Tom Schuman

Featured Artist: Tom Schuman

CD Title: Schuman Nature

Year: 2003

Record Label: JazzBridge Music LLC

Style: Straight-Ahead / Classic

Musicians: Tom Schuman (piano), Dwayne Dolphin (bass), Ameen Saleem (bass), Cora C. Coleman (drums)

Review: There comes a time, perhaps after years of trying to fit into a particular groove or walk a particular walk, when something magical happens. The artist crosses over into a realm where beautiful music pours forth like it had been imprisoned somewhere in the dark recesses of his soul. Delivering yet another outstanding CD on his own label, JazzBridge Music LLC, Tom Schuman proves he’s definitely come into his own.
Schuman’s latest collection of originals and standards, "Schuman NATURE," this time in a delightful trio setting that includes Schuman on piano, Ameen Saleem and Dwayne Dolphin on bass and Cora C. Coleman on drums, brings the listener back to jazz basics. It’s all about the beauty of pieces like Tyner’s Search for Peace and Monk’s Ruby My Dear, laced with Schuman’s stunning originals such as Thelma Faye and Marion. The nicest reward for the fortunate listener is hearing the exquisite purity and simplistic beauty a trio setting can offer. And Schuman absolutely shines!
It’s hard for many to disassociate the name of Tom Schuman from Spyro Gyra, but Schuman has come full circle into the light…a jazz pianist, creating beauty and preserving the past.

Tracks: Nefertiti, Portrait of Adrian, Moon Germs, Marion, Waltz for Debby, Faces in the Clouds, Ruby, My Dear, Search for Peace, Thelma Faye, For the Moment

Record Label Website: http://www.jazzbridge.com

Reviewed by: Suzi Price

- JazzReview.com

Schuman Nature by Tom Schuman

I’ll be brief – anyone reading this must know Spyro Gyra’s music. If not, switch the PC off and go to your local record store and buy their latest CD “Original Cinema”. Is that a good CD? OK, so now you know that Tom Schuman is their adventurous keyboard player and he has been for over 25 years – can that be true?
Maybe you’ve heard his spirited soloing on Spyro Gyra’s two live CD’s. Maybe like me you bought his first solo album “Extremities”. His third solo outing is a jazz trio recording and it’s been released on Tom’s own JazzBridge Music label. OK, enough intro…
Nefertiti is the divine opener to this acoustic set. Wayne Shorter’s classic tune receives a beautiful treatment here – there’s a lot of space and a light touch from all three players. It has moments of intensity nevertheless… Bassman Dwayne Dolphin wrote the lovely Portrait of Adrian, which after a bluesy intro starts to strut just over two minutes in. Dolphin’s bass lays down a mellow but solid measure and Schu’ just lets go.
It’s fast and frantic on Joe Farrell’s Moon Germs. Drummer Cora C. Coleman takes a very energetic solo on this track. I had to catch my breath at the end of the song. Tom Schuman’s first composition on the CD is Marion. I really like this because it’s slow and melodic. I’m not sure that I ever fully appreciated Schuman’s right-hand technique before. When a guy plays clean like this and when big chords are holding it all together, it’s a joy. If you don’t think you’d like acoustic jazz, you should hear this song.
Bill Evans’ Waltz for Debby is pretty and again the players, with Ameen Saleem on bass this time, have a light touch. Saleem’s timing’s so good you’ll only notice there are no drums when two minutes have passed. Two guys – and it sounds like they’re having fun. The second Schuman composition has a melancholy overtone. Faces in the Clouds is very reflective. The chord progression is awesome. Cora C. Coleman’s rimshots literally keep things ticking as the intensity ebbs and flows. After a while this song gels beautifully and you’d think you were listening to Joe Sample in a less funky moment. That’s the only comparison I’m going to make in this review. Stunning drumming closes this impressive song.
The mood lifts for Monk’s Ruby, My Dear. To me, this is played with humour. I’ll admit to never having heard the original so I don’t know if that humour is due to the composer or the players – it shines out though. You could imagine it played live and going completely over the top. Quietly – and stylishly – nuts! McCoy Tyner’s Search for Peace is a lullaby. The soothing brushes and the warmth of Dolphin’s sparse bass are the perfect backdrop to late-night dreamy piano. Any radio station which has a “dinner jazz” spot needs to pick up on this track.
Schuman’s Thelma Faye has a strong melody and I realise that I’m becoming a fan of his compositions in a way I haven’t always been when I’ve listened to my many Spyro Gyra albums. There are several changes of mood and a few listens might be needed to appreciate everything in this seven-minute song… Schuman’s For the Moment is a solo piano piece which is reflective and melancholy. It’s a clever goodbye because you almost think it won’t end when it does.
I’m going to play track 6 again…
Forget about everything you’ve heard Tom Schuman play with Spyro Gyra – outstanding though much of it is. This is Tom running his own show, going back to his roots and it’s really a pilgrimage. The truth? I expected to write a much shorter review and spend much less time with “Schuman Nature” than I have.
Don’t be surprised if lots of people are talking about this CD years from now. It’s performed with commitment, produced with taste and it’s a strong and simple statement of a love for jazz.

www.smooth-jazz.de/Chris/SchumanNature.htm


- www.smooth-jazz.de

TOM SCHUMAN Into your Heart (Jazzbridge)


Spyro Gyra keyboardist Tom Schuman's accomplishments here are incredibly impressive sonically, with such realistic programmed and sampled bass and drums that it's hard to believe this man triggers them all. Indeed, some of the album's best licks are his bass lines on tunes such as "Yvonne" and "Past Stories." But the true test isn't sampling or software; it's the music. And on that count, Schuman scores his highest marks. He reveals the same deft grasp of hooks and melody that has kept Spyro Gyra at the top of the jazz game for some 25 years, while exhibiting a depth and sensitivity that the group has, for the most part, eschewed "Quality Time" and "Samba For Two" use swiftly moving synth lines in straightforward modern-jazz modes, while Schuman introduces some world elements in "Shinjuku" and "Third Spirit."

Ultimately, though, it's the gentler songs like "Portrait of My Father" and "Past Stories," his tribute to Jaco Pastorius that entice listeners to linger. "Portrait" finds Schuman in an introspective mood, as the bass lines paint the melody before his acoustic piano answers, a pattem repeated throughout the song.

"Past Stories" likewise finds the bass front and center in a haunting setting reminiscent of both Jaco's signature sound and his compositions, including "Three Views Of A Secret" and even Zawinul'’s “Remark You Made"
Jaco surely would have appreciated Schuman's audacious decision to channel his spirit without involving a bassist. It's that spirit that shines throughout Into Your Heart.

Ross BOISSONEAU
Jazziz Magazine
August 2002


- Jazziz

Tom Schuman is best known as Spyro Gyra's keyboardist, but on Schuman Nature (JazzBridge) he reveals a dimension of his artistry that is far removed from contemporary jazz. As he explains in the liner notes, he grew up listening to the likes of Oscar Peterson, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Bill Evans, Joe Farrell and McCoy Tyner, and the album showcases his jazz roots. Most of the tunes are performed in an acoustic trio setting with Schuman on piano, and the tunes are evenly divided between classics and originals. Schuman lets loose with some fleet fingerwork on Farrell's "Moon Germs," while the trio swings its way through the romantic "Portrait of Adrian," and Schuman's sprightly piano melody is well matched by Ameen Saleem's animated bass lines on a charming version of Bill Evans' "Waltz for Debby." Schuman can be a showy pianist, but he also possesses a lyricism that is amply in evidence on the solo piano composition "For the Moment," which concludes this elegant and very satisfying album.
- JazzTimes