Transformer: an interview with jazz pianist and composer Cornelius Claudio Kreusch
One of the happiest (and completely unanticipated) benefits of creating No Dead Guys has been meeting pianists and composers from all over the world—musicians with whom I never would have had a chance to converse without this blog. Jazz pianist and composer Cornelius Claudio Kreusch is one such artist. With 28 albums to his name, this talented musician’s sound world blends jazz, classical, pop, funk, and world music into an improvisational style that is both unique and virtuosic while still accessible. His latest recording, Transformer, which will be released on August 21, 2021, is a touching tribute album that reflects both the changes of this pandemic era and the memories of a lifetime. Each piece included in this beautiful recording has been inspired by family ties, and it is a testament to Kreusch’s artistry that these compositions find the perfect balance between sentiment and musical expression. I’m honored to feature Kreusch on No Dead Guys, and to share his thoughts on music, the creative life, and the emotional connections that give life meaning.
What first drew you to the piano and at what age did you start lessons?
My mother Dorothée Kreusch-Jacob who is a concert pianist and studied with Hubert Giesen (Fritz Wunderlich), founded the Münchner Klavierquartett, which did the world premiers of many contemporary composers of the time. She was constantly performing in concert halls, teaching talented young pianists at home, was in the jury of piano competitions for young pianists and was writing books about creative ways to bring music into a child’s life. Thus, I honestly can say, I was on stage and at the piano before I was even born, being in the womb of my mother.
From an early age, as probably all kids do when they see a piano, I slapped the keys, probably torturing our little Bechstein grand piano, until I managed to more and more carve out my own musical ideas when I was just a few years old. When my mom saw that I was constantly being attracted to the piano in every free minute, she became my first teacher. That did not really work, since I did what I wanted, and not what she wanted for me. She then opened the house for another colleague of hers to teach her students at our house, so I would learn from my teacher, while my mom could still see and hear what I was learning and how I was progressing. I was 5 years old at that time. Music was constantly being made in our house. Not one day went by without several students or musicians filling the house with music.
I kept improvising, making up my own things continuously. My mom still recalls me finishing classical pieces the way I wanted to and not how they were written, or opening the pieces up for little candences. I guess sometimes I wanted to make up for not knowing the pieces to their core. But improvising was the thing that really drew me to music in general—creating my own, rather than following the road most travelled.
What or who introduced you to so many different musical styles, and what musicians and composers most influence your style today?
Our house was filled with classical music as well as the sound of old shellac albums with music from the 1920s and onwards, since my father loved dancing to the old tunes. That gave me my first taste of jazz.
My very first inspiration was two-fold: Fats Waller, whose life-affirming joy of stride-piano playing and growling singing became my first hero, as well as Boogie-Woogie in general. I loved the rhythmic drive of that music, and it gave me a first framework to draw my musical ideas from.
When my mother did her first children’s recording for Deutsche Grammophon she invited a free jazz band to participate. Its pianist, who was also illustrating my mom’s books, became my first jazz teacher, by just playing with me. It’s a childhood memory I will always be grateful for. The drummer gave me his drum set, since he saw that rhythm was really my thing. So I picked up the drums as well. I still say, like Bélà Bartok, that the piano is also a percussive instrument. And that’s how I treat it sometimes.
I kept coming back to jazz and improvised music, as well as some of the most amazing classical pianists. Throughout my entire growing up, I totally neglected any pop, rock or chart music. My early teacher Mal Waldron (Billie Holiday), who lived in Munich at the time, was probably my biggest influence back then, as well as Jaki Byard (Charles Mingus, Eric Dolphy) when I studied in New York.
So my influences in jazz on the piano are: Fats Waller, Martial Solal, Herbie Hancock and George Duke. I listened to them all the time. For classical, I was deeply drawn to Sviatoslav Richter, Ivo Pogorelich and my teacher Claude-France Journès, a disciple of Francis Poulenc.
As far as composers, I would name just two: Miles Davis and Maurice Ravel. Ravel and his harmonic and melodic inventions have influenced jazz musicians for decades. Miles Davis, to me, is still the king of music in the 20th century. I have not seen or heard another one that can take his place. If there ever will be anybody that can touch his way of being connected with the musical universe, we will hear it right away. I am still listening…
Musical categories can be rigid, and most musicians choose to specialize in one of them. Yet, as an award-winning jazz player, you borrow liberally from all musical traditions, especially classical. Why do you think you so successfully communicate in all these different styles?
