Jesse Mueller

I love playing jazz because there's no such thing as a mistake and that's very freeing. I was first exposed to jazz in kindergarten which was soon arrested by massive doses of classical. I returned to jazz in high school after auditioning for a seat in the Jazz Ensemble (Big Band). I met Jack McDuff who invited me on stage to watch him play when I was 12, Brian Auger after a concert at the old Dakota in St. Paul at 16, Bob James after a concert w/ Hiromi at age 17, Jimmy McGriff when I participated in a clinic as a performer at the Twin Cities Summer Jazz Festival at age 18 (He was in awe that I had been playing for 13 years already), Nachito Herrera gave me my first lessons in Latin jazz at 17, Diana Ross at a seminar at McNally Smith where I attended college... and I met many more jazz performers after I started my professional career. The first jazz record I bought was "Kind of Blue" by Miles Davis followed closely by Oscar Peterson, "Night Train" and Vince Guaraldi's, "Linus & Lucy". The earliest jazz piece I performed was Dave Brubeck's "Take 5" by Paul Desmond at about age 11. I later recorded it on my first solo CD at age 16. For new listeners, you can appreciate jazz in every genre of music from Debussy to Zappa, keep your ears open.