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James William Chappell (born in Michigan in 1955), [1] professionally known as Jim Chappell, is an American New Age and jazz pianist. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, Chappell placed five albums in the Top Twenty of Billboard's Top New Age Albums chart, and placed another album in the Top Twenty of their Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart.
Chappell's first album, Tender Ritual, was a collection of piano solos released in 1985 on his own Unspeakable Freedom label. In 1986, Chappell was signed with the newly formed Music West Records. [2] That same year, Chappell released Dusk, another collection of piano solos. It would be the first of Chappell's albums to appear on a Billboard chart, peaking at No. 19 on its Top New Age Albums chart.
With his third album, Chappell's records started to include small-ensemble accompaniment and (on 1990s Saturday's Rhapsody) full orchestration. His three albums in this style—1989's Living in the Northern Summer, Saturday's Rhapsody, and 1991's Nightsongs and Lullabies—all appeared on the Billboard Top New Age Albums chart.
In 1992, Chappell switched to the Real Music label, where his music became more jazz-oriented. There were four such albums—In Search of the Magic (1992), Over the Top (1993), Manila Nights (1994) and The Earthsea Series, Volume 1 (1994). On the latter three, Chappell was backed by HearSay, a jazz quartet. [3] The first of them, 1993's Over the Top, appeared on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart. This album was also successful in the Philippines, enough such that Chappell booked a three-date concert hall tour of the islands in the summer of 1993 and sold out all of the shows. [4]
Chappell's final album with Real Music was 1994's Laughter at Dawn. It saw Chappell returning to his original style of solo piano and was the last of his albums to appear on a Billboard chart.
Chappell moved to Gallery Records in 1996 and recorded one album there. He released nothing further until 2002, when he began releasing albums on his own Unspeakable Freedom label. None of them have appeared on any Billboard charts. [5]
In his review of Chappell's Nightsongs and Lullabies, Jim Aikin noted that "Chappell's pastel piano meditations ... are the musical equivalent of airbrushed greeting-card watercolors of cute bunny rabbits and fawns." However, he went on to say that Chappell is "a consummate craftsman—a sensitive pianist and gifted melodist who knows some genuinely interesting chords." [6]
In a review of one of Chappell's contemporary jazz albums, Jonathan Widran of AllMusic praised Over the Top for its "energetic live interaction" with fellow performers. [7]
Chappell has a brother named Gary Chappell. Gary Chappell worked as a manufacturer for Music West Records. [2]
| Album | Year | Label | Catalog # | Chart Performance | Reference | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US New Age | US Cont. Jazz | |||||||
| Weeks | Peak | Weeks | Peak | |||||
| Tender Ritual | 1985 | Music West | MW-131 | – | – | - | – | – |
| Dusk | 1986 | Music West | MW-132 | 21 | 19 | - | - | [8] |
| Living the Northern Summer | 1989 | Music West | MW-133 | 33 | 5 | - | - | [8] |
| Saturday's Rhapsody | 1990 | Music West | MW-134 | 23 | 10 | - | - | [8] |
| Nightsongs and Lullabies | 1991 | Music West | MW-135 | 17 | 7 | - | - | [8] |
| In Search of the Magic | 1992 | Real Music | RM-0136 | – | – | – | - | – |
| Over the Top | 1993 | Real Music | RM-0137 | - | - | 19 | [9] | |
| Manila Nights | 1994 | Real Music | RM-0138 | – | – | – | – | - |
| The Earthsea Series, Volume 1 | 1994 | Real Music | RM-1160 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Laughter at Dawn | 1994 | Real Music | RM-0139 | 5 | 19 | - | - | [8] |
| Acadia | 1996 | Gallery | GR-1001 | – | – | – | – | – |
| Serenity Rush | 2003 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Coming Through | 2005 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Honey Wind | 2007 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Sad Music Moods | 2008 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Comfort Songs | 2009 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Treasure At Seventeen | 2009 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Rise | 2009 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Panorama | 2010 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Into the Fresh Beyond | 2012 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
| Something to Turn To | 2014 | Unspeakable Freedom | – | – | - | – | – | |
When originally released on the Unspeakable Freedom label, Tender Ritual had catalog number RB-101.
Real Music re-released all five of the Music West albums. These re-releases have catalog numbers RM-0131 through RM-0135.
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"Bohemian Rhapsody" is a song by the British rock band Queen, released as the lead single from their fourth studio album, A Night at the Opera (1975). Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, the song is a six-minute suite, notable for its lack of a refraining chorus and consisting of several sections: an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic passage, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. It is one of the few progressive rock songs of the 1970s to have proved accessible to a mainstream audience.
Rhapsody in Blue is a 1924 musical composition for solo piano and jazz band, which combines elements of classical music with jazz-influenced effects. Commissioned by bandleader Paul Whiteman and written by George Gershwin, the work premiered in a concert titled "An Experiment in Modern Music" on February 12, 1924, in Aeolian Hall, New York City. Whiteman's band performed the rhapsody with Gershwin playing the piano. Whiteman's arranger Ferde Grofé orchestrated the rhapsody several times including the 1924 original scoring, the 1926 pit orchestra scoring, and the 1942 symphonic scoring.
Nicola James Capaldi was an English singer-songwriter and drummer. His musical career spanned more than four decades. He co-founded the progressive rock band Traffic in 1967 with Steve Winwood with whom he co-wrote the majority of the band's material. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a part of Traffic's original lineup.
Bruce Randall Hornsby is an American singer-songwriter and pianist. His music draws from folk rock, jazz, bluegrass, folk, Southern rock, country rock, jam band, rock, heartland rock, and blues rock musical traditions.
