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Theo Bleckmann

Theo Bleckmann. A jazz singer and new music composer of eclectic tastes and prodigious gifts, GRAMMY NOMINATED Theo Bleckmann makes music that is accessibly sophisticated, unsentimentally emotional, and seriously playful. His work provokes the mind to wonder, but connects immediately with the heart.

Singer. Bleckmann has released a series of gorgeous and irreverent albums on Winter & Winter, including recordings of Las Vegas standards, of Berlin kabarett, and of popular “bar songs” (all with pianist Fumio Yasuda), a recording of newly-arranged songs by Charles Ives (with the improvisational jazz/funk collective Kneebody), and most recently Solos for Voice and Toys, where Bleckmann brought just his stunning vocal technique, his emotional commitment, and his suitcase full of oddly evocative voice-altering gadgets to the project of recording delicate songs and poems alone at a monastery in the Swiss Alps.

Collaborator. In addition to his work as a soloist, Bleckmann loves to mix it up with other musicians. He maintains an ongoing creative relationship with guitar phenomenon Ben Monder, generating a series of performances and a pair of albums that wreak beautiful havoc with standard expectations of jazz and rock. With John Hollenbeck and Gary Versace, he makes up Refuge Trio, a project exploring and reinventing the work of popular singer-songwriters as well as generating provocative original work. With singers Peter Eldridge, Kate McGarry, Lauren Kinhan, and Luciana Souza, he forms Moss, a collective that plays in the sandbox of jazz, folk, and rock, building new ideas and compositions for voices. Bleckmann has additionally collaborated with a remarkable roster of contemporary musicians and composers, including Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass, Sheila Jordan, Michael Tilson Thomas, John Zorn, the Bang on a Can All-stars, and, most prominently, Meredith Monk, with whom Bleckmann worked as a core ensemble member for fifteen years. His uniquely flexible and colorful voice has also inspired compositions by, among others, Michael Gordon, Phil Kline, David Lang, Ikue Mori, Kirk Nurock, and Julia Wolfe.

Composer. Bleckmann's joyous, mischievous sensibility is also manifest in his compositional work, which leaves listeners feeling as if their usual chair had been moved over a few inches when they weren't looking - familiar things look fresh and strange again for a moment. He has composed for a range of instruments from piano, violin, and kalimba to chimes, Glockenspiel, toy microphone, and sewing machines, setting exquisite poems by Rumi, Emily Dickenson, and Kurt Schwitters as well as building ineffable soundscapes with just his voice and a loop pedal. His most recent compositional achievement is an evening of original work for voice and the JACK String Quartet, commissioned by the Slought Foundation.

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Album Review

Theo Bleckmann & The Westerlies: This Land

Read "This Land" reviewed by Jerome Wilson


Given the state of the nation in 2021, it is no wonder that protest music has been springing up in all genres. This particular effort by vocalist Theo Bleckmann and the brass quartet the Westerlies mixes protest songs and hymns of the past with original compositions, to comment on various present-day problems. Issues touched on in these songs include war, bigotry, gun violence and economic inequality. Bleckmann's voice rings out as a powerful beacon supported by intricate quartet ...

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In Pictures

Seminari Siena Jazz 2021, Part 2-2

Read "Seminari Siena Jazz 2021, Part 2-2" reviewed by Luciano Rossetti


Part 1 | Part 2More photos from the Seminari Siena Jazz in Siena from July 24-30, 2021 featuring Theo Bleckmann, Avishai Cohen, Miguel Zenon, Shai Maestro, Matt Penman, David Linx, Roberto Cecchetto, Fulvio Sigurta, Paolino Dalla Porta, Fabrizio Sferra, Stefano Battaglia, Federico Casagrande and Nasheet Waits. ...

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Album Review

John Hollenbeck: Songs You Like a Lot

Read "Songs You Like a Lot" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Con questo disco John Hollenbeck conclude la trilogia iniziata otto anni fa sulla reinterpretazione di famosi brani della popular music (Songs I Like A Lot, Sunnyside 2013) e proseguita due anni dopo con Songs We Like a Lot per la stessa etichetta. Nel primo album la scelta dei temi era strettamente personale, nel secondo fu condivisa con alcuni partner (i cantanti Theo Bleckmann e Kate McGarry) ed ora nasce dalla selezione di proposte giunte all'arrangiatore dal suo ...

