Stock: 
Format: 
Release Date: 09-06-1997
Label: Real Music
Catalog Number: RM0131-2
Barcode: 46286013129
Musical Style: New Age
Track Listing:
| Disc 1 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Blue Racer [04:50]  | 6 | Tender Ritual [05:07] |
| 2 | Ode to an Ancient Silhouette [04:50] | 7 | Magic Sleigh Ride [02:57] |
| 3 | Free Again [03:22] | 8 | Little Dream [03:52] |
| 4 | Sea Feeling [05:48] | 9 | Otter Chase [06:24] |
| 5 | Hangin’ Out [05:55] | 10 | Waltz for a Friend [06:00] |
Description:
'Few artists are able to crystallize an emotion in a melody the way Chappell can. His music is written for the heart's ear.' With Tender Ritual, Jim gives each piece its individual subject and emotional message. This is solo piano at its best.
Biography:
Tracking Jim Chappell's (shah-PELL) artistic development over the course of his multi-faceted career proves a rewarding study of true musical evolution. Since the independent release of his breakthrough solo piano collection Tender Ritual in 1986, he has become one of contemporary instrumental music's most engaging composers and performers.
Chappell's musical education developed through trial and error, with the greatest strides coming after leaving his native Michigan and traveling through various regions of the United States. Early stints writing pop tunes in Nashville and playing piano improvisations at the University of Oregon were fruitful, but didn't capture the soul of my music, he says. It was then that I realized that the free-flowing music I played when I came home after meeting with publishers was what I should be doing full time, Chappell recalls.
When I make an album, Chappell says, all I've ever done is create material as it comes to me. I'm not really in charge of that. As a creative person, you're working with something much greater than yourself.
