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Biography
The musical composer and producer, Chip Davis, initially used the title Mannheim Steamroller as an alias for his music, but the title was later used to refer to the group that Davis had assembled. Davis remained the primary songwriter for the group, but pianist Jackson Berkey also contributed much to Mannheim Steamroller’s sound. In the early seventies Davis and Berkey were experimenting with a new sound that was labeled 18th century rock, which was a genre combining 18th century classical music with rock and roll. The group recorded some songs for their debut album “Fresh Aire”, but they could not find a major label that would distribute the album. This resulted in Davis establishing his own music label, American Gramaphone, and releasing the album under his label in 1975.
The idea for the album “Fresh Aire” would later become a series for Mannheim Steamroller, which showed them releasing many albums for the series. The first four “Fresh Aire” albums were released between the years 1975 – 1981 and were an attempt to explore the four seasons. “Fresh Aire” was spring, “Fresh Aire II” was fall, “Fresh Aire III was summer, and “Fresh Aire IV” was winter. These albums combined the genres of jazz, baroque classical, and rock music. The albums also featured diverse instrumentation, which included toy pianos, grand pianos, pipe organs, synthesizers, and harpsichords.
The other “Fresh Aire” albums have also been commercially successful and critically praised. “Fresh Aire VI” explored the concept of Greek mythology and was the first “Fresh Aire” album to peak on the Billboard 200 chart. The 1990 album “Fresh Aire 7” was also received with exceptional success and won Mannheim Steamroller a Grammy Award for best New Age album.
Perhaps the moment when Mannheim Steamroller achieved mainstream success was when they released their first Christmas album in 1984 “Mannheim Steamroller Christmas”. The album was the band’s first to make it on the Billboard 200 album chart and it has been certified 6x Platinum by the RIAA. The songs on the album were almost all traditional Christmas songs presented in a synthpop oriented way and the album is one of the best selling Christmas albums in the US. In 1988 the group released “A Fresh Aire Christmas”, which followed the tradition of their symphonic pop presentation. This album surpassed their first Christmas album in sales and is one of the best selling Christmas albums of all time. The group’s 2007 Christmas album “Christmas Song” showed the group collaborating with notable guest musicians such as Johnny Mathis and Olivia Newton-John.
Although Mannheim Steamroller’s “Fresh Aire” and Christmas albums seem to be their most popular albums, they have released many other albums such as several Halloween and ambient albums, as well as “Classical Gas”, which was a collaborative album with guitarist Mason Williams. The group has participated in many events such as playing the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and has toured the world frequently to perform their music, especially their Christmas music around the time of the holidays.
Live reviews
Steamrolled by Mannheim Steamroller. A riveting holiday special performance at Walt Disney’s Universal Studios Florida by the number one Christmas recording artist Mannheim Steamroller.
True to the 18th century German meaning behind their name, the orchestral ensemble lead the audience on a crescendo of musical peaks and valleys that delighted both the young and old in attendance.
The stage was colorfully lit as if a winter wonderland surrounded by gigantic glittering snowflakes. The props accented the intense holiday music flawlessly, with each arrangement of flickering Christmas tree lights seemingly pulsating to each flowing beat of the orchestral masterpieces performed by Mannheim Steamroller.
Grammy award winning composer Chip Davis, founder of the American music group, arranged a perfect blend of holiday music to give an invigorating sense of joy and happiness to all in attendance. The selection of songs included an exhilarating rendition based on the Christmas favorite “How the Grinch Stole Christmas”. The male vocalist who portrayed the part of the Grinch was spellbinding.
The talented singing chorus, adorned in eye catching formal garb, warbled a variety of pleasant holiday tunes to perfection. Eloquent voices accompanied by an orchestra composed of the utmost talented musicians sang an assortment of age-old Christmas favorites, plus a list of enhancing less known Yuletide songs.
After leaving the concert, Mannheim Steamroller infused me with an insatiable urge to collect a group of good friends and go Christmas Caroling! Fantastic performance!
Despite Mannheim Steamroller selling over 28 million albums, they are pretty unknown outside of the States which is a shame as they merge the genres of pop, rock and classical in a really great way. The live show is also equally great as they bring together a variety of instruments and vocals to create an easy listening sound that is both lush with strings and anthemic with percussion all at once.
Chip Davis, the band leader is a charismatic frontman as he takes the audience through a celebration of the group's 'Fresh Aire' album series which spans all the way back to the 70s. He has support from the accompanying musicians who have expert timing and a wonderful way to bring many components together in order to create a very harmonious sound. The audience has plenty to applaud for as each artist showcases their respective instrumental however the best reaction is reserved for the crescendo performance of 'Come Home to the Sea'.
sean-ward
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