I make the amalgam of styles my own. And I really do not try to communicate that. I just do it. Therefore, a successful communication happens when you play what you are and when you are what you play. Being original is my utmost intent. I can be the best I can only if I am myself.
In addition to your concert touring and recordings, you are successful as a producer and an entrepreneur. How have you balanced all these aspects of your career, and how do you think these things enhance each other?
My first concert with my own music was at age 16 and a self-organized evening with the help of the young section of the Social Democratic Party in my hometown. I still remember I called it “Swing, Bebop, Avantegarde.” I guess it was none of that, it was just all my music. I negotiated with the co-organizer, made up the agreement, designed the flyer with my passport image, photocopied it, distributed it before school started to every arriving pupil, called the local press, organized the tuner, collected the admissions, prepared a written programme, performed the concert, helped clear the hall afterwards, checked on the press for a review later, etc. I am still doing the same activities all around music. Truly, I can say I learned by doing, by putting myself on the spot, by always going for more. Being independent while within a team, that is still my main goal.
Also, at a very early age, I had asthma after my childhood vaccinations. It’s still with me. Being able to breath, follow my own breath and rhythm therein has really influenced my professional and personal life. I have built my activites around the piano and music, literally by building my studio and office around the pianos I own. Nothing ever comes with a smash. You continuously grow into it. And so having this integrated way of life in music really helps me to stay alert, awake, inspired, ready for action, and free to move to wherever draws me.
Tell me about Transformer, your most recent album, which flirts with everything from pop to funk to classical to world music, and is, by your own description, a collection of compositions influenced by family ties.
My music is my book of life. Melodies become a testament to the people you love and the situations that put a scar in your emotional skin, a smile on your soul, or thunder into your universe. The album Heart & Soul really documented that strain of music of mine first. Transformer, however, is going a big step further. With Paco (composed on the day of his untimely passing) I honor Paco de Lucia; with The Last Poet I pay homage to my deceased lyrics partner Thomas Grimes; Funky Monkey is for Henry Mancini; Legacy is an homage to all the great jazz musicians I admire; Easter Monday is a co-write with my (then) 8 year old daughter Isaya; Aeneas and Meral are for my son and daughter; Vortex is for my grandfather; For my Father for him; and my take on Giant Steps for the one and only John Coltrane.
The album really also illustrates the transforming energy that we all need to bring to the table of life since March 2020. Transformation is of the moment. And it’s needed now, on every level.
With an astounding 28 albums recorded, what prompted you to create a deeply personal project such as Transformer?
Every project I work on is deeply personal. I cannot do it any other way. Even when I work for others, I have to make it my own in order to give them all I can possibly give.
One of my favorite tracks on Transformer is For My Father. What inspired this touching piece, and how many of the other tracks have been inspired by individuals you know and love?
Thank you. I recorded Source Song for my mother on Live! At Steinway Hall / New York and on Heart & Soul. It was about time to honor my father for his influence. It is so much more emotional and heart-warming than the sometimes thunderous, pugnacious and arguable way of my father. He had a handful to take care of, since my mother, my brother (classical guitarist & festival promoter) and my sister (visual artist, who also did the cover art for Transformer) are all musicians and artists, while he is an engineer, early AI expert and a feared/respected manager.
When will Transformer be released, and where might we be able to listen to or purchase it?
It comes out on August 20th, 2021 and I can’t wait for everybody to hear it. I should be on all digital outlets and you can buy it on CD from Amazon and the like. If somebody wants a dedicated copy, please write to info@musicjustmusic.com.
Will you be live-streaming an album release concert? If so, where might we be able to attend?
Yes. I will be performing a LIVE Streaming Release Concert on August 22nd, 2021 at 6pm CEST. You may access it through YouTube. Concert donations may be made through PayPal.
How has the pandemic changed your career, your sense of yourself, and your creative mission as an artist?
March 2020 was an inflection point. It changed everything. And it changed nothing. I keep doing what I do. My creative mission as a pianist is the same: telling my story, being true to myself and longing to reach the world. As a producer, it was a high time. As a performing artist, I am in the process of creating my own live streaming situation in my studio and being open to all new forms of musical communications via the digital channels available to all of us.
Now that lockdown restrictions are beginning to lift, what future projects are you most excited about?
Let me say it with John Cage: “I welcome whatever happens next.” Because I know, I will make the best out of it, within my powers and inspirations and the trust in the good of this world (even if we have to dig deep for it).
