Steve Rashid
Steve Rashid is an Emmy winning composer, a performer, producer and recording engineer. He holds a B.A. in Music and Philosophy from Ripon College and a Masters Degree in Music Composition from Northwestern University. He has composed and performed in many musical contexts and in many styles throughout his career. In 1991 Rashid founded his studio, Woodside Avenue Music Productions, through which he has produced and recorded his own music as well as projects for hundreds of other artists and labels, spanning jazz, folk, classical, bluegrass, gospel, country and pop music.
Film
Most recently, Rashid has scored two films for Julia Louis-Dreyfus and her husband, writer/director Brad Hall. Generosity of Eye (premiered at Lincoln Center in NYC in May 2014) tells the story of the transformation of the art collection owned by William Louis-Dreyfus (Julia’s father) into education for African American children, through Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone. It is available to be viewed for free at generosityofeye.com.
In 2011 Rashid composed the score for Picture Paris, a short film written and directed by Mr. Hall, starring Ms. Louis-Dreyfus. Picture Paris premiered in January 2012 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and was selected to screen in the best in fest “Third Weekend” program. Roger Ebert’s blog reported the film “looks beautiful ... with a terrific soundtrack.” Picture Paris subsequently screened at other notable film festivals including the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC (where it was a Critic’s Choice), and aired on HBO in 2012 and 2013. It is available for purchase on iTunes, where it debuted as #1 in Short Films in 2014.
Live Performance
Rashid is the creator of a jazz performance series, Steve Rashid Presents, in Evanston, Illinois. Conceived as a “house concert in a club”, the series focuses on intimate duets and trios, drawing from the deep well of extraordinary jazz artists in the Chicago area. Rashid serves as the series host and is an occasional performer. Each performance is streamed live over the internet. See the series video archive here.
Television
Rashid received a 2009 Emmy Award for his score of the historical documentary, Lost & Found: Legacy of USS Lagarto, which first aired on Chicago Public Television. Rashid has scored two other Emmy Award-winning documentaries, Angels Too Soon, and Leopold and Loeb: Love and Murder in Chicago, both for Chicago Public Television. He has also scored shows for the A&E, Bio, History Channel, Weather Channel, Animal Planet, Discovery and OLN television networks.
Theater
In December, 2011, Rashid was composer/music director for the Practical Theatre’s critically acclaimed comedy, The Vic & Paul Show. The Chicago Tribune called Rashid “rather impish and thoroughly amusing.” Rashid has twice received the Joseph Jefferson Award for creating music for Chicago theater (Sylvia’s Real Good Advice [composer/co-lyricist] and The Good Times Are Killing Me [music director]).
Online
Rashid’s web project, cafeunderscore.com, is a whimsical online gallery which displays a collection of Rashid’s musical portraits of people observed in coffee shops. Conceived as artist sketches done with music, Café Underscore has been featured in the Chicago Tribune and on Chicago Public Radio.
Dance
Rashid regularly composes music for dance, largely in collaboration with his wife, choreographer Béa Rashid. This work includes a full length ballet based on C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, premiered in 2006 and now performed biennially by the Evanston Dance Ensemble.
Recordings For Families
Rashid has extensive experience creating recordings for younger audiences, and his work in the field of family entertainment has received over 25 national awards, including the Parents’ Choice Gold Award, the ALA Notable Children’s Recording, and the National Parenting Publications Gold Award. His stage and recorded work have been featured in national publications including Billboard, Variety and The New York Times, and on broadcasts ranging from Chicago radio and television to The Today Show and the BBC. WGN Radio called Rashid "a Chicago treasure."
He was a 2004 recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Ripon College.