Tom Schmidt is director and founder of Karme Thegsum Choyang Music. He began his music education in 1957 at age eight and continues today with the study, practice and teaching of Tibetan sacred insruments to western students. He was a student of the bass violin under Charlie Haden from 1970-72 and Alvin Brehm of the New York Philharmonic in the fall of 1972. In January 1973 he moved to Woodstock, New York where he joined the Gene Dinwiddie Jazz Quartet, became studio bassist and assitant to Karl Berger, founder of the Creative Music Studio and studied another year with Miles Davis bassist, Dave Holland.

Notable musicians Tom has worked and/or recorded with are Jack DeJohnette, Dave Holland, Bob Moses, Sam Rivers, Cyro Babtista, Jumma Santos, Garret List, Ingrid Sertso, Steve Gorn, Kalaparusha, Lee Konitz, Jathiya Abdul Samad, Abdul Munir Fatah, Claude Ranger, Dave Liebman, Eric Kloss, Ed Blackwell, Steve Haas, Barry Altschul, Ray Appleton, Philip Wilson, Dan Brubeck, Carlos Ward, Peter Apfelbaum, Jeanne Lee, Perry Robinson, Betty MacDonald, Franklin Kiermyer, Don Byron, David Sancious, John Lindberg, Frederick Rjefski, Jeff Buckley, Buckethead, Marilyn Crispell and Tani Tabbal.

L. to R. Unnamed producer, Jack DeJohnette, Naomi, Tom Schmidt - Allaire Studios

During the summers of 1975 and 1976 the Creative Music Studio held workshops and concerts at Naropa University in Boulder Colorado where a connection with Tibetan Buddhism was established. Today he regularly works with Karl Berger, Ingrid Sertso, Larry Chernicoff's Jazz & Jest, Taino Clave Mundial and Tibetan musicians Dhondup Namgyal Khorko and Penpa Tsering of the Tibetan Institute of Performing Arts (TIPA).

Karme Thegsum Choyang Music performed the opening ceremonies of Woodstock '94 playing traditional Tibetan liturgical music for an audience of more than 300,000 people. In 1997, Schmidt acted as liaison between the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery and Martin Scorsese's film Kundun, about the life of the XIV Dalai Lama, when scenes were shot in the main shrine room of the monastery.

In the summer of 1999 Schmidt traveled to Tibet, China, Nepal and India to further his research of Kagyu sacred music and recorded ceremonies at the Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim. On December 28th 2001, Tom recorded the Karma Pakshi Chant with His Holiness the 17th Gyalwa Karmapa and 3000 monks in Bodhgaya India, under the Bodhi tree where Lord Sakyamuni Buddha attained enlightenment.

In 2004, Schmidt produced a benefit concert for Karma Triyana Dharmachakra that included Philip Glass as principle guest artist and in 2005, a second benefit concert with Lori Anderson. His Tibetan musical studies have been guided by Lama Tashi Dhondup, Lama Phuntsok Bista, Tenzin Chonyi, Yeshe Namdag and Umdze Lodro Samphel, principle chant master of the Rumtek Monastery. He currently serves as external affairs officer for the Karma Triyana Dharmachakra Monastery, corporate secretary for The Karma Kagyu Institute and sits on the board of directors for the Creative Music Foundation.

with Larry Chernicoff at the Colonial Theatre, Pittsfield, Mass.