Thank you for inquiring about me as artist.
Cornelius Claudio Kreusch. Equally a world-class pianist, creative producer as well as successful entrepreneur, the passion of Cornelius Claudio Kreusch is the music.
The classically-trained pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch (who studied with several teachers including Mordecai Shehori, a disciple of Vladimir Horowitz, and Claude-France Journés, a disciple of Francis Poulenc, among others) and jazz legends Jaki Byard of Charles Mingus and Mal Waldron of Billie Holiday, as well as contemporaries Laszlo Gardony, Charlie Banacos, Ray Santisi and Leonid Chizhik. He is a graduate from Berklee College of Music (Bachelor of Music) in Boston and from Manhattan School of Music (Master of Music) in New York City, each as Honorable Alumnus. He also studied Arranging with Manny Albam in New York. Besides his extensive musical studies, Cornelius also studied civil engineering (Technische Universität München) and economics (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München).
This Steinway Artist is the recipient of many prizes and awards including the Berklee College of Music's Jazz-Performance-Awards ('93 and '94), Manhattan School of Music's President's Award ('95 and '96) and Germany's Scala-Award ('99) for Artist of the Year, as well as the Jazzprize Burghausen (’92), Jazzprize Biberach (‘90) and the city of Munich's Cultural Award ("Kulturförderpreis München"), as well as many GRAMMY® Nomination Entries over the years.
He was selected as the youngest pianist for the 1. Concours International de Piano Jazz Martial Solal in Paris in 1989 and was one of five finalists at the Great American Jazz Piano Competition in 1994, the only European finalist in the history of this competition. Cornelius won first prize in the jazz section and an honorable mention in the hiphop category at the International Songwriting Competition in the same year of 2005.
Cornelius has performed at some of the most prestigious venues and music festivals including; the Blue Note, Steinway Hall and the Knitting Factory in New York, the Miles Davis Hall at the Montreux Jazz Festival, Munich Philharmonic Hall, Théâtre des Halles in Paris, Fondacion Miro in Barcelona, Tata Theater in Bombay, Sala Palatuli in Bukarest, and the Centro de las Artes in Mexico City, Teatro Amadeo Roldán in Havanna, King Fahad Cultural Centre in Riadh and many other places around the world.
CCK has performed and recorded with some of the most respected jazz and world musicians in the world including; Herbie Hancock, Salif Keïta, Richard Bona, Bobby McFerrin, Miles Davis' last saxophonist Kenny Garrett, saxophonists Bobby Watson (Art Blakey) and Greg Osby (M-Base), bassist Anthony Cox (Stan Getz, John Scofield) and drummers Marvin "Smitty" Smith , Will Calhoun (Living Colour), Terri Lyne Carrington, bassists James Genus (both Herbie Hancock), Zaf Zapha (Salif Keïta), hand-drummer Jamey Haddad (Paul Simon, Sting), and piano duos with Herbie Hancock, Joachim Kühn, Laszlo Gardony & Aydin Esen.
24 CDs under his own name, among those the successes
"BlackMudSound" (ENJA), "Scoop" (ACT), "Live! At Steinway Hall / New York" (BMG), "Life is Beautiful" (MJM), “Heart & Soul” (GLM) & “Two Worlds One” are at the core of his oeuvre.
His most recent albums are the fulminant “BlackMudSound - Live in New York City”, recorded live at the Blue Note Jazz Club New York as well as his acclaimed “ZAUBERBERG A musical homage to Thomas Mann”, a 2 CD-Set solo piano improvisations.
Reviews & Press:
“Whether centennial piano titans Tatum, Solal, Horowitz, Gould, Kühn, Hancock or Jarrett, Kreusch, pulls all them all into the maelstrom of his outrageous virtuosity.” (Attila Csampai, Bayerischer Rundfunk, HIFi & Records, Music Manual, Tonart)
"A pianist who sounds like no one else. Endlessly fascinating to hear." (John Dyer, Boston Globe)
“It’s a wild ride.” (Time Out / New York)
“A genius talent, a nimble fingered sorcerer, a creative iconoclast.The alchemist.” (France Ouest)
"One of the greatest improvisors in Europe." (Jazzthing)
For more information, visit the artist’s website: CorneliusClaudioKreusch
New album Transformer
Producer Website, Music Just Music
Artist contact: info@musicjustmusic.com