A Night at the Opera is the fourth studio album by the British rock band Queen, released on 28 November 1975, by EMI Records in the United Kingdom and Elektra Records in the United States. Produced by Roy Thomas Baker and Queen, it was reportedly the most expensive album ever recorded at the time of its release.
Sir George Albert Shearing was a British jazz pianist who for many years led a popular jazz group that recorded for Discovery Records, MGM Records and Capitol Records. Shearing was the composer of over 300 songs, including the jazz standards "Lullaby of Birdland" and "Conception", and had multiple albums on the Billboard charts during the 1950s, 1960s, 1980s and 1990s.
James Merrill Brickman is an American pop songwriter, pianist and radio host. Brickman has earned two Grammy nominations for his albums Peace (2003) for Best Instrumental, and Faith (2009) for Best New Age Album. He won a Canadian Country Music Award, a Dove Award presented by the Gospel Music Association, and was twice named Songwriter of the Year by SESAC. Billboard lists 22 of his albums reaching No. 1 on the New Age chart, and 16 of his songs reaching Top 10 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Four of his albums were certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Richard Hyman is an American jazz pianist and composer. Over a 70-year career, he has worked as a pianist, organist, arranger, music director, electronic musician, and composer. He was named a National Endowment for the Arts Jazz Masters fellow in 2017.
Illuminations is a 1974 collaboration between Alice Coltrane and Carlos Santana. Saxophonist/flautist Jules Broussard, keyboardist Tom Coster, drummer Jack DeJohnette, percussionist Armando Peraza and bassist Dave Holland also contributed to the album.
Joseph Leslie Sample was an American jazz keyboardist and composer. He was one of the founding members of The Jazz Crusaders in 1960, after which its name was shortened to "The Crusaders" in 1971. He remained a part of the group until its final album in 1991, and also the 2003 reunion album Rural Renewal.
Devotion: The Best of Yanni is a compilation album by keyboardist and composer Yanni, released on the Private Music label in 1997. The album peaked at #1 on Billboard's "Top New Age Albums" chart and at #42 on the "Billboard 200" chart in the same year.
Jonathan Michael Batiste is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, bandleader, composer, and television personality. He has recorded and performed with artists including Stevie Wonder, Prince, Willie Nelson, Lenny Kravitz, ASAP Rocky, Ed Sheeran, Lana Del Rey, Roy Hargrove, Juvenile, and Mavis Staples. Batiste appeared nightly with his band, Stay Human, as bandleader and musical director on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from 2015 to 2022.
In the Mirror is a compilation album by keyboardist and composer Yanni, released on the Private Music label in 1997. The album peaked at number 1 on Billboard's Top New Age Albums chart and at number 17 on the Billboard 200 chart in the same year.
Taylor Monét Parks, known as Tayla Parx, is an American singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, and actor. A four-time Grammy nominee in the Album of the Year category, songs she has written and co-written have exceeded 16 billion streams on Spotify and appeared on the pop, hip hop, R & B, K-pop, country, and Latin charts. She has released four albums, an EP, and a mixtape as a solo artist.
Blue Gardenia is the twenty-fifth studio album by Etta James, released through the record label Private Music. It was produced by John Snyder, who had worked with James on five of her previous studio albums. Blue Gardenia contains thirteen jazz standards from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. All of the standards were arranged by pianist Cedar Walton, with the exception of "Love Letters", which was arranged by Josh Sklair. Between November 2000 and February 2001, Snyder and Walton assembled musicians to record tracks while James was recovering from a flu; her vocals were added following her recovery. In addition to Walton, artists appearing on the album included Red Holloway on tenor saxophone and Dorothy Hawkins, James' mother, who provided vocals on the title track. Hawkins died in May 2002, less than a year after the album's release.
"Josie" is a song written by Walter Becker and Donald Fagen and first released by Steely Dan on their 1977 album Aja. It was also released as the third single from the album and performed modestly well, reaching number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 44 on the Easy Listening chart that year. It has appeared on several Steely Dan live and compilation albums.
Music West Records was an independent record company founded by Allan Kaplan in December 1985 in San Rafael, California. The company was initially formed to promote Ray Lynch, their first artist. During its run, artists released under the record company included Jim Chappell, Kenneth Nash, Chris Spheeris, and Øystein Sevåg. According to Gary Chappell, the manufacturer for Music West, the artists originated independently, claiming that the company's idea "has a statement that comes directly from the artist with no interference."
Snapshot is a studio album by American keyboardist George Duke released in 1992 on Warner Bros Records. The album reached No. 1 on the Billboard Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and No. 36 on the Billboard Top R&B Albums chart. Duke dedicated the album to his mother, Beatrice Burrell Duke, "who brought the camera and showed me how to use it".
Worth Waiting For is the tenth studio album by jazz keyboardist Jeff Lorber, released on Verve Forecast in January 1993. The album topped the U.S. Billboard Contemporary Jazz Albums chart at the end of July 1993. Worth Waiting For is the only album by Lorber to hit number 1 on that chart; five others rose to number 2. The album also hit number 33 on Billboard's Jazz chart, and number 71 on the R&B chart.
Stars is Mindi Abair's fifth album. It was released on May 6, 2008, by Peak Records. The album peaked at No. 4 on the Billboard Contemporary Jazz chart, and No. 7 on the Jazz albums chart. Two songs peaked on Billboard's Smooth Jazz Airplay chart, "Smile" at No. 9 and "Out of the Blue" at No. 16.
