Jon Mueller/Steve Nelson-Raney Duo

Art in the cafe...

Laurel Statz


"The Spectator"


December 2025



Laurel Statz is a painter and Madison area native. Her work, while figurative, is influenced by abstraction and minimalism. The paintings often have a quick and instinctual nature, capturing just what’s needed. While she often times herself to eliminate extra details and over-precision, she has ventured into more detailed works as well. Laurel does not attach narrative to her pieces. Rather, she thinks of them like a journaling process for her scatter-brained psyche. The figures in the pieces are meant to be processing tools for the artist and the viewer. She hopes that seeing these figures helps the...
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Friday, June 4, 2004

The Jon Mueller/Steve Nelson-Raney Duo boldly treads in territory between avant garde jazz and free improvisation. Drums and saxophone move from wisps of subtlety to sonic brutalities in seconds, without any loss of coherence. Milwaukee\'s VITAL SOURCE says of the duo\'s CD \'Cutting Off The Edge Of Time\' : \'Nelson-Raney and Mueller\'s collaboration is true improvisation that knows no boundaries....\'

Jon Mueller has been an active percussionist since studying jazz with the late Hal Russell in the early 90s. Since then, he has performed with the groups Telecognac, Pele and Colonies of Bees. He has collaborated with a variety of American and European artists including Bhob Rainey, Byard Lancaster and Hal Rammel. He has written music for dance and film, performed on numerous CDs and LPs, and has toured throughout the U.S. and Japan.

Steve Nelson-Raney has been performing his own music since the late 60s. His solo performances have included two in New York City. In addition, he has performed numerous coucerts throughout the Midwest and Southwest, appearing with such musicians as Malcolm Goldstein, Peter Kowald and Michael Zerang. He performs as saxophonist with the free improvisation trio Audiotrope. His work is documented on an LP, two tape cassettes and six compact discs.

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