Library Person
Patrick Gleeson
American synthesist who brought a Moog modular into Herbie Hancock's Mwandishi band and co-founded Different Fur Recording Studio.
Born November 9, 1934, Patrick Gleeson taught 18th-century English literature at San Francisco State University before leaving academia for music full-time; hearing Wendy Carlos’s Switched-On Bach (1968) led him to take up a Moog III modular. He co-founded Different Fur Recording Studio in San Francisco’s Mission District and, hired by Herbie Hancock as a synthesizer technician for Crossings (1972) and Sextant (1973), was soon asked to join Hancock’s Mwandishi band full-time, touring on an ARP 2600 and pioneering live synthesizer performance in jazz. He later scored film work, including leading the synthesizer team on Apocalypse Now, and continued releasing solo electronic recordings until his death on July 19, 2026, at 91.