DON ROSLER — SONGS, CREDITS & COLLABORATIONS
Don Rosler is a New York songwriter, lyricist and producer. His credits include lyrics for Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy-nominated VOCAbuLarieS, Rosler’s Recording Booth, and Christine’s Refrigerator with John Margolis. This site collects selected songs, videos, reviews, press, credits, and links to Spotify and SoundCloud.
BIO
Up above are batches of songs I wrote — or more often, co-wrote — with a wide crew of musicians, songwriters, and composers (a fair share of Grammy, Tony, and Emmy nominees and winners among them). Some brought me aboard, others I happily roped in, including Linda Goldstein, Bobby McFerrin, Roger Treece, John Margolis, Jay “dogbrain” Ward, Peter Valentine, Jim Gately, Terry Radigan, Everett Bradley, Jon Spottiswoode, Jeremy Sisto, Gary Schreiner, Kathena Bryant, and many more.
Most of this work was collaborative — usually me stoking the lyrics and concepts, sometimes co-writing music or pitching in on production and arrangements. Now and then I wrote and produced the whole enchilada. Often it was all hands on deck across words and music — especially with John Margolis and Jay Ward.
A few were commissions. Some landed on albums, in films, on stage, in a doc, or on NPR. Some found homes. Others are still at the song pound, waiting for forever ears. A bunch I hatched from scratch — no one asked me to — and some of those even managed to fly.
Subject-wise? You know, the usual: faces on refrigerator doors, late-night loners calling sports radio, roofers breaking into song, boasters on rollercoasters, a ditty from the electric chair… or a fifty-piece choir suddenly channeling ancient Latin, Zulu, Arabic, and Gaelic.
I also stuck my neck out with a few love songs. Hell, I even co-wrote six Christmas tunes (and, to paraphrase Maxwell Smart, “…and loved every minute of it”).
Some of the core projects include Rosler’s Recording Booth, Bobby McFerrin: VOCAbuLarieS, and Christine’s Refrigerator with John Margolis — all different in scope, sound, and story.
Along the way came song songs co-written with Everett Bradley for his Holidelic holiday albums, co-writes for Peter Valentine’s To Whom It May Concern (title track, RIFF on EMI, produced by Fred Hammond); songs for stage pieces including Kenneth Branagh’s Public Enemy and Do What You Gotta Do; commissions for the great L.A. Master Chorale and stunning Chicago Children’s Choir ; and soundtrack placements that include Som Livre / Global albums that sold a lot more than I expected. Oh — and one national jingle co-written with Mr. Margolis, a song on a “Kitchen Sisters” release, and I bunch I can't remember (which is either a good or a bad thing).
So it’s a mix of co-writes, real commissions, pretend commissions, and stray pups.
The larger batch lives up on SoundCloud. Many are also on Spotify — unless they weren’t meant to be — but since I’m not a performing artist, it’s trickier to show off as one there.
Others were one-offs, part of larger collaborations, or just songs that insisted on being written, for better or worse!
SELECTED REVIEWS & QUOTES:
Reviews, press excerpts, and comments on some of Don Rosler’s songs, lyrics, collaborations, and recordings.
ROSLER’S RECORDING BOOTH
"Rosler’s Recording Booth is a concept album of story-songs written and conceived by Don Rosler, co-produced with Terry Radigan and Jim Gately, and featuring multiple vocalists.
“This recording is less a hilarious work of audio/musical theater than a touchingly poetic, expansively novelistic one… the album is elaborately detailed, creates a world. It flows seamlessly, while rewarding attention. It’s a trip.”
— Howard Mandel, Jazz Beyond Jazz / NPR critic
“…all about connection: the way all those lonely voices reach out in the wee hours when they should be fast asleep.”
— Ken Plutnicki, The New York Times
“Darkly surreal and often quirkily charming, Rosler’s Recording Booth is one of the most original album concepts in recent months.”
— Lucid Culture
“...ingeniously conceived... *****”
— Andy Propst, TheaterMania
“Very impressed with the interweaving of the authentic coin-op recordings with the new songs… like a theatrical production.”
— Alan Dein, BBC Radio
“Rosler has added another off-ramp on the Great American Songbook highway.”
— Hans Werksman, Here Comes The Flood
BOBBY McFERRIN: VOCAbuLarieS
Don Rosler contributed lyrics to Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy-nominated VOCAbuLarieS, conceived and produced by Linda Goldstein in collaboration with Bobby McFerrin, Roger Treece and Don Rosler.
“There is purity and bliss in the music as well as in the lyrics that were written by Don Rosler.”
— Jean-Claude Elias, The Jordan Times
“Seven years in the making, this is a kaleidoscopic celebration of the human voice… The end result has that wow factor which signals an instant classic.”
— John Eyles, BBC
“Easily McFerrin’s finest moment on record as well as his most ambitious.”
— Thom Jurek, AllMusic
“Rises like a melodious Tower of Babel, exalting the incomparable beauty of universal harmony.”
— Christopher Loudon, JazzTimes
“...a veritable symphony of voices.”
— People Magazine
John Margolis: Christine's Refrigerator
Christine’s Refrigerator, performed and arranged by John Margolis and co-written/co-produced by Don Rosler, became a longtime favorite on WNYC and was later featured by The New York Times and The Kitchen Sisters.
“...the response to this has been overwhelming... a moving, interesting... meaningful, beautiful piece of music.”
— Jonathan Schwartz, WNYC
“Experiencing Christine’s Refrigerator is one great adventure.”
— Bob Telson
“Sometimes funny, often heartbreaking, always brilliant... I feel like my ears just received a big jolt of innocence. Superb all the way!”
— Alain Mallet
“Christine’s Refrigerator is filled with lovely, soulful, delicious art.”
— Hugh Prestwood