George Schuller, drummer/composer/arranger
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About
George Schuller is known as "a criminally underappreciated drummer and bandleader" (James Hale, Jazz Chronicles), "a significant member of today's progressive jazz scene" (Glenn Astarita, JazzReview.com) and "a master musician deserving wider acclaim" (Paul Blair, Hot House). "Never a bender to trends or rigid ideology," adds the Hartford Courant's Owen McNally, "he plays in the moment and looks to the future. At the same time, he's aware of the past as something to build on in new ways." In addition to his longstanding quintet Circle Wide, he currently leads the George Schuller Trio and co-leads the groups Conference Call, Trio This, Whirrr! and Yard Byard. He is also a member of the Michael Musillami Trio, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2012.
Booking
COMPANY OF HEAVEN
Andreas Scherrer
523-525 W 152 Street, Suite #51
New York, NY, 10031, USA
email: info@companyofheaven.com
phone & fax = (001)212-281.9785
mobile phone = (001)347-210.9617
 
Reviews
Schuller is a graceful, swinging drummer, always tasteful and capable of driving a band without overwhelming it.
— Chris Kelsey, JazzTimes
Drummer George Schuller is a significant member of today's progressive jazz scene. Whether performing as a sideman or leading his own projects, Schuller's pen represents a potent and forward thinking mindset...
— Glenn Astarita, JazzReview.com
Schuller knows how to use composition to spur improvisation, and as a way to organize free blowing so that it never sounds arbitrary. What's more, funky tunes like 'Band Vote' will keep you whistling after the CD is over.
— Jon Garelick, Boston Phoenix
George Schuller's talent on Hellbent lies in his ability to keep the quartet together through periods of order and disorder. He uses drums, rather than cymbals, much of the time to sharpen edges and provide contrast. Schuller's playing is particularly refreshing because he doesn't generally play on (or off) the beat — instead, he comes in and out unexpectedly, dancing around the pulse.
— Nils Jacobson, AllAboutJazz.com
Schuller's compositions create an effective balance between form and freedom; his melodic sense is firmly rooted in the post-Ornette vocabulary, and his rhythmic conception is finely connected to the time/space continuum. As a drummer, Schuller propels, swings hard and has the rare ability to conjure form out of seeming chaos.
— The Tuscon Weekly
Schuller's charts provide fruitful frameworks for the improvising, with loose-limbed harmonic lines and purposeful rhythmic foundations underpinning free-wheeling melodic parts from the horns.
— JazzReview (UK)
George Schuller is an endlessly inventive drummer, tooling around his augmented kit he is a whirl of tiny cymbal clashes and ping-ponging percussive accents one minute, a throttling mass of press rolls and punishing back beats the next.
— Troy Collins, Cadence
 
Discography
Block Party
Michael Musillami Trio
09.13.2023
Life Anthem
Michael Musillami Trio +2
05.01.2018
Zephyr
Michael Musillami Trio
10.06.2015
Pride (2 CD)
Michael Musillami Trio w/ Kris Davis, Jimmy Greene & Mark Feldman
09.16.2014
Listen Both Ways
George Schuller's Circle Wide
11.11.2012
Mettle
Michael Musillami Trio + 4
02.07.2012
Old Tea
Michael Musillami Trio
04.27.2010
From Seeds
Michael Musillami Trio + 3
05.19.2009
Like Before, Somewhat After
George Schuller's Circle Wide
05.13.2008
The Treatment
Michael Musillami Trio w/ Mark Feldman
09.25.2007
Dachau
Michael Musillami Trio
09.06.2005
Round 'Bout Now
George Schuller
12.02.2003
Those Times
Michael Musillami Quartet
12.02.2003
Beijing
Michael Musillami Trio
05.27.2003
Pivot
Michael Musillami/Mario Pavone Quintet
12.03.2002
Hellbent
George Schuller & The Schulldogs
12.03.2002