John Luttrell

John Luttrell is a composer, producer, singer-songwriter, and performer. His music spans genres including solo works on guitar and piano, ambient and progressive rock, as well as scores for media and films. A true "citizen of the world" John was born in Venezuela in 1957 where he lived until his family moved to the US, the first of many cultural influences that appear in his music. Luttrell began his musical journey playing piano when his family moved from the US to Tripoli, Libya. After a few disappointing lessons, self-inspired, John played by ear, teaching himself piano and mandolin. In the 70s the influence of Jimi Hendrix, Carlos Santana, and finally Led Zeppelin fueled John's desire to get his first guitar. His family relocated to Lagos, Nigeria where he was influenced by the Afrobeat rhythms of musicians like King Sunny Ade, which you can hear in his compositions today (Earth Dance). At 14, he attended The American School in Switzerland which became his opportunity test his wings. During the years there he jammed with roommate and future bandmate, Dave Veirs (Interstellar Dust) and became immersed in the music of progressive rock groups such as Yes, ELP, Pink Floyd, Genesis, The Moody Blues, and Mike Oldfield. At the height of the 70s British rock explosion John moved to London and joined a band called Chillum, playing both guitar and organ. Luttrell went from London to Phoenix, Arizona where he studied electronics engineering, to explore his interest in synthesizers and electronic music. In the 80s John played guitar and sang in the Los Angeles-based prog rock trio Helios with boarding school friend Dave Veirs on keyboard and guitar, and Tony Betino on drums, playing numerous gigs in the LA area. John established his own indie label "OtterSong Records" and production company “BasisMedia Communication” in Southern California in the 90's while playing numerous gigs around LA. 2000 saw the release of Underwater Flying Lessons, which was primarily new age piano, with guitar and ambient textures. This was followed up by A Sense of Impending Levitation, which gained popularity with the track “Journey to Farpoint” on college radio stations, especially KSBR in Mission Viejo, California, on the Morning Breeze with host Donna Jo “DJ” Thornton. John was a regular on KSBR’s Morning Breeze Cruise on the Ocean Institute’s Sea Explorer in Dana Point, California, playing his music live on the open sea to dolphins, whales, enthralling the lucky listeners aboard. During this time, he performed at other venues in Southern California, often collaborating with artists such as Dov, Kori Linae Carothers, Jeff Oster and others. In 2005 John collaborated with Russian composer Alex Tiuniaev on the ambient rock project Garden Hose Universe, releasing the EP Falling. In 2007 Luttrell released The Corridors of Time, which originated as the score for the short film The Box, by Steve Deeble, eventually became an official album release. The 2014 release from John is The Dream Exchange, which features John prominently on guitar with acoustic and electric ambient instrumental tracks that follow the theme of the album – the exchange of dreams. The pronunciation of Luttrell is LUTtrell (British) rather than lutTRELL (French). The accent is on LUT, which rhymes with "NUT" and ends the same as "electrical".