Randy Mahrer was classically trained starting at the age of 5. Even at the earliest stages, however, he preferred to learn by ear rather than by reading sheet music. His instructor was frequently chagrined by the liberties he took with the classics; Mozartian improvisation was not on the course syllabus! His studies lasted until about age 12, which is when he was seduced by the sounds of such groups as Led Zeppelin. He suspects that his ‘liberation’ from classical music was probably due, in part, to the parental fatigue associated with his being the fourth child in the family to be ‘handcuffed to the piano’ (as he perceived it at the time).
In spite of his extended detour into rock, blues, and jazz, Randy never did completely abandon his classical roots. And now, many years later, Randy’s musical excursions and incursions have found a home in his distinctive musical expressions. The blending of all these influences, with particular emphasis on melody, has resulted in the original compositions you can hear at his performances or on his recordings.
As with most artists, Randy’s influences are many and varied. Notable names include Jazz pianist Bill Evans, and Jazz/fusion artist Dave Grusin, whose Mountain Dance CD opened up new horizons for him.
Randy is available to perform anywhere within the San Francisco Bay Area. If you’d like to hire Randy, get in touch! You can check out this tune of his that was recently recorded in Saratoga. People who subscribe to Randy’s newsletter will get advance notice of all of Randy’s gigs sent directly to their email in-box—and by ‘advance notice’, we mean even before this website gets updated!
 |
Pieces for the Portrait is Randy’s first CD. It contains twelve of his distinctive musical compositions, and can be purchased online. In addition, five excerpts from this disc are available for you to download and enjoy.
Randy is currently working on his second CD. If you would like to be kept informed of his progress as it happens, feel free to sign up for his newsletter.
|
| Early Rain |
I Remember When |
Windhover’s Song |
 |
 |
 |
Track 1—4:58 (excerpt, 0:37)
6.2 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 2—4:38 (excerpt, 0:35)
6 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 3—3:13 (excerpt, 0:33)
5.5 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
| My Soul Watered (Jer 31:12) |
Processional |
Recessional |
 |
 |
 |
Track 4—3:37 (excerpt, 0:32)
5.4 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 5—4:09 (excerpt, 0:30)
5.1 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 6—1:16
12.7 MB download, or also on Pieces for the Portrait |
| Walk With Me |
In Memorium |
Song of the Sea |
 |
 |
 |
Track 7—4:13 (excerpt, 0:33)
5.6 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 8—3:05 (excerpt, 0:31)
5.3 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 9—5:19 (excerpt, 0:32)
5.5 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
| A Little Cat and Mouse |
Butterfly Comes to Rest |
Coming Home |
 |
 |
 |
Track 10—2:24 (excerpt, 0:32)
5.5 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 11—4:04 (excerpt, 0:32)
5.4 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
Track 12—2:38 (excerpt, 0:32)
5.4 MB download, or get it all on Pieces for the Portrait |
|
For friends and family who inspired him; friends who helped with song titles (without whom, his tunes would probably only have numbers); and all who have encouraged him by purchase or compliment or occasionally both; for all these people, Randy has one thing to say.
Thanks!
Randy promises that his newsletter will not contribute significantly to anyone’s glut of email. He sends it out only when he has some information worth sharing with his fans—chiefly announcements of his public gigs, and information about the progress of his recordings. The only bit of information you actually need to provide is a valid email address (how else will Randy know where to send your newsletter?), but there’s a couple of other things you can mention, if you like. Randy promises that he will not abuse your email address, or any other data you may choose to provide when you sign up; no selling your email address to advertisers, for instance.
|
Randy can be reached via email; please note that you may want to manually adjust the ‘Subject’ line of the message before you click on SEND. If you’d prefer to get in touch by telephone or US mail, we’ve put that information into a graphic image. Hopefully, we’ve made life a little more difficult for spammers without greatly annoying any real person who’d like to get in touch with Randy.
|
 
|
All text, graphics, and audio files on this website ©2006 Randy Mahrer.
This website was handcrafted from free-range electrons and organic software by Quentin Long