John Alden Carpenter (1874-1951) was among the first American modernists and a major Chicago-based composer. Making his name with the orchestral suite Adventures in a Perambulator (1914), Carpenter was one of the first classical composers to co-opt jazz rhythms in his ballets Krazy Kat (1921) and Skyscrapers (1924); his symphonic poem Sea Drift (1933) was once a standard in American concert halls. Carpenter's art songs, such as the cycle Gitanjali (1914), are also highly valued. Carpenter was a semi-professional composer who worked a regular job at his father's business; he retired in 1936 and followed suit in music about a decade later.