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Michael Kaeshammer

Keyboard wizard Michael Kaeshammer is one of Canada's most exciting young stars. The pianist-bandleader is building an international following with a series of crowd-pleasing tours across Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Kaeshammer has also released a pair of top- selling, critically acclaimed CDs and a recently recorded gem, No Strings Attached, that features a flowering of the 23 year old musician's compositional talent and musical contributions from the cream of the Canadian jazz and R&B scene and the kings of New Orleans funk.

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Michael Kaeshammer
Strut

Released November 2003
Michael Kaeshammer - Piano, Prepared Piano, Fender Rhodes, Wurlitzer, Vocals
Johnny Vidacovich - Drums
Ben Wolfe - Bass
Kevin Breit - Guitar, mad man on "Soundtrack to Something Beautiful"
Richard Bell - Wurlitzer on "Cry To Me"
John Johnson - Flute, Alto Flute, Alto Sax, Tenor Sax, Bartitone Sax, Clarinet, Bass Clarinet
Brian Barlow - Percussion, Vibes, Marimba
Michael Dunston - Tambourine
Produced & Arranged by Peter Cardinali
Tracks 2, 3 & 11 Arranged by Michael Kaeshammer
Engineered by Denis Tougas
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Michael Kaeshammer
No Strings Attached

Released October 2000
Keyboard wizard Michael Kaeshammer is one of Canada's most exciting young
stars. The pianist-bandleader is building an international following with a series
of crowd-pleasing tours across Canada, Europe, and the U.S. Kaeshammer has
also released a pair of top- selling, critically acclaimed CDs and a recently
recorded gem, No Strings Attached, that features a flowering of the 25 year old musician's compositional talent and musical contributions from the cream of the Canadian jazz and R&B scene and the kings of New Orleans funk.

A musical prodigy and already a very professional performer onstage and in the
studio, Kaeshammer has scored a #1 hit video on Bravo! TV, co-written and
starred in a play celebrating the history of boogie woogie, and produced an
exciting series of Boogie Woogie Piano Fests, culminating in last year's tour with American blues veteran Big Joe Duskin, German boogie woogie star Vince
Weber, and Canadian blues stalwart Willie MacCalder joining Michael on stages across Canada from Halifax to Victoria.

As a boy, Kaeshammer (pronounced case-hammer), studied classical piano in Offenburg, Germany. After seven years of classical training, the 13 year old piano prodigy discovered the boogie woogie stylings of the form's masters: Albert
Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson and Pinetop Smith. Three years later,
the 16 year old Kaeshammer was playing boogie woogie piano in clubs, concerts,
and festivals all over Germany.

When the Kaeshammer family moved to Canada, the teenage pianist's standout performance at the 1996 TerrifVic Jazz Party in Victoria signalled the arrival of
a new Canadian jazz star. Breathtaking shows throughout that summer's
Canadian jazz and blues festival circuit stirred up more interest.


In December 1996, Kaeshammer released Blue Keys, a solo piano CD debut
that garnered critical raves for the musician's "prodigious technique and thunde-
rous left hand bass lines on a repertoire of brilliantly reshaped trad jazz and blues classics."



Kaeshammer's musicianship continued to grow, as demonstrated by 1998's even
more impressive follow-up, Tell You How I Feel, his first recording for Toronto's
Alma Records. Produced by Peter Cardinali and featuring Canadian jazz greats
Guido Basso, Joe Sealy, Doug Riley, Kevin Breit, Vito Rezza and Phil Dwyer,
as well as Diana Krall's bassist Paul Keller and vocalist Carol Welsman,
Tell You How I Feel showcased Kaeshammer's mastery of a dizzying variety of
forms.

The keyboardist dramatically reshaped a repertoire ranging from Duke Ellington
and Benny Goodman's swing classics, to Horace Silver's hardbop, to a frenetic,
jazzed-up version of Nashville legend Hank Williams' Move It On Over. Embraced
by critics and radio programmers throughout North America, Tell You How I Feel
was a top selling independent jazz CD and the highest charting independent
Canadian jazz recording on the prestigious Gavin Radio jazz charts in the U.S.


 

 

 

 For the new CD, No Strings Attached, producer Peter Cardinali gathered a
supporting cast of Canadian jazz stars including Neil Swainson, Bob McLaren,
Terry Clarke, George Koller, Guido Basso and Kevin Breit, as well as 'Big Easy'
legends Art Neville, Eddie Bo, Johnny Vidacovich, James Singleton and the
Dopsie Brothers.

