Cornelius Claudio Kreusch & Joscho Stephan - Highwire

A high-wire act of jazz virtuosos - Pianist Cornelius Claudio Kreusch and guitarist Joscho Stephan come together as two equal virtuosos, melodists and improvisers for “Highwire”. On the album, they revisit Kreusch's most important compositions and a few standards.

Cornelius Claudio Kreusch has long been one of the outstanding jazz pianists with his own

personal style. The long-time New York resident has proven his exceptional status on many albums with greats such as Kenny Garrett, Terri Lyne Carrington, Bobby Watson, Herbie Hancock and Salif Keïta, but also in the premier class of solo piano. When he saw a video of guitarist Joscho Stephan's duo with the great Biréli Lagrène, it was clear to him that he had to play with him: “I could immediately imagine us harmonizing like the duo Toots Thielemans and Martial Solal, which I had in mind as inspiration.”

Joscho Stephan is not only known for his outstanding virtuosity on the acoustic guitar, he

also stands for a young, new, cross-style approach in the genre of gypsy swing. Stephan

continues Django Reinhardt's legacy in the spirit of improvisation and innovation. This is

underlined by his collaboration with jazz stars as diverse as Paquito D'Rivera, James Carter, Charlie Mariano, Stochelo Rosenberg and Tommy Emmanuel.

Kreusch's guiding idea for the joint album was to recreate the most important and personal compositions of his career in this encounter. And so, on “Highwire”, Kreusch and Stephan throw the ball to each other in an astonishingly artistic, fast-paced, original and highly musical manner. There are three shared preferences that make this duo sound as if they have been playing together for years: Their roots in a strong rhythm, their love of melodyand their love of improvisation.

The best example of this is “Paco”, which Cornelius Claudio Kreusch wrote in memory of

Paco de Lucia on the day of his death. In this rousing and touching homage to the genius

of the flamenco guitar, Kreusch lets his fingers fly over the keys in his inimitable style and

Stephan sings his guitar like Jascha Heifetz sings the violin. Dedications make up a

significant part of “Highwire” anyway. Kreusch has found some of his most memorable

melodies in the tributes to his parents and the musical greetings to his five children. For

example, the hymnic motif on “For My Father”, which Kreusch leaves entirely to Joscho

Stephan after the intro, who is allowed to bring out all the expressive possibilities of his

guitar here: pickings, rhythm chords, percussion, wild runs and singing vibrato a la Django

Reinhardt. Or the emotional theme of “Source Song”, the quietest, perhaps most personal

piece on the album, which Kreusch dedicated to his mother Dorothée Kreusch-Jacob, a

renowned concert pianist, songwriter, writer and music teacher who introduced him to

music at an early age. The joy and joie de vivre embodied and brought by his own offspring is expressed in the songs, which reflect their respective personalities. Whether strongly rhythmic in “Lior”, dedicated to the eldest son, or in the clearest, most memorable melody for “Caira”, the wildly whirling theme of “Isaya” or the almost questioning motif of “Aeneas”.

Two pieces reflect important stages in Kreusch's career. “On the Bowery” is named after

the street in southern Manhattan where Kreusch lived in an artist's loft for many years

after studying at Boston's Berklee College of Music. Between NoHo, Soho, East Village and

Lower Eastside, it was his creative powerhouse in the capital of jazz. Living space, practice

room, concert hall, but also salon and party mile for him and many musician friends, who

experienced many a glorious hour, but also 9/11 at first hand, as the World Trade Center

was only a few blocks away. This dynamic, pulsating, hard syncopated piece, which also

tells a crazy story with blues and “feeling”, is dedicated to these memories and the spirit

of “his” street and revolves around an incident around Christmas (On the Bowery).

And then, of course, Kreusch's biggest hit should not be missing. “Feel!” comes from the

1998 album ‘Scoop’, which featured contributions from Salif Keïta, Elisabeth Kontamanou,

Richard Bona, saxophonists Greg Osby, Bobby Watson and Ron Blake, bassists Anthony

Cox, Zaf Zapha and James Genus, drummers Will Calhoun and Terri Lyne Carrington and

Cyril Atef, among others. It topped the jazz charts for a long time and became the most

successful jazz album of the year. “Feel!” in particular proved so popular that three years

later Kreusch included the piece on his next successful album ”Live! At Steinway Hall/New

York” as a solo improvisation. Now the song with its catchy melody, its progression

reminiscent of “Giant Steps” and its brilliant drive also proves to be the perfect vehicle for

the Kreusch/Stephan team.

All the tracks from “Highwire” mentioned so far have already been released as singles, and

the album release also includes the three standards that Kreusch and Stephan have also

taken on. With Miles Davis' “All Blues”, Kenny Dorham/Joe Henderson's “Blue Bossa” and

John Coltrane's “Giant Steps”, three groundbreaking, pioneering masterpieces of jazz

history give Kreusch and Stephan yet another opportunity to demonstrate their finesse,

creativity and blind understanding. Not least with a dash of humor, the final building block

of a grandiose duo debut that one can only wish would be continued.