"This is my emerging from the cocoon, as it were," says Maurice Oliver. The musician, originally from New York City, will perform pieces from his latest album, The Rebirth of the Miracle Man. It's the first music the multi-disciplinary artist has produced since moving to Eldorado and undergoing a triple-bypass surgery—all in less than a year. Accompanied by his brother Steve and bassist Gary Paul Hermus, Oliver unveils his reactions to his new environment and perspective in an immersive concert experience forged from abstract visuals and unconventional, highly eclectic music.
"The surgery is the most significant thing that has happened in my life," Oliver explains. "I was able to come back as a completely different person. It makes every day a fresh experience." Oliver reflects on driving from Santa Fe to Albuquerque for the surgery, when he was unsure if he would ever return. He was hyper-aware of the landscape, the sky, and the fauna of New Mexico. "This wonderful place informs everything about the music from what sounds I program in the synthesizers to what other instruments I'm putting together."
Oliver's music incorporates elements of electronica, downtempo, house, techno, jazz, funk, soul, and worldbeat. He draws from a wide range of influences, beginning with the summer conga drums and church gospel music he heard growing up on Staten Island and leading to his study of orchestral percussion at the Juilliard School of Music. Living in Amsterdam in the late 1980's, when the city was a burgeoning center of electronic production, introduced Oliver to influences from across the world. The result is the musician's unique, texturized aesthetic: a modern music which is neither exclusively organic nor exclusively electronic.