Tobin Mueller and the beautiful explosive nu-jazz fusion of "What Is Hip"

 

"You want ambition? Look no further…” - George W. Harris, Jazz Weekly


I am not a great musician. I step into the songwriter mode because it is cathartic and as other aspects of life has taken over, it feel like it has been forever since I have strapped on a guitar or sat behind a drum kit. The amount of music theory I know wouldn't even fill a postcard. I make up chord shapes but could not readily tell you what they are. I tell you this because I might not be the best one to write about someone as brilliant as Tobin Mueller. Visit his website and you feel a sense of psychedelia and wizardry. He in fact looks like a wizard and in terms of his fluid, crazy great compositions I guess he is. I am not a jazz cat but pushing play on "What Is Hip" shot adrenalin through me and sparked the synapses in my brain like an electric station short circuiting in the best possible way. 

I love dirty electric piano / organ tones and on Mueller's composition he mans the B3 organ, Rhodes & Wurlitzer electric pianos as well as the Trilian electric bass. From the onset he drive a deep groove and Isaiah Schmidt's explosive splashy drumming is so brilliant, the dance with the bass is exquisitely tight and swinging. The lead guitar work by Paul Nelson with sideways pull offs and improvisationally insane shapes is mind blowing. I am not one who loves indulgent lead guitar breaks and this is NOT that, this is like a mind fusion, a synergistic collision with all the other components like the horn explosions courtesy of David Dejesus on baritone, tenor saxes and Mikey Martel supporting brass backbone section.

"What Is Hip" (to me) by Tobin Mueller and cohorts is a cross generational, cross genre'd nu-jazz fusion and while I am at a loss to full explain it, it is beautifully explosive and fucking badass. 

I would suggest that you push play on the Spotify link first as it plays hotter and you want to hear this magnificent piece of sonic art in a big way. "What Is Hip" is from Tobin Mueller's full length "Prestidigitation".

-Robb Donker Curtius  

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THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:

https://www.facebook.com/tmueller.music

https://www.tobinmueller.com/

Tobin Mueller is a composer, playwright, and interpretive pianist. His musical compositions range from Impressionist Jazz to Progressive Rock to Old-School Funk to Broadway musicals. He’s multi-genre approach to composing most often combines Classical Romanticism with modal Jazz, creating virtuosic music full of storytelling and depth.

Mueller has recorded with Grammy winners Dave Brubeck, Ron Carter, Michael Hedges, Donny McCaslin and Paul Nelson. He's played with Maynard Ferguson; Jon Anderson (Yes), Brian Welch ("Head" from Korn), Scott Rockenfield (Queensrÿche), Lamar Moore (Lettuce), Mike Nappi (J Geils Band). Mueller has appeared on over 30 albums.

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Tobin Mueller, jazz, nu jazz, jazztronic, jazz fusion, classic jazz, rock jazz fusion, composer, multi-instrumentalist, electric piano, bass, virtuoso, "What Is Hip", Paul Nelson, new album "Prestidigitation",