Ash Communication, Inc › Allan Stuart Home › Biography

“A Real Jazz Cowboy”
— Henrik Bach, owner Bach's of Copenhagen

ALLAN'S ENTERTAINING HAS THREE ASPECTS:

CONCERT PERFORMANCE
Featuring neo-classical and improvisational
piano solos and vocal songs.
("CRANES DANCING" from THE FAR VIEW)

PIANO CABARET
with vocals and piano featuring well-known jazz and blue songs, classic pop, Broadway, and a variety of
adult contemporary music. ("MEDLEY #3")

MUSIC FOR LICENSE
for commerical use and private enjoyment.
Including Neo-Classical and Christmas orchestrations, piano ensembles, new age ambient, electro-acoustic,
and much more. ("THE RETURN" - SINGLE)

ALLAN'S BIOGRAPHY

The 21st century has unique challenges and opportunities for a musical artist. A hundred years ago, in 1907, my grandfather was entertaining people as a cornetist, playing in circuses and bandstands. Then, there was only live music; what people played for themselves, or listening to a performer like my grandpa.  

Times have changed, and technology has morphed how we interact with music. It is everywhere, and constant, and we are the most musically sophisticated society ever. We may not be well educated, but we hear everything, all the styles that people create, and we hear stunning recorded performances of the best music ever made. So with all this music at our fingertips, what could a composer and performer such as myself possibly have to offer? Is there anything new under the sun?

The answer, of course, is yes and no. The desires, yearnings, and expressions of the human condition are a constant, and the ongoing interpretation of our place in and view of the world is what I have to offer. Musical statements from the heart, descriptions of the wonders of nature in non-verbal musical language, and a sense of interactive belonging is what I compose and play about.

Musical styles might change, but the senses of meaning, love and wonder
are constants. In my career, I've played and written rock n roll, jazz, classical, avant- garde, neo-classical, ambient, folk, western - I can't even remember it all. And it all comes down to the same things: Does it have heart? Does it move you? Is it fun? Does it inspire, calm, excite, refresh you?

My life is not so different from yours. I grew up and worked hard at my art:
I didn't start the piano until I was twenty-four, and so have had to practice extra hard to make up for lost time. I have played and sang thousands of engagements; in hotel lobbies, piano bars, concert stages, on ships, in parks, on flatbed trucks and at the top of ski tows.   

In all those engagements, I've watched the people and how the music affects them. I've learned a few things from this, a few precious, nonverbal, vitally human things, about how we perceive ourselves, and the world we live in. That's what is in the music on this website. If you listen, and open your heart, then my hopes are fulfilled.