THE MUSIC OF OZZIE AHLERS

From Jimi Hendrix to the
Grammy Nominated Acoustic Planet

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Keyboardist Artist Composer Producer Arranger Educator

"His debut Fingerpainting rocks steady from start to finish ... [from] a sideman career behind the likes of Jerry Garcia and Van Morrison."

“Ozzie Ahlers …. keyboardist extraordinaire.”

“Ozzie keeps his rock n' roll roots on his sleeve … there's good vibes throughout.…”

"Ahlers writes instantly hooky, hypnotic melodies but performs them with an edge ..."

"Ahlers next helped put Chaquico's Acoustic Planet on the [Billboard Magazine] charts, where it deposed Yanni from the top spot …"

Ozzie Ahlers

A Brief History
(video transcript)

So I’ll give you a little history of who I am.

I’ve been playing music professionally for over four decades. Wow time flies especially when you’re having fun, and my fun started when I was pretty young. My band was produced by none other than the incredible Jimi Hendrix and we recorded our first album at Electric Lady Studios in New York City. That was a thrill for me working with a true musical legend. I learned so much from him, especially about his love of R&B music as well as the real down home blues.

Soon after that I was asked to come to California and work with the great singer Van Morrison. I’ll tell you playing keyboards with him was a real honor.

Later when I joined the Jerry Garcia band I was really in the thick of it. I recorded in the studio with Jerry and toured the world with another guitar legend; and this time I really stretched out. As you know, Jerry was a very creative player and he demanded so much of his musicians but always with that musical twinkle in his eye.

Well the album projects started to pile up and I had a real reputation — probably not for being the hottest keyboard player but for being one of the most working musicians in the business.

I even was asked to create music for film and one of the most fun projects I had was doing the music for Gumby, you know that little green clay guy. I hired some great singers and guitarists for those sessions one of which was my old friend Craig Chaquico the guitarist from the Jefferson Starship. The guy definitely shreds, and soon after the film project we joined forces to create some CD projects including “Acoustic Highway” and “Acoustic Planet”; and that was nominated for a Grammy Award. It also went to number one in billboard. We were on a roll and spent the next 16 years writing, producing, recording, and touring the world behind 12 very successful albums.

I met and worked with music and sports legends and I won a number of awards in music and film. I even did my own solo CD project called Finger Painting. I got to hire my favorite musicians to play on that like Jimmy Dillon on guitar he definitely put his soul in that music.

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