A collection of Mueller’s best original solo piano compositions, recorded up close and personal. Combines modal jazz with Romanticism and Impressionistic styles, creating a unique sound. Emotionally stirring and creatively inventive, Mueller’s dynamic virtuosity comforts as it thrills. The music washes over the listener with an uplifting flow, even as it surprises and informs. The variety is breathtaking. This is the first of two volumes. The second volume will be released next month.
Although Mueller is mainly known as a jazz composer and Broadway playwright (see his 5-volume “Best of Tobin Mueller” jazz ensemble compilation series), his solo work at the piano may be the more important aspect of his legacy. He has recorded with Grammy winners Dave Brubeck, Ron Carter, Michael Hedges, Donny McCaslin, Jon Anderson (from Yes), Brian Welch (“Head” from Korn), Carl Fischer, Sal Giorgianni, as well as Grammy nominees Dane Richeson (Blue Note Records), Ken Schaphorst (founding member of Boston-based Jazz Composers Alliance), Scott Rockenfield (Queensrÿche), Ruben de Ruiter (Amsterdam Funk Orchestra, John Patitucci Band) and more. He has collaborated with Grammy winner and Blues Hall of Fame guitarist Paul Nelson on two albums (Prestidigitation and Standard Deviations). Early in his career, he had the honor of playing with Maynard Ferguson.
As a solo pianist, Mueller has expanded the language of composition and contemporary expression. His ability to synthesize different eras and styles into new creative inventions has helped advance the art of the keyboard. He effortlessly combines Jazz with Baroque, Romantic, Impressionist and contemporary classical techniques. His keyboard arrangements sometimes sound more like full-blown ensemble adaptations. The result is remarkable virtuosity. His music transcends the boundaries of genre and generation.
He is counted as one of the founders of New Age music, although his stylings fit more precisely into the experimental post-bop modal jazz category. He stands alongside a contemporary jazz field that includes Brad Mehldau, Fred Hersch, Gerald Clayton, David Lanz, Hiromi and Tigran Hamasyan.
Out Now
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- 1. Ghostly Bells
- 2. Birth Joy
- 3. One Body of Man (a piano duet) [live]
- 4. Two Peas in a Chili Pod
- 5. Under A Western Sky
- 6. Slow Dance
- 7. Time As Emergent Phenomenon
- 8. Eye of the Night
- 9. Between Breaths
- 10. River Ice
- 11. The Space Between Chaos and Shape
- 12. A Prayer for Keith Jarrett