It's rare that you come across a creative force like Preston Baransky. To hear his compositions is an experience all to itself. Not your typical composer or musician, he is an eclectic wonder, writing in many genres. From vibrant, hypnotic melange and ethnic tribal thunder to lullaby and retro-classical cinema soundtrack. Preston writes from a place that is in the way-gone-osphere, one of aloof meanderings and solid rythmic beat.
     Preston is a product of his influences and his his own influence. Grown up in Brooklyn, NY, he started his accordion  lessons at an early age and took flute-o-phone ( an occarina type instrument) in grade school.
     Today he doesn't play out very much, except for an occasional blues jam ( he is a very accomplished improvisor on the guitar) He spends his time in that zone where the music comes from,  that creative world in his head, writing music.

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Here is a recent review of Preston's work:

Blue Allegro - Nice writing. This would sound great arranged for small chamber orchestra or string quartet I believe. Very nice use of dissonance. The lead motif sound very much from the late classical/early romantic era. Nice work!

My Life is Music-

At the tender age of 9 I attended the esteemed and renowned Sandy Lane School of Music in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn, where I studied the fine art of the accordion for 4 years. Sang in the Glee Club in junior high and the mixed chorus in high school. Thanks Mr. Jacobs. After listening to standards and show tunes all my life, I heard the Beatles on a small transistor radio and it changed my life. I took up the guitar and bothered everyone with it, I played so much my fingers bled and the neighbors screamed for me to shut up!!! I was famous as being the kid across from Tilden High School who blasted his guitar. I wound up playing Ventures songs in Franks garage one day and we became the Rubbles. Hooked up with Mel , Baby Talk, Schwartz and recorded with him for a while. Played the Cafe Wha? just a year or two after Hendrix and Dylan. Well, then I joined The Eastern Gift, playing lead guitar again, and played the Borscht Belt, The Laurels Hotel and Country Club to be exact. Met a lot of characters there and some fine musicians, Bassist to Lawrence Welk, Tom Pedrini and Blood Sweat and Tears trumpeter Steve Satin, too bad it was torn down. I remember writing and recording on two tape decks, that is, I recorded one track then I played it back and played along with it for a second track, on and on until I had a complete song. Quite different from computer recording nowadays eh?

Thanks to my Pals:
"Dynamic" Mike, Nick Stickka, "Penthouse" Wayne, Valiant, Barry "Beri Beri" and Floutmouth Root.
Influences:
Beatles, Django, Spike Jones and Lord Buckley, Glen Miller, Benny Goodman, not to mention George and Eric, oops I mentioned them.

A Life in Music

Preston started taking accordion lessons at the Sandy Lane school of music, in Brooklyn, NY, as a child, and played solo recitals as well as being in an accordion band. While in his teens and early twenties he played lead guitar for two NY based bands, The Rubbles and the band with the ever changing name that was never officially "The Eastern Gift".He gigged at The Cafe Wha?, The Laurels Hotel and country club, Bar Mitzvahs, sweet sixteens and a dude ranch called DePitts, yes it was the pitts. During this time he became associated with Mr. Mel Schwartz, the composer of the 50's Jan and Dean hit Baby Talk" . Preston subsequently wrote two B sides to Mels A sides and recorded them with his band. All along Preston was experimenting with his own recordings, in fact his early experiments incorporated two tape decks, a Wolensack and a Sony, with which he bounceds tracks back and forth producing multitrack recordings of dubious quality.But, it worked and was an inspiration to pursue new and better techmniques. He has gone through a number of Teacs and Tascams and arrived in the age of Cubase with a resounding Thud! He says " Now instead of actually learning a part on a sax or violin, I can dial it in with a virtual instrument and it even sounds 1000 times better, because I really wasn't too good at those other instruments". This being said, Preston is a master at the Blues guitar and probably can play every Beatle's song by heart. To quote him " It was the Beatles who made me want to play guitar and it was Clapton who showed me (fuguratively) how to play it. There is a story of how he got his first guitar: After hearing the Beatles he asked his mother if she would buy him a guitar and she, after having spent a lot of money on accordion lessons, asked if he would play it and not give it up, to which he replied, Yes. Well, not only did he play it, but, never stopped playing it, even till his fingers bled. He was known as that kid, across the street from the high school with the loud electric guitar.
So now at this juncture in his life he is putting his music "out there". His is an eclectic variety, the product of an unusual influence of many genres. Having been brought up with an old 78RPM and recordings of Jolson, Crosby, swing, show tunes and British invasion has spawned a style all his own. Preston is affiliated with BMI and Pump Audio.

My Life in Music

It's rare that you come across a creative force like Preston Baransky. To hear his compositions is an experience all to itself. Not your typical composer or musician, he is an eclectic wonder, writing in many genres. From vibrant, hypnotic melange and ethnic tribal thunder to lullaby and retro-classical cinema soundtrack. Preston writes from a place that is in the way-gone-osphere, one of aloof meanderings and solid rythmic beat.
     Preston is a product of his influences and his his own influence. Grown up in Brooklyn, NY, he started his accordion  lessons at an early age and took flute-o-phone ( an occarina type instrument) in grade school. His very first recitals were "The Snake Charmer" in PS244 and "Miami Beach Rhumba" at the Sandy Lane accordion school.
     Then the 60's came and as lead guitar for several rock groups, he played for a living. Parties, dances, country clubs in the Borscht Belt. Even at that time he experimented, bandying about, bouncing tracks between tape decks to get multitrack recordings.
     Today he doesn't play out very much, except for an occasional blues jam ( he is a very accomplished improvisor on the guitar) He spends his time in that zone where the music comes from,  that creative world in his head, writing music.