Mitchel Forman

Mitchel Forman

Mitchel Forman (born January 24, 1956 in Brooklyn, NY) is a jazz and fusion keyboard player currently residing in Southern California.

Biography & Music Career

Photo by Simon Vitale

Mitchel Forman began studying classical piano at age seven. At 17 he entered the Manhattan School of Music for three years of study and began working with bands in New York. Shortly after graduating from MSM Mitchel began touring and recording with Gerry Mulligan, playing in both his big band and quartet, and work with Stan Getz followed. In 1980 his solo career began with a piano performance at the Newport Jazz Festival. This recording became Mitchel's first album, Live at Newport. In subsequent years Forman worked on the road with Phil Woods, Carla Bley, Mel Tormé, and Astrud Gilberto. He also recorded two solo piano albums for Soul Note and toured in Europe regularly. Forman then joined guitarist John McLaughlin for a year and a half on the road, recording and contributing to two of the band's recordings - the seminal Mahavishnu and Adventures in Radioland. Mitchel then joined ex-Weather Report saxophonist Wayne Shorter, touring, recording and contributing to Shorter's Phantom Navigator.

In 1985, Forman began leading his own band and recorded his group debut for Magenta Records (a division of Windham Hill), Train of Thought. At the same time he continued to work with other well-known jazz and music figures including guitarist John Scofield ("Blue Matter"), Mike Stern ("Upside Downside"), Janis Siegel of The Manhattan Transfer, Dave Samuels, Diane Schuur, Gary Burton ("Reunion"), Pat Metheny, Simon Phillips, Jimmy Earl, Freddie Hubbard, saxophonist Bill Evans and Rickie Lee Jones. Forman's 1992 tribute to the late pianist Bill Evans, "Now & Then", was particularly well regarded [1]. Most of Forman's recordings are of the fusion or jazz genre, however, 1998's Harvest Song features 15 solo piano tracks [2].

Forman continues to record and play under his own name and has recently started his own record label, Marsis Jazz. His most recent releases have been Mr. Clean and Patience, both on Marsis. He also co-leads the band Metro with guitarist Chuck Loeb. Metro's five albums, the debut Metro, the follow-up Tree People (Lipstick), Metrocafé, Grapevine and Metrolive have all met with critical acclaim. The quartet with Wolfgang Haffner on drums and Mel Brown on bass tours annually in Europe. Mitchel has been a member of the Rick Braun band for the last three years, a member of the new BWB band, has been featured on the last three Jeff Golub CDs, and as of 2006 was performing around Los Angeles with drummer Virgil Donati, as well as with his own groups.

Musical Influences

Forman has pointed to a number of legendary jazz pianists as his "first heroes", including Oscar Peterson, Bill Evans, McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett and Chick Corea [3].

Discography

Solo Artist

• Childhood Dreams (1982)
• Only a Memory (1982)
• Train of Thought (1985)
• Now & Then: A Tribute to Bill Evans (1992) (4.5 of 5 stars, Allmusic)
• Hand Made (1993)
• Harvest Song (1998)
• Patience (2000)
• Mr. Clean (live) (2001)
• Perspectives (2006)
• Lost and Found (2010)

With Metro

• Metro (1994) (4 of 5 stars, Allmusic)
• Tree People (1995)
• Metrocafé (2000)
• Grapevine (2002)
• Metro Live at the A-Trane (2004)
• Express (2007)

With John McLaughlin

• Mahavishnu (1984)
• Adventures in Radioland (1986)

External links

• Official site (see Discussion).
• MySpace site
• Allmusic
• Artist Direct
• All About Jazz interview, February 2001
• Home video of Forman improvising, 1991

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Name	Forman, Mitchel
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Date of birth	January 24, 1956
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