Todd Cochran

Todd Cochran (born September 3, 1951) is an American pianist, composer, keyboardist, essayist and conceptual artist. Early in his career he was also professionally known as Bayeté. Cochran started his career as a teenager with saxophonist John Handy[1]. Two years later he joined vibraphonist Bobby Hutcherson’s[2] Quartet, composing and performing on a benchmark record for Hutcherson "Head On[2]" that contributed an augmented winds and rhythm ensemble to the evolving contemporary modal jazz, avant-garde sound of the 1970s. Cochran’s first solo project "Worlds Around the Sun"[2] became a #1 jazz album and marked his entree into the jazz conversation. From the mid 1970s forward Todd has experimented with and incorporated synthesizers, electronic and conceptual music in his creative projects while collaborating with a wide range of artists in the genres of jazz, art rock, pop, R&B, and twenty-first-century classical.

He released two albums on Prestige Records in 1972 and 1973.[3] He was keyboardist and lead singer of Automatic Man from 1976 - 1978. He was also a member of Fuse One, a coalition of jazz musicians who released two albums on CTI Records in 1980 and 1981.[2]