Brian Keane - New York: A Documentary Film, Vol. 6 (Official Soundtrack)

New York: A Documentary Film is one of the crowning achievements in the four decade multi award winning film and music collaboration of director Ric Burns and composer Brian Keane. The series originally aired as five two-hour episodes in 1999 to an audience of over 20 million television viewers on the PBS network, with two subsequent episodes added, premiering coincidentally, just weeks after the September 11. 2001 World Trade Center attack, catapulting the series to an estimated audience of over 60 million, and one of the all time classic and best selling documentary series in PBS history. Ric Burns’ accompanying book with James Sanders sold over 125,000 copies. A subsequent award winning documentary special about the World Trade Center was added as an eighth episode in 2003.

New York: A Documentary Film was a major critical success right from the beginning. The Daily News called the series, “a masterpiece;” The New York Times called Brian Keane’s score “piercingly beautiful;” The Los Angeles Times hailed the music as “indelibly haunting; simply a breathtaking masterpiece;” Newsweek called it “masterful;” and Chicago Tribune called it “unforgettable.”

23 years after episode 8 aired in 2003, two more two hour episodes (9 and 10), were added to the iconic series to premiere in September of 2026, covering New York's remarkable continuing history of resilience and change as the leading urban laboratory of the world. New York began as a place where people from anywhere in the world could come to find a home in which they could reinvent themselves. New York has been that place for centuries, growing to the massive city, and beacon to the world it is today. In so doing, New York has reinvented not only itself, but America and the world.

New York: A Documentary Film, Original Soundtrack, on Valley Entertainment, is the complete epic soundtrack of all ten 2 hour episodes of the critically acclaimed music to the New York: A Documentary Film series composed by Grammy, Oscar, and multiple Emmy winning composer, Brian Keane. The soundtrack includes brand new music just recorded for the new episodes recorded in 2026, as well as the classic original music from the series which began nearly three decades ago starting in 1999. This is music created with the best musicians from New York from several eras, and like New York itself, is still as awe inspiring and timeless today as when it was created.

Credits;

Music produced, arranged, and orchestrated by Brian Keane

The New York Orchestra:
featured vocalist on "City of Dreams” - Melba Moore
additional vocalists - Jennifer Aurelia, Sharon Bryant, Dennis Collins, Janice Dempsey, Ada Dyer, Eugene Ruffolo

Rhythm Section:
acoustic piano - Cyrus Chestnut, Brian Keane, Brian Klarman, Kevin Purrone, Jacqueline Schwab
harp - Amy Berger, Emily Mitchell
Quattro, Requinto - Yomo Toro
acoustic guitars - Brian Keane 
charango - Brian Keane
bouzouki - Brian Keane
mandolin - Jay Ungar
banjo - Eric Weissberg
electric guitars - Tim DeHuff, Charlie Karp, Brian Keane, Rohn Lawrence
slide guitar - Brian Keane
jazz guitar - Brian Keane
stand up bass - Phil Bowler, Dezron Douglas, Jay Elfenbein, Leo Huppert
electric bass - Dave Anderson, Kevin Jenkins
salsa bass - Leo Huppert
drums - Carl Allen, Thierry Arpino, Jonathan Blake, Joe Bonadio, Arti Dixson
percussion - Brian Keane, Jerry Mall, Emedin Rivera
timpani - Dan Haskins
orchestral percussion - Thierry Arpino, Arti Dixson, Warren Stein
bodhran - Anna Colliton
hip hop programming - Chris “Big Dog” Davis
singing bowls - Terry Eldh
accordion - Gil Goldstein
button accordion - John Whelan
synths and keyboards - Nick Bariluk, Brian Keane, Joey Melotti, Michael Terry
sound design - Jeff Frez-Albrecht, Ron Bach, Brian Keane, Steve Roach

