Robert Muller

pianist • keyboardist • composer • improviser

about

Robert Muller is an in-demand pianist and keyboardist based in Santa Fe, NM, with experience ranging from smokey local bars to international festivals. A freewheeling and exuberant improviser, he’s known for a distinctly modern and soulful musical approach informed as much by classic bebop as by Brian Eno and 80s pop. He is preparing to release multiple recording projects in the jazz and ambient music realms in early 2023.

He studied closely with Blue Note jazz great Dr. Andrew Hill at Portland State University for several years and performed extensively on the West Coast doing everything from local Portland jazz gigs to touring with a Shriner’s Circus in British Columbia and working as a sideman with Iranian pop stars.

He moved to New York City in the mid 90s and became active in the downtown music scene with his own trio Timefly and as a sideman for several original acts. Robert appeared several times on MTV2 with underground hip-hop artist Pete Miser and performed at venues like SOB’s, The Knitting Factory, The Blue Note, Mercury Lounge, and Studio 54.

After moving to Santa Fe, New Mexico some eleven years later, he immediately started to do studio work and performances with Grammy-winning guitarist Larry Mitchell for several award-winning artists, including NAMMY-winning singer and songwriter Shelley Morningsong.

He co-leads the modern jazz project Kodama Trio, whose eponymous debut album received 2016 New Mexico Music Awards for Best Jazz CD and Best Jazz Single. He is the pianist for Entourage Jazz, winners of Albuquerque Magazine’s Best Band in Albuquerque for 2022, and he was proud to participate in their Entourage Swings the Bayou tour of Louisiana in the fall of 2022. He records and performs with Ryan Montano, most recently on the 2023 single Future Smooth, and appears with New Mexico artists like Hillary Smith, Artha Meadors, Rodney Bowe, David Turner, and Ron Crowder.

Robert has also been a regular sideman and collaborator with Mvskoke poet/author/musician Joy Harjo in venues and festivals as far-flung as Anchorage, Indianapolis, Tulsa, and the Public Theater in New York City. In 2019, Robert was honored to appear with her at her inauguration as the 23rd US Poet Laureate at the Library of Congress. The occasion was historic in several ways, among them: Joy is the first indiginous American Poet Laureate, it was their best attended inaugural speech (selling out the main Calvin Coolidge Theater as well as two overflow rooms), and it’s possibly the only time the event has included a live band. Video of the event can be found on the Library of Congress’s YouTube Channel.

He uses gear from companies including Nord, Kawai Pianos, Moog, Korg, Roland, Ultimate Support Systems, Apple, Focusrite, Nektar, Event Audio, and Ultimate Ears.

Calendar

THINGS ARE HAPPENING!

As the world has cautiously reopened, I’m grateful to be out sharing good music with good people.

I typically don’t post private events or things I know are sold out, but I otherwise do my best to post dates for my best public gigs as they come up – for starters, the Got Soul band is back and performing almost every Thursday in Bernalillo at Kaktus Brewing, and I’m fortunate to be appearing on many of those dates with artists like Hillary Smith, Joe Daddy Warner, Toni Morgan, Andrew Cooper, and Wendy Beach. Come on by if you’re out and about!

Thank you for checking and I can’t wait to see you!

March 25, 7pm-9pm
Delbert Anderson and Chris Beatty Group
La Fonda, Santa Fe

March 29, 6-6:45pm
Delbert Anderson and Julia Keefe
Santa Fe Indian School

March 30, 7-9pm
Jazz jam with Delbert Anderson
La Fonda, Santa Fe

March 31, 7-8:3pm
Performance with Delbert Anderson
and Julia Keefe
IAIA, Santa Fe

April 1, 1-2pm
Performance with Delbert Anderson
and Julia Keefe
Museum of Indian Arts and Culture, Santa Fe

April 6, 7-9pm
Delbert Anderson and Ryan Montaño
La Fonda, Santa Fe

April 4, 6-8
Got Soul w/Toni Morgan
Steelbender, Albuquerque

April 6, 7-9
Delbert Anderson jazz jam
La Fonda, Santa Fe

April 13, 7-9
Delbert Anderson jazz jam
La Fonda, Santa Fe

April 14, 5:30-8:30
Rodney Bowe Experience
Canvas Artistry, Albuquerque

April 15, 6-9pm
Delbert Anderson and Friends
Jean Cocteau Cinema, Santa Fe

April 18, 12-1pm
AMP presents Delbert Anderson Quartet
East Mountain Library, Tijeras

April 19, 1-2pm
AMP presents Delbert Anderson Quartet
Cherry Hills Library, Albuquerque

April 20, 7-9
Delbert Anderson jazz jam
La Fonda, Santa Fe

April 22, time TBD
Marble Brewery 15 year anniversary
w/Isaac Aragon & The Healing
Marble Downtown, Albuquerque

April 24, 5:30-8:30
Rodney Bowe Experience
Canvas Artistry, Albuquerque

April 29, (evening time TBD)
Sky Railway Jazz Under the Stars
w/Teri Lynn Browning
Santa Fe, NM

some of the people and groups I have worked with:

reviews

Despite the obviously cooperative nature of the trio, Muller’s piano dominates throughout. A percussive, muscular player in the mold of McCoy Tyner, he’s a remarkable soloist with a wealth of rhythmic and melodic ideas and a yen for dark and gnarly harmonies.

Kodama Trio CD Review (Allaboutjazz.com) 

Muller brings spritely, spiky energy that contrasts nicely with the mellower qualities of tuba and ‘bone. His adventurous, muscular solos incorporate elements from bebop to funk, with touches of hip-hop attitude.

Christian Pincock CD Review (Melminter.com) 

Muller is like a vampire in that if you invite him in he’ll always just kind of be around. Also, he’s a pretty amazing pianist, so…

Pranzo (Santa Fe Reporter) 

There are proggy elements at play that present a more rock ‘n roll sensibility than many might think when they hear the qualifier “jazz” and if nothing else, these guys are all f*cking bonkers when it comes to musicianship.

Mushi Trio Review (Santa Fe Reporter) 

Pete Miser: The piano player, Robert Muller, is just so hyper-musical, like kind of jazz-based. He’s a student of Andrew Hill. He’s so out that he goes into the anti-music zone, you know what I mean? 

Cosmik: Playing off someone who’s in that frame of mind must be kind of inspirational for you.

Pete Miser: Yeah, it’s dope.

Cosmik Debris Magazine (Pete Miser Interview)

Sounds

Pictures

Videos

Contact

* It has recently come to my attention that my “contact” form broke at some point. Even though it would show a “thank you for your message,” screen when people sent me something, I was not actually getting anything sent to me.

I’m not really sure when it broke, but if you have sent me a message and I have not responded, I sincerely apologize, I always respond. I’m doing away with the whole “contact form” thing for now and you can just send me an email if you want to get in touch. robertmuller@gmail.com

Kodama Trio on Amazon
Robert Muller on Bandcamp
www.kodamatrio.com