll, bass
Valerie Naranjo Percussion
Ben Perowsky, Steve Arguelles, Drums

The Kropotkins
1995

Cold Wet Steel (Soldier)
Shake 'Em on Down Fred (McDowell)
Everdream (Soldier/Rory Young)
On This Earth (Soldier)
Parchman Farm (Bukka White)
Something Crawling Round My Bed (Velevette)
Good Cheap Transportation (Bennett)
Coal Black Wind (Soldier)
Some of the Dust (Bennett)
The Nasadiya (Soldier)
Crow Jane (Soldier, based on anonymous song)

Lorette Velvette, Mark Feldman, Dave Soldier, Dog, Jonathan Kane, Samm Bennett

War Prayer
1994

Ultraviolet Railroad

1. Betonia where I fell into a trance
2. Rapture
3. I'm going upstairs, I'm going to take off all my clothes

Mark Feldman, violin
Erik Friedlander, cello
with the Manhattan Chamber Orchestra

Soldier String Quartet
She's Lightning When She Smiles
1994
arrangements by Soldier of blues 1926-56

Another Man Done Gone (Vera Hall)
Future Blues (Willie Brown)
Clouds in My Heart (Muddy Waters)
Black Snake Moan (Blind Lemon Jefferson)
Prelude (George Gershwin)
Moanin' at Midnight (Howlin' Wolf)
Uncloudy Day (Staples Singers)
Moon and Stars (Louise Johnson)
Sugar Momma (John Lee Hooker)
Somebody Help Poor Me (Robert Pete Williams)
Cypress Grove (Skip James)

vocals: Tiye' Giraud, Jason White, Bobby Radcliffe, Napua Davoy
strings: Laura Seaton, Dave Soldier (violin), Ron Lawrence, Mary Wooten
Lenny Pickett, sax & clarinet
Myra Melford, piano
Brad Jones, bass
Leroy Clouden, drums

Sojourner Truth
Soldier String Quartet
1991

Paris 1919 (John Cale, arr. Soldier)
Lonesome Train
Sojourner Truth
Ezekiel Saw the Wheel
String Quartet #1, The Impossible
    1. Open Hydrant
    2. Walking on the 3rd Rail
    3. Ron Visits the Polymer Lounge
    4. For His Bad Self
    5. She Put My Head Under the Water

Laura Seaton, Dave Soldier, Ron Lawrence, Michael Suchorsky (drums), Amina Claudine Myers and Shelley Hirsch, vocals

Romances From the Second Line
1990

Easy Street
Letter to Skip James
Die Heiterkeiten
Le Belvedere
Tillie's Punctured Romance
Christopher O'Riley, piano

Hockets & Inventions
Walter Hilse, organ

Soldier String Quartet Sequence Girls
1988

Sequence Girls
Five Little Monsters
Rondo Amos Tutuola
If I had it to give (I'd give it to him)
Prelude
20-20 Blues (Skip James)
Moon Goin' Down (Charlie Patton)
Country Blues #2 (Muddy Waters)

Laura Seaton, Dave Soldier, violins; Ron Lawrence, viola; Mary Wooten, cello; Ratso Harris, bass; Michael Suchorsky, drum

Soon to be released:

Thai Elephant Orchestra

Water Music

Miscellany or not on CDs

Matarile
for schoolchildren in Washington Heights and electronics

Marsh Fugue
for outdoor swamp sounds

songs perfromed by zebra finches on tiny synthesizers
Ciribini
Brass
Gamelan

song written by Da Hiphop Raksalz for their concert at Great Performers at Lincoln Center
We're famous (just like Mary J Blige)

Brainwave music (played by EEGs through a computer, with Brad Garton)
Trio for Brainwaves and Percussion
Alpha Wave Mix
Reading Stephen Colbert

TV show (hour long) from WHYY in Philly (March 2009) featuring a version of Trio for Brainwaves and Percussion, a solo by Dave, and discussion
played by Chuckie Joseph, Rich Robinson, and Adwoa

Letter to Ausonius
performed by Sequitur

Truckstop Girls
performed by the Kropotkins live on WFMU radio

for yet other music, visit the other webpages