Boris Midney

Soviet-born American musician, producer, composer, arranger, engineer and conductor. Born: October 22, 1937 in in Moscow, USSR (now Russia). He was born in Moscow to a conductor and pianist father and classical singer mother. He studied classical composition and clarinet also teaching himself to play saxophone. In 1964 he defected from the USSR via the US embassy in Japan. After arriving in New York, he formed The Russian Jazz Quartet with the bassist [a534151]. Later, Midney became a prolific composer and producer of Disco music although he rarely was credited under his own name. He is among the principal architects of the Eurodisco sound. One of the first to exploit the full potential of 48-track recording, his trademark blend of strings, horn and percussion created a sound as deep and lush as any heard during the disco era. He was a classically-trained composer who started out writing film scores.Turning to disco, however, he discovered his true calling. Working under a number of guises he produced an enormously prolific body of work from his New York City, Eras Recording Studio.