Orbit | Updated: October 11, 2026
Born: April 17, 1945 | Died: January 3, 2026
Stephen Braude (1945-2026), was a composer, pianist, philosopher, photographer and internationally recognized scholar whose life moved naturally between music, ideas and creative exploration. Known to friends and colleagues as "The Jazz Philosopher," Braude spent much of his life composing music, while pursuing a distinguished academic career.
Music was part of Braude's life from the beginning. He started playing piano at the age of two, had education in classical music, but early in life turned to jazz. He grew up in deeply musical family: both of his parents were opera singers, and the uncle violinist.
Although philosophy became his profession, music remained his great lifelong passion. He had a jazz quartet in his youth, played and privately recorded in Cincinnati and Baltimore, and later started composing. As a pianist and composer, Braude developed a distinctive musical voice shaped by his passion for jazz, and an instinct for memorable melodies, unexpected harmonies, unusual combinations of sound and rhythmic experimentation.
Braude studied Philosophy and English at Oberlin College and at University of London, and received his PH.D. in Philosophy from University of Massachusetts Amherst in 1971. He worked for 41 years as a professor at the University of Maryland Baltimore County, and became an internationally recognized researcher in philosophy of mind and parapsychology.
He served as a president of Parapsychological Association, and for 13 years as editor-in-chief of the Journal of Scinetific Exploration. He published more then 100 philosophical essays and eleven books, in many of them commenting on music as well. Braude was also an accomplished 3D photographer whose work received numerous awards.
Yet, behind the scholar was always the pianist and composer.
In 2020. Braude began an ambitious project to record his original compositions with Serbian musicians Ljubomir - Buba Stojanovic and Miodrag - Misko Jovanovic ( known as Yamara band). The project brought new life to music Braude had written over many years, combining his own piano performances and compositions with arrangements and performances by his collaborators.
Buba Stojanovic passed away in 2024 at the age of 65.
Stephen Braude passed away in 2026 at the age of 80. He left behind 65 completed compositions and an extraordinary musical legacy still waiting to be heard. His wife, Gina Ruk is now working with producer David Rodriguez to preserve, complete and release this body of music, bringing Braude's compositions to audience beyond his lifetime.
The first album from this project is Big Dipper.
Big Dipper captures the many sides of Braude's musical imagination: sophisticated and playful, melodic and unpredictable, sometimes haunting and sometimes humorous. Rather than treating his compositions as artifacts from the past, the project allows them to continue evolving through the performances and creative contributions of collaborators and a new generation of musicians.
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The absolute best in new and independent alternative music. – Buzz Slayers
The pianist and composer had a splendidly excessive way of requesting a tango. His actual writing is economical: short melodic gestures, pauses, quick ornamental turns, notes allowed to linger. On Big Dipper, completed with Yamara Band and producer David Rodriguez, the eccentricity begins inside those phrases. The elaborate arrangements have something substantial to play with. – Gabriel Rivera/Indie Boulevard
At 36 minutes, the album is compact and never outstays its welcome
