Eric Muhler - Jazz Pianist, Composer
Born: April 6, 1950, Oakland, California
Currently Lives In: Oakland
Discography: Red Daze - Slow Turn Records - Sextet
Other Worlds - Slow Turn Records - Solo Piano
Instrument: Grand Piano
Interviewer: Dave Wright
Interview Date: November 28, 2003

Dave Wright (DW): So where have you been all these years?

Eric Muhler (EM): I got married in 1988 and quickly had two beautiful daughters. I made a decision that my kids needed a full-time parent. My wife, Jane has a pretty hefty executive job, where she travels a lot, and I wanted to have the kids raised at home. It was quite a luxury, but I feel that it worked well.

DW: Did you miss playing live gigs?

EM: A lot. But the funny thing was that every night around 8:30- 9:00 o'clock I was in no shape to head out to the clubs after a day of cooking, cleaning, shopping, taking the kids all over, and I really felt that the rewards of parenting and watching the kids grow, participating in all their school and after-school sports and activities, was worth putting my personal needs on hold. And all through those years I still played at home and at Cal-State Hayward and at the Contra Costa Ballet for modern dance and ballet classes; usually while Alexandra and Zoë were in school.

DW: So what prompted the comeback?

EM: The kids slipped a fast one on me and grew up! (Laughter) No, really, they are at an age where they can take BART to school and the bus home and while I'm still totally involved in their lives, I've felt a turning point come both in my responsibilities and in my playing as well. I started getting out to the clubs and saw how much the scene had improved over the years, and hearing all the great players in the Bay Area I wanted to be part of the scene again.

DW: Tell us something about your playing.

EM: It's better than ever! I've changed my technique through relaxation. I play acoustic piano only now, and I've written a lot more traditional material to accompany my more contemporary stuff. I especially love the trio thing, which is relatively new for me. I used to play in a sextet for many years and that was fabulous for color and texture, but the trio gets you right into the groove immediately and cuts it right down to the absolute basics.

DW: How about styles? You used to never play standards much and your band Quiet Fire played all originals of yours and Dave Creamer's. What kind of tunes are you playing now?

EM: Well over the years I've started learning standards. Back in the late seventies and all through the eighties I was totally caught up in the music and wrote to learn. If there was something I was interested in I wrote a tune in that style or to express that curiosity. I learned a lot and was fascinated by the creative metamorphoses that occurred as the writing process kicked in. I was in a lucky position to have fantastic players like Dave Creamer and Larry Schneider, among many others, that could play ANYTHING and wanted to get out into some very new and complex territories. So that was what we did for many years. But during the nineties when my kids were growing up I would get little gigs that needed some standards and I became equally fascinated by the classics of jazz. So I did some practicing and learned enough to touch the tip of the iceberg…no…Antarctica… I mean a continent sized body of knowledge there. (Laughter) Anyhow, to answer your question I'm playing a lot of my original tunes that lend themselves to trio and a lot of standards as well. I find they blend together well.

DW: Tell us a little more about your preference for trio.

EM: It's a lot easier to get rehearsals together! (Laughter) Really, that's true! But seriously, it's a classic sound. Piano, acoustic bass, drums; I'm finding the volumes involved are easier to control; I can't play electronic amplified music anymore. It's simply too loud and hurts my ears. Acoustic music slightly amplified is about it. The shadings in dynamics and color are great in this format. I love the basic interplay between the three fundamentals in trio; four if you divide the piano into accompaniment and melody. Everything in the music stands very clear and the sum of the parts being greater than the whole is easier to hear evolve in trio setting as well. I love it!

DW: But do you miss all the color you used to get from percussion and the texturing of tonal sounds with varied mixtures of lead instruments and that kind of stuff?

EM: Well I don't miss it in trio because it doesn't belong there, but sure, I miss being able to play some of my tunes that require that and I loved that sound equally when I was doing it. Besides the best thing about that band (Quiet Fire) were the incredibly talented players. They made that band and that music really happen. It was fabulous! I sure miss them! But I love being in this trio format for its' own thing.

DW: Tell us something about your players.

EM: Well Biff Silva and I go back to 1962 when we formed a little rock group called the Pacers…no actually the first band was the Squires, then the Pacers. We used to play fraternity gigs and private parties and we were twelve and thirteen years old and would make $75 to $125 dollars a night which went a long way for a twelve year old back in the early sixties. We played Ventures tunes and surf music, and added electric guitar in 1963 when the Beatles got popular. Anyhow Biff and I played together in blues bands, rock bands, funk bands, jazz gigs later on and we've been friends for forty one years and we've been through a lot of sh** together and I think it comes out in our improvising together. We know all about each other musically, for better or worse, and we know how to "go there" together. That's one of our big musical strengths.

Mike Hieber is a young guy who loves the music, is super enthusiastic about learning it, and plays a lot of classical symphonic bass as well as jazz and rock. So he brings a very necessary element of youth and broad experience to our aging talents. His big strength is being able to follow my somewhat quixotic adventures. The guy never blinks. If I want to play the "A" section five times he hears it and goes along for the ride. (Laughter) No, really, I'm not usually that bad, but he has huge ears, is very tolerant, and's a great reader, etc. Both great guys and players.

DW: So what's next?

EM: I want to gig in this format a lot and get this honed down and then eventually record it. I want to do a trio recording of Jane's Suite dedicated to my wife Jane. I've written about ten tunes for her over the years and they really work well together and would make a great album. I also want to do an album of standards in this format, and I want to do a third recording of another group of my tunes that mirror some classic styles but are original tunes. Nothing too ambitious…just a hundred gigs and three albums! (Laughter)

DW: Anything else you want to tell people?

EM: Yeah, sure! Live it up! Go out and listen to all the fabulous music around the Bay Area. We are so lucky and blessed. Good stuff!