Winds:
Irish whistle - Joanie Madden
flutes - Lawrence Feldman, Rhonda Larsen, Joanie Madden
oboe/ english horn - Dennis Anderson, Robert Ingliss
clarinet/ bass clarinet - Chris Cullen, Lawrence Feldman, Jo-Ann Sternberg
bassoon - Michael Rabinowitz
soprano saxophone - Dave Mann, Marion Meadows
alto saxophone - Lawrence Feldman, Bill Holloman
tenor saxophones - Lawrence Feldman, Bill Holloman, Marion Meadows, Ada Rovatti
baritone saxophone - Bill Holloman
pipes - Jerry O’Sullivan

Horns:
trumpets - Randy Brecker, Freddie Hendrix, Tony Kadleck, Lou Soloff
trombones - Mike Boschen, Michael Davis, Steven Davis, Tom Malone, Jim Pugh
french horns - Christopher Komer, Peter Gordon, Dan Culpepper

Strings:
violin soloists - Jorge Avila, Marshall Coid, Eileen Ivers, Kenny Kosek, Suliman Tekalli, Nikita Yermak, Robert Zubrycki
section violins - Jorge Avila, Helene Bergman, Roxanne Bergman, Kurt Coble, Marshall Coid, Thierry DeLucas, Jeff Ellenberger, Aloysia Friedman, Lilit Gampel, Winterton Garvey, Marilyn Gibson, Ann Gillette, Michael Gillette, Bryan Hernandez-Luch, Katie Hyun, Joanna Jenner, Shan Jiang, Gregor Kitzis, Robert Lawrence, Michael Levin, Elizabeth Nielson, Suzy Perelman, Marilyn Reynolds, Susan Shumway, Dale Struckenbruck, Suliman Tekalli, Jim Tsao, Peter Vanderwater, Paul Woodiel, Nikita Yermak, Robert Zubrycki
section violas -  Sarah Adams, Ron Carbone, David Cerutti, David Creswell, Ralph Farris, Christine Ims, Jill Jaffe, Samuel Kephart, Peggy McAdams, Tanner Menees, Nardo Poy, Ann Roggen, Leslie Tompkins, Katie Von Braun
cello soloist - Dan Barrett
electric 8-string cello - David Darling
section cellos - Daniel Barrett, Sarah Carter, Kate Dillingham, Ellen Hassman, Vivian Israel, Kirsten Jermè, Ani Kalayjian, Jonathan Spitz, Bruce Wang
section basses -  Joe Bongiorno, Greg Chudzik, Jay Elfenbein, Leo Huppert, Lou Paer, Peter Weitzner

Ancient Instruments:
vielle - Tina Chancy - vielle, viola da gamba
Jay Elfenbein - viola da gamba
Grant Herried - lute, theorbo
Priscilla Herried – recorders
Paul Shipper - percussion, guitar, crumhorn
Tom Zajac - hammer dulcimer, crumhorn

Conductors - Brian Keane, Mark Shapiro

Copyists - Don Wallace. Frank Perri, Bill Holloman Jr.

Music recorded and mixed in 1999, 2001, 2003, and 2026, at Brian Keane Music, Inc. Studios, Monroe, CT,

engineered by Jeff Frez-Albrecht, Tom Skarupa, Keith Chirgwin, Jamie Bahr, and Daniel Rowe.

Digital editing by Jeff Frez-Albrecht, Keith Chirgwin, and Jamie Bahr.

Music mixed by Brian Keane, Tom Bates, Jeffrey Lesser, Jeff Frez-Albrecht, and Keith Chirgwin.

Additional recording at Carriage House Recording Studio, Stamford, CT,

engineered by Sean Donaher, Jeff Frez-Albrecht, Brian Keane, Phil Magnotti, and Johnny Montagnese;

Quad Recording, New York, NY, Ron Bach engineer; 

Clinton Recording Studio, New York, NY, Troy Halderson engineer, assisted by Mark Fraunfelder

Sear Sound, New York, NY, Tom Schick, Steve Sacco engineers

Manhattan Beach Studios, New York, NY, Daniel Lawrence engineer.

Mastered by Scott Hull at Masterdisk

Additional music furnished by Score To Picture at Source Audio, a music library division of Brian Keane Music, Inc.

studio production coordinators - Bonnie Erickson, Ann Marie Pascale

2-VLT-15397