Life-giving expressions: Pianist Paul Cardall celebrates life as he awaits heart transplant

Paul Cardall loves life. That, he says, is the focus of his latest album. The two-disc set, titled "Living for Eden," is very autobiographical, he says, and it's all about the things he loves in life.

"I can look at each period of my life and the music I've done, and it's like a journal. I listen to it and it takes me back to that time."

Although he considers himself mostly a new age pianist, his music has spanned a lot of genres and has gathered him a host of fans around the world. His first big breakthrough came with a CD of music inspired by "The Christmas Box" book and movie. But he's done solo piano, vocals, orchestral pieces, jazz, pop, LDS hymns and Christian rock.

A recent CD of LDS hymns actually went to No. 4 on the Billboard New Age charts, he says. "It's probably the first time 'Joseph Smith's First Prayer' hit the Billboard charts. A lot of my fans didn't know exactly what they were getting, but they just liked the music."

But this latest CD is a little different. "I've never done a whole CD that is so personal. Music, to me, has always been a means to an end, a way to share emotion." This one does a bit more — on several levels.

For one thing, Eden is the name of his daughter. For another, music is his Eden-place; the way he finds his own peace and comfort.

Music, Cardall says, has always been there for him. "I was born with a congenital heart defect, so growing up, I couldn't do sports. I turned to music. In high school, a close friend of mine died. Music was healing. Performing my music at that time was an experience that shaped me."

There have been other challenges: a 1986 staph infection in his heart that resulted in open-heart surgery; miscarriages by his wife; the normal ups and downs of life.

And now comes one more. "I had just finished up the work on this latest album when my health and heart started to decline. I'm now on the list for a heart transplant. I carry my pager with me and know that any minute the call could come."

He is absolutely certain that things are going to go well. "It's not been fun for those around me. But I see it as a gift. Every day I get a blessing. I look at the moon at night and the stars, and everything is so much more beautiful."

People have been so generous, he says. "My wife has been amazing. And I've had countless letters and e-mails from people in similar circumstances."

He takes comfort in the fact that "Utah has one of the best heart transplant teams in the nation. I have a lot of confidence in them. At times I think about the sacrifice involved, and I know it will be a sacrifice for someone. The closest thing I can think about is adoption — the sacrifice of allowing someone else to raise your child."