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| Rob Schwimmer at Fazioli Salon On Wednesday, March 28, 2007 Rob Schwimmer will be performing solo piano selections from his new CD ”Beyond The Sky” at The Fazioli Salon, New York, NY. Piano virtuoso Rob Schwimmer is an original and intrepid artist who on this album meaningfully negotiates the composer's formalism of classical music and the improviser's freedom of jazz, blurring distinctions between both disciplines. While Rob has worked with some of the top artists of our time his own music has been elusively hard to come by. While playing with all the aforementioned artists exhibits great versatility, it does little to prepare one for the singular strength of his own personal musical vision. Schwimmer's is a music of inclusion, both wry and ruminative, romantic and avant garde, minimalist yet expansive. The depth and breadth of Schwimmer's musical and imagistic vocabulary reveal an understanding of the entire keyboard tradition both in his compositions as well as his use of improvisation. That it sounds like a personal vision and not a cross-cultural collision is testament to his rhythmic instincts and harmonic curiosity, his touch and articulation, the manner in which he is able to summon up in the course of a single passage, let alone an entire piece, a vision of the piano's wide-ranging stylistic and structural expanse. From his Suite, in turns virtuosic, inward-looking, and evocative of another place/time, through the wistful Two Songs Without Words, the mysterious little dances and prismatic distortions of his Four Miniatures, the explorations of tonality, contrapuntal freedom, and conversational interplay of Three Tone Poems, the quiet intimacy of Prelude and Postlude, the passionate theremin/ piano elegy Waltz For Clara and, finally, the lyrical bending and re-casting of four Hallucinations On Popular Songs, Schwimmer reveals himself a master musical storyteller. Rob Schwimmer is a composer-pianist and thereminist who has performed and recorded throughout the world. His work is a meld of musical discipline, sensuality, technical acumen, and freedom--A combination that has made Rob's long overdue debut solo piano album Beyond The Sky so highly anticipated. His personal vision of music reflects a unique and probing sensibility combined with his vast experience in many genres with great and fascinating artists. Rob was hand-picked to play keyboards, theremin and sing in the elite touring band for Simon and Garfunkel's “Old Friends” North American and European tours (2003-2004) and appeared in their CD/DVD “Old Friends: Live On Stage”. He has worked with Wayne Shorter, Antonio Carlos Jobim, Paul Simon, Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Chaka Khan, Laurie Anderson, Bette Midler, Queen Latifah, Arif Mardin (Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award), Adam Guettel (2005 Tony), T-Bone Walker, Sam Rivers, Marc Shaiman, The Klezmatics (2006 Grammy nominee), Matthew Barney, Ang Lee, Maria Schneider (2005 Grammy), Annette Peacock, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marshall Brickman (2006 Tony Nominee), Mabou Mines, Geoffrey Holder, John Cale, Steve Buscemi, Theo Bleckmann, John Stubblefield, Burt Bacharach, Edie Brickell, Teo Macero, Hal Willner, Vernon Reid, The Everly Brothers, Ethel, James Emery, Kurt Vonnegut, Anjani Thomas, Odetta, Drepung Loseling Tibetan Monks, Joseph Jarman, Alwin Nikolai/ Murray Louis Dance Company, Henry Jaglom, Talujon Percussion Quartet, Fred Anderson, Mark Ribot, Frank London, C&C Music Factory and Sammy Davis Jr. Rob's appearances as guest soloist with orchestras include The Little Orchestra (Lincoln Center); the New Haven Symphony Orchestra (Yale); and Red, An Orchestra (Cleveland.) He has played venues all over the world including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, 92nd St. Y, the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), Madison Square Garden, The Blue Note, CBGB's and the Colosseum (Rome) before a crowd of over 600,000. He is a founding member of the highly acclaimed Polygraph Lounge music and comedy duo with multi-instrumentalist Mark Stewart (Bang On A Can Allstars). Other collaborations include his Theremin Noir (CD) with Mark Feldman and Uri Caine and The Zmiros Project (CD) with Frank London and Lorin Sklamberg. Rob is an original member of the NY Theremin Society. Rob Schwimmer is one of the few theremin virtuosos in the world. In addition to Theremin Noir, he has performed as featured theremin soloist for many projects including Matthew Barney's epic movie Cremaster 3, CBS television series, Now and Again and A&E's Breakfast With the Arts. Schwimmer's work can be heard on CBS/Sony, Warner Brothers, Toshiba/ EMI, Def Jam/ Island, Manhattan/Blue Note, Dorian, NHK, Capricorn, Evidence, Knitting Factory, Polystar, Traditional Crossroads, Dreamworks SKG, Universal Pictures, TriStar Pictures, HBO, Cinemax, Showtime, CBS, NBC, ABC, Discovery, Lifetime, Noggin, A&E, NPR and Nickelodeon. write your comments about the article :: © 2007 Jazz News :: home page |