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Peter Madsen

Peter Madsen was born in Racine, Wisconsin where he began his classical piano studies at the age of eight and double bass at the age of ten. At thirteen he became interested in jazz on both instruments and started to play professionally three years later. In 1978 he graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a degree in Music Education, after which he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota to concentrate on developing his jazz piano skills through intensive practice and a bursting schedule of gigs, composing and teaching.

In 1980 Peter moved to New York City. He got one of his many breaks when Stan Getz hired him to tour Europe and the U.S. in 1987. Since then Madsen has played with an array of great jazz musicians, performing extensively in Europe and Japan and recording over 70 CD'S with traditionalists like Benny Golson and Stanley Turrentine, modernists such as Joe Lovano and Kenny Garrett as well as funk masters like Fred Wesley and Maceo Parker. Peter has written over 250 compositions of which more than 60 have been recorded.

A partial list of his working associates include: Stan Getz, Stanley Turrentine, Dewey Redman, Benny Golson, George Coleman, Oscar Brown Jr., Arthur Blythe, Don Cherry, James Spaulding, Kenny Garrett, Joe Lovano, Sonny Fortune, Dave Liebman, Eddie Henderson, Ravi Coltrane, Warne Marsh, Greg Osby, Carlos Ward, Thomas Chapin, Ralph Moore, Rick Margitza, Vincent Herring, Dick Oatts, Paul McCandless, Pee Wee Ellis, Steve Slagle, Lew Tabakin, Marty Ehrlich, Tony Malaby, Richie Cole, Maceo Parker, Ronnie Cuber, Steve Wilson, Chris Potter, Craig Handy, Seamus Blake, Tom Harrell, Bill Frisell, Mick Goodrick, David Tronzo, Joshua Breakstone, John Clark, Randy Brecker, Steven Bernstein, Marcus Belgrave, Paul Smoker, Ron Horton, Fred Wesley, Frank Lacy, Conrad Herwig, Dave Taylor, Robin Eubanks, Bobby Byrd, Joe Locke, Ray Drummond, Rufus Reid, Jay Anderson, Cecil McBee, Anthony Cox, Ira Coleman, Phil Bowler, Scott Colley, Mario Pavone, Ben Riley, Billy Hart, Frank Gant, Jeff Watts, Teri Lynn Carrington, Mel Lewis, Smitty Smith, Victor Lewis, Ronnie Burrage, Carl Allen, Victor Jones, Gerald Cleaver, Mike Clark, Yoron Israel, Bill Stewart, Eliot Zigmund, Michael Sarin, Jeff Williams, Bob Moses, Matt Wilson, Toninho Horta, The Mingus Big Band, the Village Vanguard Orchestra, Fred Ho`s Afro-Asian Music Ensemble and many others.

In 1993 Peter released his fist CD as a leader for Minor Music, an independent label from Germany. Entitled Snuggling Snake's it features ten of his compositions, played by Anthony Cox, Lewis Nash, Chris Potter, Toninho Horta and Rudi Berger.

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4
Album Review

Peter Madsen's CIA Trio: 88 Butterfly

Read "88 Butterfly" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


Veteran pianist & composer Peter Madsen, despite having accompanied or mentored such leading lights and legends as Chris Potter, Maria Schneider, Ravi Coltrane, Stan Getz, Roy Hargrove and Benny Golson, seems to prefer a career flying under the proverbial radar. But there is always something to write home about when his new music comes down the pike. 88 Butterfly, his second full outing with his CIA trio of double bassist Herwig Hammerl and drummer Martin Grabher is no exception.

4
Album Review

Peter Madsen's CIA Trio: 88 Butterfly

Read "88 Butterfly" reviewed by Dan McClenaghan


Many jazz artists find butterflies inspiring. Pianist Herbie Hancock recorded “Butterfly" for his Thrust album for Columbia Records in 1974. In 1993 guitarist Russell Malone released his Black Butterfly (Columbia Records), the title tune a rendition of a Duke Ellington/Irving Berlin composition; and the Chick Corea + Steve Gadd Band offered up the album Chinese Butterfly (Concord Music Group) in 2018. There are many more examples. Those three cited albums didn't immerse themselves in the butterfly; it was ...

