Thomas Kessler (jazz musician)

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Thomas Kessler (* 1962 in Viersen ) is a German composer , producer , musician and architect .

Life

After classical piano training, studies of jazz harmony and composition techniques, he founded the Thomas Kessler Group in 1986 , a formation in the style of European electric jazz .

In 1991, as producer, Kessler directed the studio recordings for the album 'April' by guitarists Ulli Bögershausen and Reinhold Westerheide .

From 1995 to 2001 Kessler appeared with the Berlin dissidents , u. a. at the European world music and jazz festivals in Glastonbury , Montreux , Roskilde , Budapest , Rome and Barcelona .

Under the influence of world music , Kessler designed his first solo album 'on earth' in 1995, followed three years later with 'ego', which marked the entry into electronica , ambient and trip-hop . In 2000 he worked on sound collages for the documentary opera “The Memory of Water”, a dissident co-production with the American composer Gordon Sherwood (New York Symphonics), Charlie Mariano and the Danubian Orchestra and Choir (Bratislava). In the same year he supported the New York saxophonist Clive Stevens ( Manfred Mann , Billy Cobham ) as a co-author on his '' Millennium Jams ''. This was followed by sessions in Stefan Krachten's Trance Club ( Unknown Cases , Trance Groove ), and others. a. with Mel Collins ( King Crimson ), Rosko Gee ( Traffic , Can ) and Helmut Zerlett .

In 2002 a collaboration developed with Wolfgang Flür , the former drummer of the band Kraftwerk , with whom Kessler worked on his Yamo project. In spring 2005 the third solo album 'egolution' was released, first in Japan, later worldwide, a remaster of the ego album from 1998 with four new tracks. In 2007 he was involved in the Nighthawks album '4' with Reiner Winterschladen and Dal Martino . As a guest he appeared at several concerts of the drum formation Drums Off Chaos by Jaki Liebezeit and Manos Tsangaris , including at the “Drums Summit” in the Bundeskunsthalle in Bonn .

From 2008 until the temporary dissolution in 2010 he was an official band member of Trance Groove , whose album 'Playing with the Chelsea Girls' he co-produced with Stefan Krachten and Helmut Zerlett .

From 2010 to 2014 he was keyboard player and co-producer of Stefan Krachten's follow-up project GOLDMAN (with Mel Collins , Jürgen Dahmen , Helian Schulte , Helmut Zerlett , Konstantin Wienstroer ). He produced the band's last public live recordings, which were released in 2015 as the vinyl album 'GOLDMAN live at the Blue Shell'.

As a producer, in cooperation with Ulli Bögershausen , he oversaw the first two CD releases of the South Korean guitar virtuoso Sungha Jung , 'Perfect Blue (2010) and' Irony '(2011).

In 2014 he produced Ulli Bögershausen's solo album 'Spring Summer and Fall - Tunes from a Lifetime'.

Under the name TK audiotreatments , Thomas Kessler has been running a specialized mastering studio in Düsseldorf since 2008 for the music genres Acoustic, World, Ambient and Jazz.

Discography (excerpt)

  • 1990 - Thomas Kessler Group: Thomas Kessler Group
  • 1991 - Bögershausen / Westerheide: April
  • 1992 - Thomas Kessler Group: Untitled
  • 1995 - solo: on earth
  • 1997 - Dissidents: Instinctive Traveler
  • 1998 - solo: ego
  • 2000 - Clive Stevens: Millennium Jams
  • 2001 - Dissidents: 2001 - A Worldbeat Odyssey
  • 2005 - solo: egolution
  • 2007 - solo: the liquid EP (digital release)
  • 2009 - Trance Groove: Playing with the Chelsea Girls
  • 2012 - solo: Piano Diaries
  • 2013 - Goldman: On the Outside / Looking In
  • 2014 - Goldman: The Truth of Ghost Dog
  • 2015 - Goldman: Live at the Blue Shell
  • 2018 - Thomas Kessler / Bernd Winterschladen: Le Son des Couleurs

His compositions are published under the name Thomas Kessler-Teveen .

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Kessler, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Kessler-Teveen, Thomas
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz musician, composer and producer
DATE OF BIRTH 1962
PLACE OF BIRTH Viersen