Album Notes

Mike Barden is a pianist from central Wisconsin, who also presently serves as a Pastor of Worship at his church in Waupaca, WI (www.fccwaupaca.org); he also performs regularly with local jazz ensembles, including the River Cities Jazz big band (www.rivercitiesjazz.com).

"Groovy Church Tunes" is Mike's third independent release, this time featuring contemporary worship songs associated with his home church. And while his first two, "REST" and "Glory To The Newborn King," both featured unaccompanied solo piano, this one expands the tonal palette to include guitars, drums, and electronic sounds and rhythms.

The idea behind this recording was to take these "church tunes" and set each of them to a distinctive "groove," thus the title! Some of the tunes are "smooth jazz", some are more straight-ahead rock, some have a more "electronic" sound.

Mike's musical influences are all over the map, ranging from Bach to Chopin to Van Halen to Chick Corea to Zappa to Radiohead, and many points between and beyond. So the challenge was to funnel all that musical information into something that was listenable, enjoyable, and also reflective of his present work in ministry.