Patrick Gleeson, a pioneering figure in electronic music who helped integrate synthesizers into jazz and popular music, died on July 19 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 91. The cause of death was arterial stenosis, according to his wife, Charmaine McClarie.
Born on November 9, 1934, in Seattle, Gleeson developed an early interest in music, beginning piano lessons at age six and cultivating a passion for jazz by the third grade. After graduating from Seattle Preparatory School, he earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Washington and later completed a doctorate in 18th-century English literature at the University of California, Berkeley.
Gleeson’s transition from academia to music came during the 1960s in San Francisco. While working as an English instructor at San Francisco State College, he experienced a defining moment under the influence of psychedelic drugs, inspiring him to pursue electronic music. He taught himself to play and program early modular synthesizers—complex, large-scale instruments requiring manual patching of circuits—and soon became a sought-after collaborator in the burgeoning jazz fusion scene.
His breakthrough came through collaborations with jazz keyboardist Herbie Hancock, including on the critically acclaimed albums “Crossings” (1972) and “Sextant” (1973). Gleeson’s innovative use of the ARP 2600 synthesizer helped establish the instrument as a legitimate and expressive tool for live jazz performance. He toured extensively with Hancock’s Mwandishi band, embracing the challenges of improvising with early analog synthesizers that lacked features common to modern electronic instruments.
In 1969, Gleeson co-founded the San Francisco recording studio Different Fur Trading Company with John Vieira, which attracted artists ranging from Taj Mahal and Van Morrison to David Byrne and Brian Eno. Gleeson was also prominently involved in film scoring, serving as the lead synthesist on Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film “Apocalypse Now.”
Throughout his career, Gleeson contributed to over 80 albums across genres, working with jazz figures such as Joe Henderson as well as pop and rock artists including Pablo Cruise, Dr. Hook, and Sammy Hagar. He released six solo albums, notably “Beyond the Sun: An Electronic Portrait of Holst’s The Planets” (1976), which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Engineered Album in the classical category. Influential electronic musician Wendy Carlos praised Gleeson’s work for its technical sophistication and musical sensibility.
Gleeson’s legacy lies in his pioneering role in bringing synthesizers into mainstream music forms, expanding the sonic possibilities of jazz and electronic sound. Reflecting on his career, he emphasized the importance of creativity over technology, noting that the value of electronic instruments depends largely on the player’s approach and imagination.
He is survived by his wife, Charmaine McClarie, and a daughter, Sydney Santillana Gleeson.