Christoph Spendel The Art of Solo Piano

"THE ART OF SOLO PIANO" The talented Jazz­pianist Christoph Spendel is returning, after a long solo­abstinence, with a new production "The Art Of Solo Piano". Many happenings in the past years gave the virtuoso musician new impulses: almost 3 years of living and spending endless jazz nights in New York, his membership with the band SPECIAL EFX and last, but not least his regained consciousness back to "The Art Of Solo Piano". The songs on his new album represent Spendels musical developement between classic music and jazz music. He does, however not shy away from using current trends ­ best example is his song "Acoustic Hip Hop" ­ and integrates these in his compositions. Christoph Spendel belongs currently to the most wanted jazz­pianist, keyboarders, composers, producers and music teachers of Germany. He received his first piano lessons at the age of five and then later, a firSm grounding in formal music education at the Robert­Schumann­Institut in Duesseldorf, Germany. His professional jazz career began as a member of the group Jazztrack. Spendel was able to get an international reputation as a solo­musician and was often guest musician by Albert Mangelsdorf, Michael Sameister, Lenny Mac Dowell, Charly Mariano, Eddie Harris or Airto Moreira. 1989 marked the year of Christoph's break­through in the U.S. Together with Randy Brecker and other jazz­celebrities, he was part of Michael Urbaniak's project "Milky Way". Convinced of Spendels talent, Urbaniak also produced the CD "Spendel", which had guest musicians like, Bill Evans, Steve Gadd, Jeremy Steig and Steve Khan. A little after this release, Spendel became a member of the band SPECIAL EFX, with which he toured the U.S. for about two years. The final break­through, in the U.S. market, though, was when George Jinda ­ percussionist from SPECIAL EFX ­ release,d together with Christoph the CD "Cool Street". Christoph's new CD "The Art Of Solo Piano" convinces through melodious and relaxing titles, like "An Evening In New York" oder "The Village". The well­known magazine DOWNBEAT characterizes Christoph's work as "the musical concept of the 90's".