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MUSIC

Latest Albums

The Eternal Now is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (2024)

Deep Staria Enigmatica ESP

Listen on Bandcamp →

Birdsong (2024)

With Shanyse Strickland, Sana Nagano, Melanie Dyer

Listen on Bandcamp →

Embracing the Unknown (2024)

with Ivo Perelman, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille

Listen →

Miserere (2023)

with Zoh Amba, George Cartwright, Luke Stewart, Chris Parker, Kelley Hurt, Steve Hirsh

Listen →

Old Stories (2022)

With Matthew Shipp - 2CD, 14 tracks

Listen →

Listen on Spotify

Live Performances

Instruments

  • → Stritch (straight alto saxophone)
  • → Saxello
  • → C, Alto & Bass Flutes
  • → Baritone Saxophone
  • → Electric Guitar

On Improvisation

15 Questions Interview

"Improvisation is not about playing whatever you want. It's about listening deeply and responding authentically in the moment."

An in-depth conversation about the philosophy and practice of improvisation, the intersection of technology and music, and the creative process.

Read Full Interview →

Mahakala Music

Founded in 2019, Mahakala Music is a record label (run by Chad and drummer Steve Hirsh) dedicated to avant-garde jazz and free improvisation. Home to collaborations with William Parker, Matthew Shipp, Eri Yamamoto, Ivo Perelman, and more.

Explore Full Catalog →
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{}

TECHNOLOGY

{
  "current": [
    "Partner & CTO @ BlueYard Capital"
  ],
  "languages": ["Haskell", "Rust", "Ruby", "TypeScript", "Python"],
  "interests": [
    "future of software development",
    ""generative software",
    "programmable organizations and wisdom of crowds",
    "systems that survive",
    "open source everything",
    "localfirst software",
    "context portability and user-owned data
  ]
}
                    

Books

The Passionate Programmer

Creating a Remarkable Career in Software Development

Get Book →

Programming Ruby

The Pragmatic Programmers' Guide

Get Book →

Rails Recipes

Best-selling 2nd book ever published on Rails

Featured Podcast Appearances

Join Chad on the Snark Chocolate podcast where he discusses the intersection of technology, creativity, and craftsmanship.

Developer on Fire - Being Deliberate

Exploring mindfulness, working at Microsoft, fear of letting people down, and being deliberate in career and life choices.

Listen to Episode →

Developing Leadership - An Engineering Leader's Search for Meaning

A heartfelt existential conversation with Jason Warner and Eiso Kant about authenticity, compassion, introverted leadership, and reflecting on what it means to be an engineering leader.

Listen to Episode →

Modern CTO Podcast - Microsoft Startup Advocacy

Discussing venture funding, common founder mistakes, and becoming an expert through writing. Insights from leading Microsoft's Startup Advocacy.

Listen to Episode →

Maintainable Software - How Small Can We Make This Problem

A candid chat with Robby Russell about building software in small pieces, unit testing perspectives, and lessons from leading Wunderlist.

Listen to Episode →

alphalist.CTO - Musician, Author and VC

Transforming Wunderlist from monolith to microservices. A unique perspective on technology from a musician and RPG player background.

Conference Keynotes

Open Source

Ruby Central Co-founder (2002)

RubyConf Co-organizer (2001-2012)

RailsConf Founder, Co-organizer (2006-2012)

RubyGems Co-creator/maintainer (2003-200?)

GitHub: @chad →

Venture Capital

As Partner & CTO at BlueYard Capital, investing in technologies that bring us closer to Utopia or farther from Oblivion.

CHAD
FOWLER