Through the years, Utah has been a hotbed for everything from Jell-O to children's literature.
Well, things are heating up again. This time with "new age" pianists - though Jon Schmidt flees the term "new age" like, well, like a burning bed."I think of what I do as contemporary instrumental," he says. "It's not jazz. It's more of a cross between classical and pop. I find it hard to categorize."
Whatever he plays, however, the truth is Schmidt is quickly rising into the ranks of other local favorites such as Lex De Azevedo and Kurt Bestor. On Friday, Nov. 25, for instance, he will be featured on KUED in an 11 a.m. profile (the segment airs again on Christmas Day at 8 p.m.). He's making several personal appearances during the season (see related story), and his new album, "A Day in the Sunset," is being trucked toward record stores as we speak.
In short, this is a new dawn for the man in the sunset.
"Actually, I had no intention of making this my career until just a few years ago," Schmidt says today. "A girl I was dating gave me a session in a recording studio for my birthday, so I went in and put down everything I'd written. That's when things began."
Though Schmidt is a native Utahn, his parents emigrated from Germany during the sunny Eisenhower years. Father Schmidt was an operatic tenor who was soon putting together local choruses. Jon's sister Rose-Anne - his only piano teacher - became a respected concert pianist.
By age 11, young Jon was accompanying his father on the piano.
"I grew up listening to my sister and father do Schubert - all those art songs - so my compositions have a lot of classical influence," he explains.
In 1984 at Highland High School, Schmidt put his hands to use toting a football. He was a running back and team captain. He also took a run at rugby. But his heart was always more interested in reading music than reading defenses. Nevertheless, even at the piano his style had kept a bit of the fullback.
"I was always being accused of banging the keys," he says. "When I was composing in high school I played everything full-on loud, full tilt. My parents didn't mind it for the first hour, but after two or three hours it began to wear on them. They tried to get me to play softer."
Today, though most of his music has a meditative quality - a sensitivity he attributes to his father - Schmidt has kept some of that old Jerry Lee Lewis thump. In part of his concert routine, in fact, he plays cross-handed while lying on his back and likes to clobber a few chords and keys. It makes him unique, and adds a touch of saloon to his salon music.
"Contrast," says Schmidt. "I learned that from the Masters. You have to create interest. People who write pop vocals can get away with repetition because the words always change. But in instrumental music you have to come up with interesting chords, melody lines and orchestrations. You have to keep things fresh. That's why new age music gets a bad reputation, because the garbage gets mixed in with the good. As a British friend of mine says, `Some musicians will let a single sequence run amok for an hour then hang a pretty picture on it.' That's not music. That's wallpaper."
As for the future, Schmidt plans to stay in the state and make his stand. His first two albums, "August End" and "A Walk in the Woods," are generating a healthy share of fan mail. And working out of Studio 1 with De Azevedo, Greg Hansen and others has the advantages of working on the coast, without the negatives.
His style and "piano voice" will change and evolve, of course. But for now Schmidt doesn't plan to push things too far or too fast.
"The reason I do this kind of music is I want to balance some of the rotten things out there," he says. "That's why I write the music I do about the things I do."
Sunsets, walks in the woods, the seasons. Schmidt plans to keep looking at such things for inspiration. When you think in terms of healing, you begin to think in terms of nature.
Just ask Jon Schmidt - and all the other "contemporary instrumental" stars he can now call his peers.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
Holiday performances
Jon Schmidt will be performing at the following locations during the holiday season:
Friday, Nov. 25: Deseret Book in the ZCMI Mall, noon to 2 p.m.
Saturday, Nov. 26: Media Play in Orem, 7-10 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 3: Deseret Book in the Cottonwood Mall, noon to 2 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 8: ZCMI Mall live performance, noon to 1 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 10: Deseret Book at the University Mall, noon to 2 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 17: Media Play in Orem, 7-10 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 21: ZCMI Mall live performance, noon to 1 p.m.
Saturday, Dec. 24: Media Play in Salt Lake City, 2-4 p.m.
Phone Aubergine Records at 566-1089 for other information.