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Peter Saltzman
Peter Saltzman is composer/pianist who has managed to synthesize the improvisational traditions of Jazz and Blues with counterpoint of Bach, the avant garde concepts of Cage, and the lyricism of Pop.
About Me
It started at age 4, seated at the piano. A single note that moved and
morphed through the years, becoming Peter’s unique musical
language. His organic fusion of qualities—the distinctiveness and
improvisation of jazz, the soul of blues, and the compositional
technique of Bach, Beethoven, and other classical composers—led to
an emergence of new sounds, a new feel, a new purpose.
Peter’s broad career in the music industry as composer, pianist, singer-
songwriter, and entrepreneur started as a budding teenage jazz
musician in Chicago. He studied jazz at the Bloom School of Jazz
(Chicago, IL), majored in jazz at Indiana University (Bloomington, IN),
and majored in composition and piano at Eastman School of Music
(Rochester NY). Later, he studied film scoring at UCLA-Extension (Los
Angeles, CA).
In 2016, Peter’s music hit a major turning point. He developed a hybrid
platform—an album-ebook—to showcase his latest musical endeavor
within his memoir. Blues, Preludes & Feuds, A Musical Memory is a
seamless blend of original solo piano music and story with deep
technology-art interactions. The music skillfully wends around the
narrative, telling the story in its own way. The memoir is a funny,
reflective tale of growing up in the politically charged times of 1960s
Chicago as Peter journeys to discover his musical language.
Over his career, Peter’s prolific musical work has run the gamut—solo
piano, orchestral, chamber, theatrical/film, choral, pop. Various
ensembles have performed and recorded his work globally—the Czech
National Symphony Orchestra recorded his orchestral dance suite
“Walls” (1996), and the Dallas Black Dance Theatre performed “Walls”
during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Peter’s concert work is published by Oxford University Press; his film
and television work is published by Wild Whirled Music. His music has
been licensed for television shows, jingles, and industrials, including My
Name is Earl (NBC, 2006).
In the mid-to-late 90s, Peter led the Revolution Ensemble, a group that
broke new ground with its adventurous mix of jazz, classical, Latin, and
pop genres. Since 2001, he has headed the Peter Saltzman Band as
lead singer, pianist, songwriter/arranger—and produced CDs/demos for
Chicago-area artists.
From 2006 to 2014, Peter was an adjunct professor of music at the
Columbia College Chicago, where he developed and taught a series of
courses entitled “Technology for Musicians” and taught piano and
theory.
My Jazz Story
I love jazz because of the freedom, the spirit of democracy, the rhythmic and harmonic daring. I was first exposed to jazz through R&B, Herbie Hancock on Stevie Wonder's "Songs in the Key of Life," through Jazz Fusion (RTF, Herbie), and through a Sonny Rollins concert in Chicago when I was about 15. I met Randy Weston.