Tobin James Mueller - collaborative and solo artist

I was going to say, "He's a man of many hats," but then realized the guy on the right isn't wearing one.

Welcome to my website. Since what I've been working on recently is mainly music, please start off by checking out my recordings. I have begun adding photos (some nice ones are on the site), but I have to organize them and post several more collections. And I've begun writing my memoirs... as a series of dreams (Book Of Dreams); I'm posting drafts of chapters as I finish them, so they keep changing, much like real life (yet not at all like real life).

I've gone through several periods of artistic discovery but remain dedicated to creating new musical expressions above all. (I can't remember the old ones so I kind of have to make up stuff.) I have a belief that the Internet will be a path to cooler projects and maybe even a blueprint to freer lives, but most of my beliefs end up being wishful thinking.

I've journeyed through musical theatre, fiction writing, politcal essays, domestic humor, jazz and progressive rock. Some of these I want to journey through again. I've written ballets, film scores and children's music; poetry, historical fiction and video games. I dug it all. But I've always thought of myself as a composer, first. Currently, I'm exploring solo piano, rediscovering the B3 organ, writing about dreams and the sub-conscious, and enjoying life with Suzanne.

I've had the good fortune of working with tons of fine people, most of whom you'd never recognize, although I've recorded with Dave Brubeck, Ken Schaphorst, Donny McCaslin, Dane Richeson, Woody Mankowski, Janet Planet, among others, and played on stage with Maynard Ferguson and more. Five of my musical dramas were produced in Manhattan during the 90s. In London, I was inducted into the United Nations’ 1994 Global 500 Roll of Honor for my cherished work with youths and the environment. As the founder of ArtsForge, an award-winning online arts community (in 1998), I started to realize the power of the Internet to communicate across great distances, to cohere specialized communities and provide new audiences. Still hoping for the revolution, I am an active participant in MacJams, an online songwriting community, sharing thoughts there almost daily.

But the true highlights of my life have more to do with sitting in front of my keyboard, all alone.

A lifetime ago, I attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marquette University, and the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, studying musical composition, physics and journalism. In all my artistic endeavors, no one ever asked to see a degree, but I'm glad I went nonetheless.

Member: ASCAP, Dramatists Guild (NYC). For more bio info on music, see MUSIC.