Tom Schuman (keyboardist)

Tom Schuman (b. January 31, 1958) is an American smooth jazz keyboardist, the co-leader of Spyro Gyra, and an arranger.

Early years

Tom Schuman was born on January 31, 1958, in Buffalo, NY. His father, Wally, was a jazz bassist and his mother, Marion, was a jazz singer when they met. Greatly influenced by this family of musicians, Tom began playing piano by ear at age six. His parents were reluctant to give him lessons because of their own struggles with the music business. When they heard him playing jazz chords, improvising and writing tunes at age seven, they felt compelled to provide him with all of the musical support a child could possibly have.

Tom Schuman is the longtime keyboardist for Spyro Gyra. He has performed on all of Spyro Gyra's albums to date and has written or co-written over thirty-five compositions since "Catching the Sun". He released his first solo record, "Extremities", in 1990 and has plans to continue his solo career along with his work with Spyro Gyra. His dream is to someday be able to balance his solo career with guest appearances on albums of other artists as well as Spyro Gyra and find the time to score a movie or two. Who knows, with music as a vehicle, there will be no limits to Tom's creative influences on the sounds of the future.

Now also pursuing his solo interests, Tom has a new solo project, "Into Your Heart." Here is what he has to say about his latest effort: "This new release is a reflection of my life for the past decade. I put 100% of my mind, body, heart and spirit into this project. From the writing, to the performances, to the production, to the mixes, to the packaging...Every aspect of this CD represents a large piece of my soul. I am offering this body of work as a loving tribute to my wife, Yvonne (hence the Valentines Day release). She single-handedly turned my hell into heaven and my nightmares into dreams."