Tom Schuman
was born and raised in Buffalo, NY by his talented musical parents. His father, Wally, was a jazz bassist and his mother, Marion, was a jazz singer who met on the bandstand. Greatly influenced by this family of musicians, Tom began playing piano by ear at age six. His parents were reluctant to give him lessons because of their own struggles with the music business but when they heard him playing jazz chords, improvising and writing tunes at age seven, they felt compelled to provide him with all the musical support a child could possibly have.
Tom_2598Later, Tom began studying jazz theory, writing and arranging techniques as well as improvisational skills. He also gained a lot of experience jamming with his dad at home as well as sitting in with many musician friends around town.
Tom’s first “real” gig (other than church organist) was for his high school. He was asked to play the 1973 senior prom at a nearby banquet hall. Check this out! The hall had a dilapidated piano and when Tom pulled at the front of the piano the front legs buckled and the six-foot long, five hundred pound grand piano came crashing down on top of him! Luckily for Tom, he was not seriously hurt. But he had to finish out the gig with the piano resting on top of two garbage cans. To this day, he considers that to be the worst gig he ever played.
Tom quickly began playing with a lot of local pop and jazz bands after joining the musicians’ union. It was a great experience playing in night clubs at the age of sixteen. But more interesting and astonishing were the union gigs he ending up playing at the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and prisons like Attica, Albion and the Monroe County jail in Rochester. He played these gigs with a band called “The Existing Reality” and later a contemporary jazz band, “Birthright”.
Birthright gave Tom his first opportunity to compose and perform on a jazz record. While still only sixteen years old, he traveled to Europe to help promote and distribute Birthright’s “Breath of Life” record. He did radio interviews and sat in with a lot of European musicians. All of this contributed to a realistic perspective of the profession early in his life.
Returning to Buffalo, Tom performed in concerts featuring a variety of jazz artists including Mark Murphy, Sammy Noto, and Grant Green. He also became a frequent presence in local jazz clubs sitting in with other musicians. He particularly enjoyed sitting in with this new band in town led by Jay Beckenstein and Jeremy Wall. The music was fresh and vibrant. It seemed as though all the rhythms of the world were being shared and he had his first chance to play those weird synthesizers everyone was talking about. Apparently, Jay and Jeremy both liked his playing enough to invite him to perform on their recording project. They called it Spyro Gyra! He was only 16 years old. Well, the rest is history. Tom has performed on all of Spyro Gyra’s albums to date and has written or Co-written over forty tunes.
While Tom has enjoyed a long and critically acclaimed career composing and performing fusion and smooth jazz with Spyro Gyra, he is also an extraordinarily gifted classic jazz composer and pianist. As he moves forward with the expansion of his solo projects, his focus is on acoustic trio and quartet performances of classic jazz and standards.
He released his first solo record, “Extremities” in 1990 and has continued his solo projects along with Spyro Gyra performances. He has also had several guest appearances on albums of other artists.
Tom started his own label, JazzBridge Music in 1999. His first solo release on JazzBridge was the critically acclaimed “Into Your Heart”. Following his heart and passion for more traditional jazz music, especially piano trios his next release was the all acoustic jazz CD, “Schuman Nature”, which rose to number 27 on the Jazzweek charts. He then released the fresh and soulful “Deep Chill”, in 2005. In 2010, Tom released “Reflections Over Time”. This CD had a more diverse flavor to it paying homage to the late Joe Zawinul and Jimi Hendrix as well as some political giants of American history. His latest release on the JazzBridge label is “Designated Planets”. Featuring performances from Jeff Kashiwa and Steve Oliver, this CD catapults you to 12 different worlds he calls his designated planets.
You can find out more about Tom’s projects and recordings at Tom’s website, www.JazzBridge.com.