No Strings Attached opens with a sweeping, Kaeshammer original called
Snow At Lake Simcoe that features the Bratislava Symphony Orchestra; the
piece was inspired by the movie, 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould. Eddie Bo
delivers an intimate vocal performance on Drown In My Own Tears, that captivates
the listener as it oozes with soul, while Big Joe Duskin, one of Kaeshammer's
boogie woogie heroes, belts out an earthy, rumbling reading of Dusty's Blues.
Besides classics like Boogie Woogie Stomp, and Maple Leaf Rag, the new
recording also showcases a collection of Kaeshammer's well-crafted, original compositions such as Mose, an instrumental tribute to the laconic Delta stylist
Mose Allison and the rollicking, R&B influenced original, On A Saturday Night.
They are as impressive as the recording's stellar back-up band and underline
the young musician's continued growth as a composer.

 

 

 Throughout his career, Kaeshammer has maintained a busy schedule of live performances. He and his band have toured relentlessly in support of his
recordings, numerous times criss-crossing Canada, Europe and the U.S. Michael
is a dynamic, charismatic entertainer with brilliant technical skills. Club, concert
hall, festival stage, radio and television audiences have thrilled to his playful and
soulful improvisational flair. With his fine, young working trio featuring bassist
Simon Fisk and drummer Damian Graham, Kaeshammer toured across Canada
from October-December 2000, celebrating the release of his third CD, No Strings Attached. He is a truly amazing talent. Give his recordings a listen, and you won't want to miss him live.
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Michael Kaeshammer
Tell You How I Feel

Released November 1998

MICHAEL KAESHAMMER - "Tell You How I Feel" (Alma)
From Music Den

This young Canadian from Vancouver knows how to rock the piano. Only his
second album he shows the old cats how to swing. The nice thing is that he
does it a variety of ways. Old traditional tunes such as "John Brown's
Body", a little more modern with Duke's "Caravan", and even an old Hank
classic "Move It On Over". The originals on here stand up as well. A
Canadian force to be reckoned with.
Music Den Reviews


THE VANCOUVER SUN
MICHAEL KAESHAMMER - "Tell You How I Feel" ****

Victoria boy Michael Kaeshammer is one of our province's natural wonders.
Still only in his early 20s, he plays piano like someone who has spent a
long life in juke joints and jump-bars. He practises the near-loast art of
boogie woogie with a rock-steady left hand and a furiously busy right.
Kaeshammer's new CD, his second, has him doing what he does best - boogie
woogie - as well as blues and jive. He surrounds himself with Toronto
musicians like trumpeter Guido Basso, saxophonist Phil Dwyer, and bassist
Paul Keller, but the boys in the band have enough sense to step back and
let the leader dive into the keyboard in long, solo-piano stretches.
He hits the stride (you'll have to forgive the pun) on tracks like "Move it
On Over", "Jivin' with Dal", and "Sweet Georgia Brown", the latter tune
doubling its tempo as it goes. Kaeshammer shows a deft blues touch on
"Basin Street Blues" and "I'll Always Love You".

-Marke Andrews


"TIMES COLONIST"
MICHAEL KAESHAMMER
Tell You How I Feel

The masterful followup to Kaeshammer's 1996 solo piano CD debut,
Blue Keys, is a surprisingly eclectic offering that ranges from
swing to bebop. He even reinvents a revved-up rendition of Hank
Williams' country classic, Move It On Over. Still in his early 20s,
Kaeshammer has soaked up a variety of musical experiences, and the
results are in evidence on new CD. It showcases his skills not only
as a flashy, frenetic, keyboard-busting improviser but as a skillful
arranger and bandleader. "Tell You How I Feel" has a polished,
well-crafted sound and features Diana Krall's bassist Paul Keller
and Canadian jazz greats like Guido Basso, Joe Sealy, Doug Riley,
Kevin Breit, Phil Dwyer, and up-and-coming, young vocalist Carol Welsman.
It's a gem!

-Joseph Blake


"MONDAY MAGAZINE"
MICHAEL KAESHAMMER
Tell You How I Feel

If there really is such a thing as reincarnation, I want to come back
in my next life as Michael Kaeshammer's fingers. Seriously. Listening
to them on "Tell You How I Feel", the sophomore CD from the locally
based boogie woogie pianist, I can't help but think that those 10 soldiers
of his have more fun than any human appendage has a right to - kicking up
their knuckles on jaunty new arrangements of standards like "Sunny Side
of the Street" and "John Brown's Body" and several hyperdexterous orignials.

A recording that adds fresh meaning to the phrase "digitally mastered".

-David Leach