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Kristjan Randalu
Kristjan is a dazzling piano player" says Herbie Hancock after the 2006 Thelonious Monk International Jazz Piano Competition.
The Estonian pianist and composer Kristjan Randalu started his music education at the age of 6 in Tallinn - both his parents being classical pianists. After the move to Germany Kristjan studied classical piano with Sontraud Speidel and Patrick O'Byrne in Karlsruhe and Stuttgart and jazz piano with Paul Schwarz in Stuttgart, additionally having lessons with John Taylor in Cologne. In 2001 he continued his studies at the Royal Academy of Music in London with Geoff Keezer (piano), Iain Ballamy, and Django Bates (composition). In 2003 Kristjan Randalu studied at the City College of New York with Edward Simon and John Patitucci. Additionally he studied composition with Daniel Schnyder. In 2006 Kristjan received his Master's Degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he studied with Kenny Barron, Garry Dial, Phil Markowitz, and Ted Rosenthal.
He is an alumnus of the Henry Mancini Institute at the University of California, Los Angeles (2005 and 2006), where he recorded on the album "Elevation" (Concord) featuring Eddie Daniels and Tom Scott which received two Grammy award nominations.
Kristjan has played as a soloist in classical, jazz and cross-over projects e.g. with the National Symphony Orchestra of Estonia, the Philharmonic Orchestra of Stuttgart and the New Chamber Orchestra of Berlin in Europe, Israel, Turkey, Canada, and USA.
He has performed with Alex Acuna, Jay Anderson, Joel Frahm, Dieter Ilg, Quincy Jones, David Liebman, Christian McBride, Vince Mendoza, Bob Mintzer, Dick Oatts, John Pena, Gerard Presencer, Claudio Puntin, the Modern String Quartet, and Maria Schneider.
In 2002 Kristjan Randalu won the 2nd prize in the Solo Piano Competition at the Montreux Jazz Festival.
Randalu is the recipient of awards and scholarships from the Jürgen Ponto-Foundation, Art Foundation of Baden-Württemberg, German National Merit Foundation, European Foundation for Culture “Pro Europa”, Estonian National Culture Foundation, Estonian Ministry of Culture, Cultural Endowment of Estonia, and the German Academic Exchange Service.
In 2007 Randalu received the Jazz Award of Baden-Württemberg, one of the most valuable Jazz awards in Germany with 15.000 EUR
In 2004 his Solo Piano CD "Confidance" (finetone music) was released and chosen for the "CD of the month" in the magazines Rondo (02/04) and Audio (04/04). The recording was also nominated for the Prize Of German CD Critics.
In February 2008 the new CD "live" with Grupa Janke Randalu will be released on Jazz'n'Arts Records - the 6th release by Kristjan Randalu.
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Petros Klampanis: Tora Collective
by John Chacona
Some ideas work better on paper than on record. Take the attempts to fuse jazz and Greek popular music. There is, to be sure, a certain logic to the notion. Both traditions share an emphasis on virtuosic improvisation and a foundation in dance rhythms. Rebetika, the mournful songs of heartache, alienation and drug use brought to Greece in the population exchanges of a century ago, is, with some reason, called the Greek blues."
read morePatrick Cornelius: Acadia: Way Of The Cairns
by Chris May
No, this is not an ECM album, though, looking at the sleeve art, you would be excused from thinking it was trying to pass itself off as one. Half of the Acadia quartet is indeed European: Estonian-born, German-based pianist Kristjan Randalu and Luxembourg-born, US-based drummer Paul Wiltgen. The other half is American: alto saxophonist Patrick Cornelius and US-born, London-based double bassist Michael Janisch. The music itself is a genuinely transatlantic affair, though the US is the dominant partner: Cornelius' vigorous ...
read moreKristjan Randalu: Absence
by Mike Jurkovic
With a gathering, rubato flurry, Estonian pianist Kristjan Randalu, a Chick Corea-inspired student of the late, virtuosic and highly lyrical British pianist John Taylor and his mischievous compatriot Django Bates, begins Forecast" in whirling descent, before the quiet storm of guitarist Ben Monder and drummer Marku Ounaskari take the weather out to sea, where Randalu threatens to revive the current again and again but instead gives way to clearing skies. Absence, Randalu's ECM debut, ricochets its motifs and ...
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