| Tom Schuman was born on January 31, 1958 as the second son of Wally and Marion Schuman. Wally Schuman was a Jazzbassist and Marion Schuman was a Jazzsinger. |
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| Being influenced by this musical family, Tom started to play the piano just by ear at the age of merely six years. When he was seven years old, Tom was just able to play Jazzchords, to improvise and to compose songs. That encouraged his parents to offer him the best musical education, a child can dream of. |
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| In 1965 Tom started to learn classical piano. For five years he had practiced every day after school, but he was more and more bored by that. Very early, Tom preferred to "jam" to the classical chords, instead of only playing, what was written in the notes. |
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| One of his teachers - Sandi Holland - was so thrilled by Tom's Talent, that he organized a foreplay and an interview at a local radio station for him. Tom played Chopin's Prelude in e-minor together with his father on bass and a friend, called Charlie Fadale on drums. At this time, Tom was only eleven years old and that gave him the motivation and the energy to advance his musical career. |
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| Tom started to study Jazztheory and composing. Furthermore he spent a lot of time, jamming with his father and friends of the family, discussing about music and to listen to it. |
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| Tom's first "real" gig was in his school, which almost became a desaster. When Tom pulled at the front of the piano the front legs buckled and the five hundred pound grand piano came crashing down on top of him! But luckily for Tom, he was not seriously hurt. But he had to finish out the gig with the piano resting on top of two garbage cans. |
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| After that, he began playing with local Pop- and Jazzbands and it was an exciting experience , to play in nightclubs as a sixteen-year-old boy. He also played in the Buffalo Psychiatric Center and in prisons like Attica, Albion and Monroe jail in Rochester. Those gigs were played with the band "The Existing Reality" and later on with the Jazzband "Birthright". |
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| "Birthright" gave Tom the first chance to compose and to release his new songs on a jazzrecord. He was touring with the band all across Europe and helped to promote their record "Breath Of Life". He gave radio interviews and came in contact with a lot of European musicians. |
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| Back in Buffalo, he was playing a lot of concerts, i.e. with Mark Murphy, Sammy Noto and Grant Green. He also became a steady institution in local Jazzclubs, where one day he met a new band, which was founded by Jay Beckenstein and Jeremy Wall. |
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| Their music was fresh and energetic. There he got his first chance to try out all those new synthesizers, which became more and more popular among Keyboarders. Jay and Jeremy were so impressed by Tom's playing, that they decided to realize their musical project together with him. The Project was called "Spyro Gyra"! |
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| The rest is history! Tom was playing on all Spyro Gyra records and was involved in 35 compositions, either as the composer or the co-author. His first Solo-project "Extremities" was published in 1990. He decided, besides his work with Spyro Gyra, to start a solo-career, as well as establishing himself as a guest-musician in other bands. |
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| In 2002 he released his second Soloproject "Into Your Heart" followed by "Schuman Nature" in 2003, "Deep Chill" in 2006 and "Reflections Over Time" in 2010. His recent project "Designated Planets" from 2013 hopefully will not be the last in a most impressive career. |
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