Meet Alexander Burke | Composer/Musician/Producer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Alexander Burke and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Alexander, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
It never occurred to be to start a business. I got my first record deal at 14, hired by Second City Chicago at 18 touring the world, playing with my musical heroes, playing jazz in NYC and then composing for films in LA. I worked incredibly hard and somehow always fell into work but was never proactive with my career. I had great years and I had difficult years. Dave Kaduk and I met when we were randomly assigned as roommates in the Columbia College Chicago dorms and quickly became friends. Throughout my career he was always a sounding board and guide helping me navigate business which he is a master in. I helped explain to him advanced counterpoint and how the Tristan Chord worked. He never actually asked those questions and acted like he didn’t care but I know deep down he wanted to know.

We went from discussing music and business monthly to weekly to daily. Dave started to see holes in the market and we came up with ways to fill them. That was how our company Coffee Car Music began.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
As a composer and musician I’ve had one of the most eclectic careers of anyone. I preformed with Bob Dylan for his AppleTV Concert film “Shadow Kingdom” recorded on albums with Dionne Warwick, Fiona Apple, Margaret Cho, David Lynch and Billy Ray Cyrus produced records for Ben Lee, Garfunkel and Oates and Jill Sobuel, toured with Second City Chicago, Billy Ray Cyrus, Veronica Swift and Save Ferris, composed for NIke commercials, musical directed the MTV Movie awards, played with Michael Buble for his Xmas special, composed the scores for the cult horror movies “The Sound of Violence” and “The Blue Rose” the doc “Haunters” The TV series “A Mortified Guide” “Inn Love” “Frank TV” and “HBO’s Funny or Die” and written songs for the soundtracks to “The Gift” and “New Girl” and “iron Man 3”

All this diverse experiences allows me to be one of the most unique and eclectic composers working today

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
My recording studio is my happy place. I would start there. I might have more keyboards then guitar center at this point! Then head to Project Bloom coffee on Melrose. I’m a coffee addict and I have not found anyplace in LA close to them. From there I love to wander aimlessly around downtown LA getting lost. Especially the arts district. The great thing about LA is it feels like everyone lives here. Largo is one of the greatest venues in the world and no matter what day it is, there’s always something amazing going on. If it’s summer the Hollywood Bowl, the Greek and the Troubadour are musts. I love all the history you can feel walking into those places. A perfect day for me is playing the Troubadour and having a meal at Dan Tana’s with friends before I hit the stage. My first week in LA I was taken to Dan Tana’s by a friend and Harry Dean Staton was there singing Mexican love songs in Spanish. Was the best welcome to LA moment I could have imagined.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Dave Kaduk who I started Coffee Car Music with. Having people in your life you can always count on allows you to achieve more then you ever thought possible. I would take the biggest risks knowing that if everything fell apart I would always have a home with him and his wife Andrea who I have also known since college. Having friends like them gave me the confidence to move across the country and peruse my dreams.

Website: https://coffeecarmusic.com/

Instagram: burke.alexander

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/coffee-car-music/posts/?feedView=all

Image Credits
All pictures taken in the recording studio are by Michelle Shires