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Album Review

Ricardo Pinheiro: Caruma

Read "Caruma" reviewed by Victor L. Schermer


Ricardo Pinheiro is a guitarist from Lisbon, Portugal who has made his mark on jazz in Europe and the U.S. His sensitive, imaginative, and intimate way of playing is evident on albums such as Pinheiro, Ineke. & Cavalli: Triplicity (Daybreak/Challenge, 2018) and Pinheiro/ Ineke/ Cavalli: Turn Out The Stars (Challenge, 2021) , the former being a musical re-interpretation of bebop standards and the latter a guitar rendition of the music of pianist Bill Evans. There is a certain boldness and ...

5
Album Review

Theo Bleckmann & The Westerlies: This Land

Read "This Land" reviewed by John Chacona


Could This Land, from Theo Bleckmann & The Westerlies be the first great musical declaration of the Biden Era? If so, it's probably an accident. When they tracked This Land in August 2019, Bleckmann and the brass quartet entered the studio with a program of protest songs. But in degree and kind, they are worlds away from the howling fervor of Moor Mother or the rousing call to the barricades of Gordon Grdina's Resist (Irabbagast Records, 2020), to ...

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Album Review

Ricardo Pinheiro with Theo Bleckmann and Mônica Salmaso: Caruma

Read "Caruma" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


Ricardo Pinheiro is a Portuguese guitarist, composer and educator. He has a dozen previous recordings to his credit and leader or co-leader status on the majority of those projects. His music has covered ambient, electronic, bop, jazz standards, and jazz/poetry hybrids. Pinheiro, a Berklee alumnus, has recorded and played with Dave Liebman, Peter Erskine, Chris Cheek, Jon Irabagon and Tim Hagans, among others. Caruma is a new direction for Pinheiro. Pinheiro is joined by two vocalists, Theo Bleckmann ...

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Album Review

John Hollenbeck: Songs You Like A Lot

Read "Songs You Like A Lot" reviewed by Dan Bilawsky


Every ending a beginning, each conclusion an act of creation. If multi-hyphenate John Hollenbeck's Songs You Like A Lot doesn't slot within that sentiment, nothing really does. This collection marks the completion of a lauded trilogy that's stretched out across the better part of a decade, but it also signals the start of something new--the Flexatonic Arts non-profit, which will serve as an umbrella for Hollenbeck's arts and education initiatives, and the record label it houses, acting as a home ...

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Performance / Tour

Jazz This Week: Freddy Cole, Claudia Quintet with Theo Bleckmann, Koplant No, and More

Jazz This Week: Freddy Cole, Claudia Quintet with Theo Bleckmann, Koplant No, and More

Source: St. Louis Jazz Notes by Dean Minderman

It's another busy week for live jazz and creative music in St. Louis, with performances from both touring and local acts ranging from ragtime, traditional New Orleans jazz, and swing to thought-provoking modern jazz influenced by a variety of contemporary genres. Let's go to the highlights... Tonight, singer and pianist Freddy Cole returns to St. Louis to open a four-night engagement continuing through Saturday at Jazz at the Bistro. Cole, the brother of the legendary Nat “King" Cole, has proved ...

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Music Industry

Theo Bleckmann Covers Kate Bush on Hello Earth!

Theo Bleckmann Covers Kate Bush on Hello Earth!

Source: JamBase

ALBUM RELEASE SHOW AT NYC'S HIGHLINE BALLROOM ON APRIL 7 After tackling American maverick composer Charles Ives and receiving a Grammy nomination for it, vocalist Theo Bleckmann now takes on the mysterious songbook of British pop recluse Kate Bush on Hello Earth! out March 13. This project goes beyond merely re-creating Kate's Bush music, taking it into other realms of sound and interpretation. Bush's œuvre is indeed mysterious and often enigmatic in nature: unusual song forms, oracular lyrics amd unpredictable ...

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Performance / Tour

Theo Bleckmann: From the Fifth Dimension of Human Voice and Mind

Theo Bleckmann: From the Fifth Dimension of Human Voice and Mind

Source: JazzINK by Andrea Canter

The New York Times refers to him as “from another planet." He must be. Theo Bleckmann and I can not possibly share the same anatomy of mouth and throat, let alone brain. But standing alone on the chancel of the Macalester Plymouth United Church on the Macalester College campus, Bleckmann looked anything but alien. In fact he sort of looks like Peewee Herman. And he took us on a Big Adventure. Labeling Bleckmann a “vocalist" is like labeling Picasso a ...

