Artist
Christoph Spendel
Christoph Spende - German jazz pianist, keyboardist, bandleader, composer, arranger, producer, music professor and music journalist has omitted nothing in his thirty year career in the different styles of jazz, rock, Latin, classical and modern ambience Music.
He received his first lessons at the age of five from his mother, a music teacher and pianist. He continued his studies at the Robert Schumann Institute in Duesseldorf with Prof. Bernhard Roderburg and at the Folkwankhochschule in Essen with Prof. Irma Sehlbach-Zucca. Spendel's professional career began in the Duesseldorf scene with the band Jazz Track, who performed live in 1975 at the Berlin Jazz Festival at the Philharmonic. That same year he received the Cultural Award by the city of Duesseldorf. Later he worked with leading German musicians such as, Albert Mangelsdorff, Klaus Doldinger, Christof Lauer, Wolfgang Schlüter, Manfred Schoof, Michael Sagmeister, and many more. American musicians such as Lee Ritenour, Don Grusin, Alphonze Mouzon, Airto Moreira, Jim Pepper, Miroslav Vitous and Eddie Harris invited him to tour and record productions in Germany. In the nineties, he spent five years in New York. During this time he was a permanent member of the Fusion Band "Special EFX". During this time, he performed as a regular at the famous jazz club "Blue Note" and various tours led him through concert halls and jazz clubs in Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, Dallas, Montreal, Panama and many more. During this time Spendel also worked with musicians such as Chuck Loeb, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Michael Urbaniak, Jeremy Steig, Dave Samuels, Lenny White, Steve Kahn and Dave Valentin, to mention only a few. The rhythm section of the cult band "Weather Report" with drummer Omar Hakim, bassist Victor Bailey and percussionist Mino Cinelu played for Spendel on his production “Cool Streetâ€, which was recorded in New York in 1992.
Music education has always been an important field for Christoph Spendel. It began with teaching assignments in the conservatories in Cologne, Duesseldorf and Bremen. In 1999 this was crowned with a professorship at the School of Music in Frankfurt. More teachings followed at the Rimon School in Tel Aviv, the New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music in New York and the Junior College in Tampa, Florida. In 1985 he was invited to the Piano Festival in Istanbul. 1991 Christoph Spendel concerted for the premiere of "Audio Fortes" from Schimmel at the NAMM show in Los Angeles. In 2003 he was invited to Moscow and appeared as a member of the international group "East West Connection" in various concerts, including in the German embassy. International tours have always been on the agenda. He has appeared alongside the United States, in almost all European countries and in Israel, Cuba, Canada and recently also in Australia, where he performed in Sydney, Brisbane and Perth for the Goethe Institute and guest lecturer at universities. The German music magazine "Keyboards" hired him as a journalist for the Jazz Department and interview partner with international interlocutors such as Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Joe Zawinul, Esbjörn Svenson and Brad Mehldau. Christoph Spendel was asked to compose and produce for several radio stations, such as the WDR, for whom he conducted "The Three Worlds" in Tel Aviv and New York. Besides his own projects he is a member of Olaf Kübler Quartet and co-partner of the duo "Jazz meets Classic" with his classic piano collegue, Ratko Delorko. A recent live DVD documents the artistic output of the creative team.
For some time now, Christoph Spendel also deals with the multimedia side of the music. Computer, film, photography and Internet display an additional workstation for him. 2005 he published his first sound picture video clip entitled "Waterlights". Other video clips were produced with his ensemble "Planet Lounge" and enjoyed great popularity, including "Space Night" from the Bavarian Broadcasting Company and "Flow Motion" from the HR – the Frankfurt Broadcasting Company. In 2005 there was also a long-awaited musical highlight, a performance with the vibraphonist Dave Pike as part of Jazz Fest in Berlin, parallel to the film premiere of the MPS Portraits "Jazzin' the Black Forrestâ€, in which Spendel also participated. Since 1998 he has KAWAI Digital Piano endorser with concerts at the Frankfurt Music Fairs.
There are countless CDs from Christoph Spendel. Emphasis are his last trio recordings "Shanghai City Lights" and "Summer Notice", which were both released through Blue Flame Records and are distributed worldwide and enjoyed great press coverage.
