Klaus Gesing
Biography
Multi-instrumentalist Klaus Gesing is a writer, player, bandleader and teacher on the vanguard of jazz.
Professionally trained at the Royal Conservatory of Music in The Hague in Jazz (John Ruocco) and Classical (Leo van Oostrom) Saxophone , he finished his studies with a special remark for his compositions and artistic expression.
He had additional studies and occasional concert appearances with David Liebman.
Gesing has been awarded Best Soloist at the Jugend Jazzt Competition in Germany/NRW (1988), Best Soloist at the Middelzee Jazz Festival (1994), the Van Merlen Jazz Prize (1995) and Best Soloist at the Vienne International Jazz Competition (1996).
He published several CDs in Duo with Glauco Venier ("Klaus Gesing and Glauco Venier play Bach", "Klaus Gesing and Glauco Venier play Songs") and began an intensive collaboration with Norma Winstone.
As a leader, the well received debut album "First Booke of Songes", was followed in 2006 by "Heartluggage", recorded and performed by Gwilym Simcock on piano, Yuri Goloubev (bass) and Asaf Sirkis (percussion).
Described in a recent review in All About Jazz as "one of those hidden gems that commands attention from the get-go".
His long-standing partnership with Italian pianist Glauco Venier led to the
stunning trio with Norma Winstone and three critically acclaimed albums on
Universal and ECM.
The second album, "Distances", earning a Grammy nomination and a prestigious Académie du Jazz award.
"Stories Yet to Tell" has again received rave reviews, while the Trio‘s latest release for ECM "Dance without Answer", that has been published in January 2014, promises to be the Trio’s most imaginative musical testimony.
Another important appearance on the Label ECM (in 2009) is marked by the publication of Anouar Brahem's "The Astounding Eyes of Rita", a CD that is dedicated to the memory of the lately deceased Palestinian Poet Mahmoud Darwish.
On this album Klaus Gesing appears playing only Bass Clarinet, an instrument that has become increasingly important during recent years.
In 2008 Klaus Gesing started to teach Saxophone and Improvisation at the Conservatory Giuseppe Tartini, Trieste/ Italy.
2011 showed the publication of the „loopspool“ video made in Switzerland, where he presents his duo with American born percussionist Jarrod Cagwin. This project focuses on extended live-looping on a purely acoustic basis, bringing the use of computer in the process of acoustic music making to an all new level.
A new collaboration, started in the spring of 2013, with the Swedish bass player Björn Meyer and the Swiss drummer Samuel Rohrer, "Gesing_Rohrer_Meyer" concentrates on "open_source_music" - a multifaceted project, crossfading improvisation and composition on a very contemporary level, using live electronics with an analog approach.
In 2015 Klaus Gesing published his first Solo Album called "reaLTime" where he uses extended live-looping techniques and presents tunes raging from originals, reworkings of Renaissance Compositions, Jazz Standards, folk songs and improvisations. All are played on a custom made looping device, combining electronics, live-looping and the live sound of bass clarinet and soprano saxophone to create a unique mixture of textures and excitingly new soundscapes.
The spring of 2015 also saw the publication on the label ECM, of the 2nd CD recording in collaboration with the Tunisian Oud Master Anouar Brahem. "Souvenance", a double CD enlarging the quartet of Anouar Brahem, Oud; Francois Couturier, p; Björn Meyer, bass and Klaus Gesing, bass clarinet with a 18 musicians string section. This album took inspiration by the events of the Arabic Spring that began in Tunisia.
2016 will see the presentation of a new work in the field of live looping. Commissioned by an Italian organisation working in the field of social re-integration of persons with mental illnesses in Africa, this new composition entitled "sound of mind"carries the live-looping concept of Klas Gesing to new frontiers, putting the stress on the compositional rather than the improvisational aspect of his music.
As a composer - next to writing the main body of the musical material for his own projects and parts of the program for the ECM releases with Winstone / Gesing / Venier -
Klaus Gesing‘s commissions have included a music soundtrack composed for the the Stadtmuseum Gmunden, Austria.
He has also composed a soundtrack to the 1928 silent film, “Joan of Arc” by the Danish director Carl Theodor Dreyer, in collaboration with italian organist and director Paolo Paroni.
As a member of the 'Jazz Big Band Graz', two of his widely noted
compositions appear on the album "A Life Affair" released by Universal Music
(2004).
He was commissioned a composition for choir and soloist by the Coro Friuli Venezia Giulia (Director Cristiano dell’Oste), himself appearing on bass clarinet and soprano saxophone.
Further collaborations in the field of Jazz have been with, among others:
Kenny Wheeler, Norma Winstone, Chris Lawrence, John Taylor, Dave Liebman, New York Voices, Glauco Venier, Adelhard Roidinger Christian Muthspiel, Uli Rennert, Paolino dalla Porta, Wolfgang Puschnig, Peter Herbert, Jamey Haddad , Thomas Alkier, Wayne Darling, Fritz Pauer, John Hollenbeck, Henning Siewerts, Jarrod Cagwin…
©Klaus Gesing