Oregon Music Hall of Fame: John Nilsen looks to the future, even with prolific past

As much as John Nilsen has done in the past, musically, he enjoys the now and always looks forward to the future.

So, as he prepares to enter the Oregon Music Hall of Fame, Nilsen very much wants people to go along with him on a journey “to carve out new terrain in music.”

“You get excited at first and it’s nice to hear those words,” he said, about making the Oregon Music Hall of Fame. “It’s a pat on the back or whatever. Before too much time goes by, it’s a time to reflect on how you got there. There are a lot of people needed to be thanked. People who give you opportunities and people that believe in you.

“But I try not to loop back, even though in a moment of reflection in being inducted is a look back. I try to forge ahead. I love creating. I don’t want to be a guy stuck playing his back catalog. When you start out, you’re creating. You should always be creating.”

Nilsen, 67, has quite a resume, which includes 21 albums, more than a million albums in sales and tours all over the United States (all 50 states), Europe, Asia, Australia/New Zealand and more. He’s a pianist, guitarist, composer, lyricist and vocalist who lives in the realms of classical music, folk and jazz. He has performed solo as well as with his trio and band Swimfish.

He became a Yamaha Signature Piano Artist in November 2021.

Now a Lake Oswego resident, Nilsen lived in West Linn for about 30 years and worked with students and held songwriting residencies in West Linn and Wilsonville schools and other districts around the country.

“I’ve always liked working with kids,” he said. “I grew up in a house where mom taught private piano lessons. I’ve been around teachers my whole life.”

Perhaps a spot in the Oregon Music Hall of Fame was a long time coming for Nilsen, who was born in Seattle and moved to Portland at four years old.

Nilsen has shared the stage with a lot of great musicians, including Michael Allen Harrison in the Ten Grands show, Dan Balmer, Phil Baker and Dave Captein in Swimfish.

And, he has been a prolific recording arts.

Nilsen recorded three successful solo piano records on L.A.’s Eagle Records from 1983 to 1985 and created his own Magic Wing label in 1987. He has released 21 albums, including “Foreign Films” in 2019, a collection of Nilsen’s piano compositions with orchestral backing.

His newest release is “Two Stories” in late 2022 with Swimfish.

His favorite album? “I know the ones that sold the most,” he said. “Sometimes what I would choose is not the one that always has the greatest commercial success. I think the past two records … Swimfish’s ‘Two Stories’ is a special record. And ‘Foreign Films’ was fun, we brought in a quartet from the Oregon Symphony that played on five or six tracks, as it was meant to sound like a soundtrack, a film score.”

It’s a thrill for Nilsen to make new music.

“One thing that’s for sure, if you’re going to go into the music industry, you have a path there and have forks in the road. Who are you going to be?” he said. “Early on, I was going to be myself and make music. I followed that and it’s what I had inside me. It felt normal to me.”

And, touring, the gigs “never stop, although I’ve sort of pulled back a little bit.”

Said Nilsen: “I flew 25 times a year (to shows) for 25 years straight. Never complained, as I felt that, ‘If I’m doing that, things are going well.’ I enjoyed touring. Then COVID came and stopped it all. Now I think I did 10 flights last year. I’m never going to go back to that high level again — 10 is good. I’m playing more locally,” including Dec. 19-20 at Lake Theater in Lake Oswego ( laketheatercafe.com ).