FFWD Weekly
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Music by John Reid Michael Kaeshammer October 19 Rozsa Centre, U of C The legacy of John Hammond lives on! Hammond was the talent scout who discovered Count Basie and Billie Holiday, among others. His concerts, From Spirituals to Swing, in 1938 and 1939 (recordings of which were released in 1959) brought boogie woogie pianists Meade Lux Lewis, Albert Ammons and Pete Johnson to public attention and acclaim. Had Hammond not done so, it is possible German-born Michael Kaeshammer would not have become a boogie woogie pianist. "Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, I love that early, early stride, boogie woogie piano playing. I listen to a lot of modern stuff and I grew up with a lot of traditional stuff. I just love traditional jazz," says Kaeshammer. He studied classical piano in his hometown of Offenburg, Germany and discovered the piano style at age 13, when his dad brought home from the flea market a record of a "German guy playing songs by Pete Johnson. "It was one guy playing the piano – all that energy! It was rhythmical, you play the left hand bass and you improvise and you stomp your foot and you sing – a lot of energy. I went to my parents’ basement and I just started playing with the record." Kaeshammer moved to Canada’s West Coast with his family in his late teens, formed a trio and has gone on to play festivals in Canada and the U.S. He has also recorded two CDs – one solo and one with a band of Toronto studio musicians. Although the 23-year-old Kaeshammer’s rise to prominence has roughly coincided with the resurgence of swing music, the two phenomena are distinct. First of all, Kaeshammer was not aware of the fad. "I never tried to fit into any of the new-swing hype. After I recorded that CD, I started to be aware of these bands like Big Bad Voodoo Daddy and all these other bands. But even when I listen to it now, the stuff I recorded in that CD, I don’t think it fits in that category." Secondly, where today’s swingsters sound rather rough, rushed and sloppy, Kaeshammer’s music is precise and clean. "I think growing up with classical music helped me a little bit. I don’t really think about playing clean but people tell me that once in a while, and I always blame it on the classical training and the fact that I play classical music at home. I am a big fan of it. "I love that traditional form of music so much and I am trying to play with it, you know, do something a little more different than was done with it earlier on. I wouldn’t consider myself a mainstream player at all because of my roots, because they are based too much in traditional music. I think you can hear that I am still looking for my voice, for where it is going to go – I think it is just a path to where it is going to go. The new CD is just a step ahead. I am getting a little closer to what is going to be my voice." Kaeshammer’s Calgary performance will be a blend of material from his forthcoming CD and works from the two previous ones, and will have an emphasis on his original compositions. He brings a band that includes West Coast musicians Simon Fisk, on bass, and Damian Graham, on drums.

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