Lillian
New member
For those music lovers out there who have been paying attention the past few years, there is a great (mostly instrumental) keyboardist, Uwe Gronau (pronounced ooo-vuh grow-now), who came storming out of Germany and has been collecting fans right and left who like something a bit different with their daily coffee. His Mystical Morning album has all of his usual ingredients -- several acoustic piano pieces, a bunch of ensemble numbers with forceful drumming, all kinds of synthesizer (delicate as a hummingbird one moment and the next grinding like an industrial accident waiting to happen), and some terrific organ (just love that classic Hammond B-3 sound). So the softer pieces appeal to the new age music crowd and the more rock ones with the drums could make even an aging progger fire up a stick. Put this CD on at a party and all the small talk might just die right out. There is a certain “Oh, wow!” factor that happens as Mr. Eclectic moves from one sound to another.
So where did he come from? He grew up taking piano lessons from his father, a music teacher-conductor. The young Uwe grew up on a steady diet of British progressive-rock (no surprise) and jazz (Keith Jarrett, Weather Report). From the moment he started his first band, his mode of operating was to only perform original material, never cover the hits (which left out the standard weekend cover band career). Gronau had three recording bands before going solo. The first was Sternberg that won a film music award (for the soundtrack of “Don’t Destroy the Rainbow Above Us”) at the International Santander Film Festival in Spain. His next group was the synth-pop trio Fabrique that performed the music for the German science-fiction TV-series “Orion Space Patrol.” They were followed by his funky rock band Pont Neuf that never got its big break (you know the story). So Gronau recorded and released a half-dozen solo albums (mostly in Germany with a few leaking out throughout Europe). Then he decided to spread his wings and start releasing his recordings internationally. He discovered that, even though some of his music was a bit rocking for the laid-back audience, that he was appreciated within the new age music scene (where just about anything goes these days). So his latest albums -- Midsummer, Time Rider, Visions, Flight 14 and Thoughts of Tomorrow -- have climbed into either the Top 5 or the Top 10 on the monthly international Top 100 airplay Zone Music Reporter Chart, the best indicator for this type of music (although he has a few prog-rock fans too). His albums are like a roller-coaster ride from the slow climb to the moment poised on top of the world to the whooshing freefall down the steep slope.
So where did he come from? He grew up taking piano lessons from his father, a music teacher-conductor. The young Uwe grew up on a steady diet of British progressive-rock (no surprise) and jazz (Keith Jarrett, Weather Report). From the moment he started his first band, his mode of operating was to only perform original material, never cover the hits (which left out the standard weekend cover band career). Gronau had three recording bands before going solo. The first was Sternberg that won a film music award (for the soundtrack of “Don’t Destroy the Rainbow Above Us”) at the International Santander Film Festival in Spain. His next group was the synth-pop trio Fabrique that performed the music for the German science-fiction TV-series “Orion Space Patrol.” They were followed by his funky rock band Pont Neuf that never got its big break (you know the story). So Gronau recorded and released a half-dozen solo albums (mostly in Germany with a few leaking out throughout Europe). Then he decided to spread his wings and start releasing his recordings internationally. He discovered that, even though some of his music was a bit rocking for the laid-back audience, that he was appreciated within the new age music scene (where just about anything goes these days). So his latest albums -- Midsummer, Time Rider, Visions, Flight 14 and Thoughts of Tomorrow -- have climbed into either the Top 5 or the Top 10 on the monthly international Top 100 airplay Zone Music Reporter Chart, the best indicator for this type of music (although he has a few prog-rock fans too). His albums are like a roller-coaster ride from the slow climb to the moment poised on top of the world to the whooshing freefall down the steep slope.