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Event

L.A. Artist Beat: Theo Bleckmann at the Broad Stage

L.A. Artist Beat:  Theo Bleckmann at the Broad Stage

Source: Los Angeles Jazz Collective

THEO BLECKMANN: BERLIN TO LAS VEGAS The Edye at the Broad Stage, Santa Monica, CA Saturday, February 12, 7:30pm Theo Bleckmann: voice with Paul Romero: piano and The Bauhaus String Quartet: Elizabeth Hedman: violin Daphne Chen: violin Michael Lieberman: viola Paula Fehrenbach: cello Arrangements by Fumio Yasuda and Theo Bleckmann Saxophonist Ben Wendel is moonlighting as the producer of a show that features the outstanding vocalist Theo Bleckmann at the ...

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Radio

The Jazz Session #198: Theo Bleckmann

The Jazz Session #198: Theo Bleckmann

Source: AAJ Staff


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Award / Grant

Genre Bending Jazz Vocalist & Composer Theo Bleckmann Earns 2010 Grammy Nomination for Winter & Winter Release "Twelve Songs by Charles Ives"

Genre Bending Jazz Vocalist & Composer Theo Bleckmann Earns 2010 Grammy Nomination for Winter & Winter Release "Twelve Songs by Charles Ives"

Source: DP Public Relations

Bleckmann & Kneebody make the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards Nominees List receiving Best Classical Crossover Album Nomination New York, NY -- Winter & Winter recording artist Theo Bleckmann and his critically acclaimed album, Twelve Songs By Charles Ives has earned a Grammy Nomination in the Best Classical Crossover Album category (Awarded to the Artist(s) and/or to the Conductor). Twelve Songs by Charles Ives pays homage to an exceptional composer from the United States who was denied the possibility of having ...

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Performance / Tour

Refuge Trio with Theo Bleckmann, John Hollenbeck and Gary Versace at Joe's Pub 1/13/07 at 7PM

Refuge Trio with Theo Bleckmann, John Hollenbeck and Gary Versace at Joe's Pub 1/13/07 at 7PM

Source: All About Jazz

"Expect the unexpected with the refuge trio, featuring the vocalist Theo Bleckmann, the drummer John Hollenbeck, and the keyboardist Gary Versace. Bleckmann and Hollenbeck have enough new-music, cabaret, and jazz chops to move the music in any direction they want, while Versace has lately been making big noise on his Hammond organ." - The New Yorker Refuge Trio takes its name from the Joni Mitchell song “Refuge of the Roads". The collaborative trio was formed to play at the 2002 ...

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Performance / Tour

Theo Bleckmann Thursday, May 12 at Cornelia Street Cafe

Theo Bleckmann  Thursday, May 12 at Cornelia Street Cafe

Source: All About Jazz

May 12, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: JAZZ PROMO SERVICES Press Contact: JIM EIGO, [email protected] THEO BLECKMANN May 12th Cornelia Street Cafe 8:30PM: Theo Bleckmann - solo voice 10PM: Theo Bleckmann John Hollenbeck DUO (John Hollenbeck: percussio/toys) Theo Bleckmann Genre -bending, -skipping and -skirting, German born vocalist/composer Theo Bleckmann, has performed worldwide from Carnegie Hall, Zankel Hall to the Sydney Opera House with artists like Laurie Anderson, Anthony Braxton, Steve Coleman, Dave Douglas, John Hollenbeck, Sheila Jordan, Ben Monder, the Merce ...

John Corbert DOWNBEAT ”[Bleckmann's] a gifted singer (and twister) of songs, his voice flexible and rich, his phrasing sensitive and clear…, which makes his precise articulation such a treat.”

Phil DiPietro, AllAboutJazz ”Bleckmann possesses technique so colossal, yet so meticulous, he can seem otherworldly, an android-like embodiment of sci-fi vocalisms, a bodily vessel for that voice.

Francis Davis - The Village Voice Theo Bleckmann and Fumio Yasuda, Las Vegas Rhapsody—The Night They Invented Champagne (Winter & Winter). The most transcendent vocal album in many a moon (for my money, anyway) reminds me of Björk's Selmasongs. Bleckmann's voice and Yasuda's orchestrations have the same blissfully troubling emotional pull.

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Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

The Parsonage

Sunnyside Records
2023

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Oedipe Redux

Sunnyside Records
2023

buy

This Land

Westerlies Records
2021

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Songs You Like a Lot

Flexatonic Records label
2020

buy

Caruma

Inner Circle Music
2020

buy

LP1

Greyfade
2019

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