Christoph Spendel

Christoph Spendel - 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 Schluter, 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 Street”, which was recorded in New York in 1992.