Tom Constanten (born March 19, 1944 in Long Branch, New Jersey) is an American keyboardist, best known for playing with the Grateful Dead from 1968–1970.
Known as T.C., he studied music at University of California, Berkeley, where he met Phil Lesh. He and Lesh studied composition with Luciano Berio, the Italian modernist composer, and both were influenced by Mahler. Constanten also studied piano with Mario Feninger. In 1967, after graduation, Con...
more
Tom Constanten (born March 19, 1944 in Long Branch, New Jersey) is an American keyboardist, best known for playing with the Grateful Dead from 1968–1970.
Known as T.C., he studied music at University of California, Berkeley, where he met Phil Lesh. He and Lesh studied composition with Luciano Berio, the Italian modernist composer, and both were influenced by Mahler. Constanten also studied piano with Mario Feninger. In 1967, after graduation, Constanten went to Europe to study with Karlheinz Stockhausen and Pierre Boulez.
Though not yet a member of the Grateful Dead, T.C. played prepared piano on the group's second album, Anthem of the Sun. He formally joined the band in November 1968, to supplement Ron "Pigpen" McKernan's organ playing. He played keyboards on 1969's Aoxomoxoa release, as well as on the Live/Dead live album.
Constanten amicably left the Grateful Dead in January 1970. While he had successfully contributed to their complex experimental music, his instrumental style, at...
less
