ACM is the distillation of wisdom gleaned from a lifetime of passionate music-making, and a portal for musical enrichment. ACM studio is based in West Seattle.
What is ACM?
ACM is a conduit between the human instinct for music and its expression.
ACM unites the joy of music with the wisdom of craft.
ACM is a portal into the language of music.
Performance
A performer since childhood, Alex experiences live performance as an intimate form of human connection. He holds two degrees in Music Performance, and has played for crowds large and small in clubs, festivals, theaters, and parks in North America, South America, and Europe.
Alex specializes in solo piano and dual accompaniment, as well as playing with ensembles and jazz piano trios. He is also comfortable with Hammond organ, Fender Rhodes, and analog and digital synthesizers.
ACM is internationally available for booking as a session pianist, sideman, and accompanist.
Education
Raised by a schoolteacher, Alex is a lifelong learner by blood. There are few things that bring him greater satisfaction than helping students progress steadily and sustainably on their musical journeys.
In his work as an adjunct professor and as a community organizer, Alex seeks to empower musical communication on individual and communal levels. In 2013 and 2015, he co-organized Sounds Beyond Barriers, a collective songwriting process learned from Zapatista communities in southern Mexico. ACM embodies an educational approach that emphasizes an interplay of introspection, communal exchange, critical thinking, and self-expression.
Offering lessons in piano, composition, arranging, performance, music theory, and improvisation, Alex helps students at any level of knowledge achieve their goals. Whether you’re seeking to take your musicianship to the next level or investigating music as a new medium, ACM can provide you with the tools, guidance, and mentorship to achieve your goals and beyond. Alex offers one-on-one and group lessons, clinics, and workshops, both in-person and remotely.
Production
As an arranger and composer, Alex brings a rare combination of knowledge and intuition to the art of production. He combines deep musical knowledge with the experience gained by decades of recording in professional studios. His production of two albums for his band, Duende Libre, earned him two consecutive Earshot Jazz awards for “Recording of the Year” in 2018 and 2020.
ACM studio is ideal for bands and singer-songwriters who are interested in creating original music with guidance from a passionate, encouraging composer. Alex can help artists shepherd their musical vision from the earliest stages of drafting through the final stages of production, shaping sonic ideas at any stage of development toward their fullest musical potential—in a commercially ready format.
ACM studio is equipped for in-person and virtual recording sessions. The studio is outfitted with world-class pianos, synthesizers, plugins, virtual instruments, and microphones. Services include songwriting, composition, arranging, tracking, overdubbing, comping vocals, contracting musicians, supervising rehearsals and recording sessions, and connecting clients with first-rate pros at the mixing and mastering stage.
ACM studio is also available for commissioned works for podcasts, film, and TV.
About
Alex Chadsey is a professional improvisational pianist with over 20 years of experience as a performer, composer, arranger, and producer. With three albums of original music and credit on a GRAMMY award-winning record, Alex has harnessed his lifelong passion for music to grow a successful international career in the music industry.
Alex holds degrees from the Universities of Michigan and Washington, where he graduated with a Masters in 2020. In all musical endeavors, he draws from a wide range of knowledge and traditions, informed as much by formal academic training as by apprenticing with master musicians the world over—from Cuba, Mexico Puerto Rico, NYC, LA, and elsewhere. Notable works include recording with the legendary Reggae artist Clinton Fearon, as well as touring and recording with the award-winning, East LA-based Chicano band Quetzal.
Alex sees music as an intuitive source of knowledge and wisdom—one that is critically needed in the present to confront the challenges we collectively face as a species. Music is an expression of the multifaceted intelligence of the human spirit, and a powerful catalyst for connecting with others—and with ourselves.