1
Album Review

Michael Musillami, Peter Madsen: Pictures

Read "Pictures" reviewed by Alberto Bazzurro


Facciamo anzitutto un po' d'ordine: diciannove sono i brani complessivi di questo album; i dispari, tutti molto brevi (massimo 1'41"), sono altrettante libere improvvisazioni (nello specifico Promenades), sorta di intercapedini (nonché di prologo ed epilogo per quanto concerne le tracce 1 e 19) fra i brani pari, tutti intestati a un musicista specifico, pianisti (autore Peter Madsen) e chitarristi (autore Michael Musillami, ma confessiamo di non aver mai sentito nominare Robert Paris, né di averne trovato traccia sul web, almeno ...

2
Album Review

Michael Musillami and Peter Madsen: Pictures

Read "Pictures" reviewed by Troy Dostert


Guitarist Michael Musillami and pianist Peter Madsen have long traveled in the same circles, with Musillami's Playscape label showcasing both musicians in a number of their independently derived projects. But they don't often get to work side-by-side. Aside from Musillami's sextet record, Dachau (Playscape, 2006), the two have only appeared together previously on duo disc, Part Pitbull (Playscape, 2002). Their scintillating renewed partnership on Pictures shows the intervening years have done nothing to diminish their intuitive chemistry and first-rate technical ...

2
Album Review

Peter Madsen: Curiouser and Curiouser

Read "Curiouser and Curiouser" reviewed by Mike Jurkovic


There are times when star ratings don't tell or can't tell the whole story. Five stars, four, three, two, billions upon billions of stars. Veteran pianist Peter Madsen's Curiouser and Curiouser is just one of those times. It's a great listen but is it an essential one? Without being too harsh, no. Is it a disc with plenty of repeat listenings in it? For many yes, for others, probably not. Sorry, but the star system isn't going to work for ...

2
Album Review

Peter Madsen's Storytellers: Curiouser and Curiouser

Read "Curiouser and Curiouser" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


In 2018 Peter Madsen released Never Bet the Devil Your Head (Playscape), a fine CD by his jazz-classical hybrid group, the Seven Seas Ensemble, that was dedicated to the writing of Edgar Allan Poe. Now he brings the jazz half of the Ensemble together for another set of music based on classic literature, this time, Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland. Given the subject, this music has an understandably brighter mood than the Poe project. The “Alice" theme itself ...

4
Album Review

Peter Madsen's Storytellers: Curiouser and Curiouser

Read "Curiouser and Curiouser" reviewed by Troy Dostert


After devoting a number of his recordings on the Playscape label to the songbooks of Thelonious Monk (Sphere Essence: Another Side of Monk, 2003), Billy Strayhorn (Satin Doll, 2017) and even Elvis Presley (Elvis Never Left the Building, 2014), pianist Peter Madsen has since sought out literary texts for inspiration. 2018 was a particularly fruitful year, as Never Bet the Devil Your Head investigated the macabre works of Edgar Allan Poe, while I Ching went in a more philosophical direction ...

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69

Interview

Peter Madsen Interviewed at AAJ

Peter Madsen Interviewed at AAJ

Source: All About Jazz


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Recording

Playscape to Release Pianist Peter Madsen's "Prevue of Tomorrow" April 18th

Playscape to Release Pianist Peter Madsen's "Prevue of Tomorrow" April 18th

Source: All About Jazz

LONGMEADOW, MA -- Playscape Recordings is proud to announce the April 18th release of pianist Peter Madsen's latest solo piano release, Prevue of Tomorrow (Playscape Recordings PSR#061705). Whereas 2003's Sphere Essence: Another Side of Monk (PSR#J010303) looked to the catalog of Thelonious Monk for inspiration, Madsen's follow- up celebrates his 50th birthday by revisiting compositions from inspirations Muhal Richard Abrams, Hasaan Ibn Ali, Andrew Hill, Herbie Nichols, Sun Ra, Cecil Taylor, Lennie Tristano, Richard Twardzik, Randy Weston, and Mal Waldron. ...

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Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

88 Butterfly

Playscape Recordings
2022

buy

Pictures

Playscape Recordings
2020

buy

Curiouser and...

Playscape Recordings
2019

buy

Never Bet The Devil...

Playscape Recordings
2018

buy

I Ching

Playscape Recordings
2018

buy

Satin Doll – A...

Playscape Recordings
2017

buy

The Girl From Greenland

From: Prevue Of Tomorrow
By Peter Madsen

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