Background
Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in the Charleston, South Carolina suburb of Goose Creek.
composer record producer jazz musician
Belden was born in Evanston, Illinois, and raised in the Charleston, South Carolina suburb of Goose Creek.
He studied saxophone at the University of South Carolina and later attended the University of North Texas before joining the Woody Herman band.
He may be best-known for his Grammy Award winning jazz orchestral recording, Black Dahlia. As producer he is mostly associated with the seminal reissue of the recordings by Miles Davis for Columbia Records. In 2008, he arranged and produced Miles from India, a world fusion music recording based on the compositions of Miles Davis for which he assembled a group made up of Davis alumni and musicians from India.
In addition to his work as arranger, composer, conductor and A & R director, Belden contributed numerous liner notes for noted recordings, such as "Lou"s Blues" by Lou Marini and the Magic City Jazz Orchestra.
In early 2015 Belden became the first American musician in 35 years to bring a band from the United States of America to perform in Iran. Belden died of a heart attack on May 20, 2015, at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan.
He was 58.