Michael Kaeshammer

Some guys have all the luck. That phrase certainly comes to mind when you consider Michael Kaeshammer. When they were handing out musical talent, they made a return visit to this cat. A piano-playing jazz prodigy as a teenager, he has matured into a singer and songwriter of real skill and creative imagination. Factor in boyish good looks, and it almost seems unfair.
Thankfully, the Toronto-based Kaeshammer hasn’t taken his natural advantages for granted. He has toiled tirelessly on his craft, and this has paid off big time on Lovelight. The sixth album of his career and second for Alert, it represents his best work yet, and it is one with which Michael is thrilled. “This is the album that most sounds like me, playing, singing and songwriting wise. I am so happy with every single song,” he says. The bright and optimistic vibe of the record mirrors the current outlook on life of its creator. “Where I am in my life is totally reflected here. This one is all about love and being happy, and most of the songs have an upbeat feel. My last album [2007’s acclaimed and Juno Award-nominated Days Like These] was a little darker.”
To record Lovelight, Kaeshammer and producer/co-writer Ron Lopata (Jacksoul, Tomi Swick) set up shop in Toronto’s Drive Shed studio (a facility owned by award-winning engineer John Bailey), along with Michael’s live rhythm section, noted Toronto players Marc Rogers (bass) and Mark McLean (drums). “We’ve toured together for the last two years and become tight friends,” says Michael. “That added to the whole vibe. We can read each others minds now in terms of where we’re going musically, so we just went in and knocked it out. There’s not one single edit of the trio work and usually it’s a first take. Lovelight sounds more like a band to me than any of my previous albums.” Adding judicious accompaniment on the record is an A-list of Toronto players, while Tia Brazda adds smooth vocals to the beguiling duet, “Give You My Heart.’
Lovelight is a major leap forward for Michael Kaeshammer, the singer. He originally made his mark as a piano-player of real virtuosity, and his first album, 1996’s Blue Keys, was actually a solo piano record. He acknowledges that singing is something he has had to work on, but that work has certainly paid off. As Michael explains, “like learning any instrument, you try to get your head around the actual instrument. Then you get to a certain level and can forget about all that. You just sing.”
He does that here in compelling fashion. Just check out the sweetly soulful voice displayed on the gorgeous pop ballad “Isabelle,” the tender tale of a love that can conquer distance (“the miles between us don’t bother my heart”). It is also in evidence in covers of the classic “Glory Of Love” and Sam Cooke’s “Cupid,” the latter tune given a fresh facelift with lyrical piano playing and a jaunty melody. Michael ups the tempo with the virile delivery showcased on “Lovelight” and “Hamp’s Boogie.” Here, his vocal work is both relaxed and convincing, exhibiting an appealingly confident and sexy swagger.
Similar positive strides have been taken in Kaeshammer’s songwriting. Creative use of outside material has long been one of his signatures, but he has also been receiving kudos for his evolution as a songwriter. That will continue with the dazzling original compositions on Lovelight, beginning with the infectious title cut. “That was the only song where Ron and I said ‘let’s sit down and write something,’” says Michael. “We brought in Joel Parisien, a great local piano player and singer, and the song fell into place really quickly.” The result is a killer cut that features rollicking barrelhouse piano, upbeat horns, an irresistible melody, and the meaningful message that “you’ve got to let that lovelight burn, wherever you go.” Michael also wrote an instrumental number for Lovelight; the tranquil “Dawn’s Song” is a tune Satie would be proud to call his own.
It’s fitting that New Orleans makes an appearance in the first line of “Lovelight,” the album’s first song, given The Big Easy’s impact on Michael’s life and music. “All my playing and so much of the music I love comes from there,” he explains. In fact, Michael spent a year living in his musical mecca, and he cherishes the nods of approval he has received from such New Orleans legends as Art Neville, Allen Toussaint, and the late Eddie Bo.
Kaeshammer’s evolution as a songwriter who is adding to the repertoire of the styles he loves helps account for the esteem in which he is held by the Canadian music industry. He has received Juno Award nominations for three of his albums, No Strings Attached, Strut and Days Like These, and in 2002 (back when he was still living in B.C.), he won West Coast Music Awards in the Musician of the Year and Performer of the Year categories.
The cover songs Kaeshammer has long sprinkled on his albums and in performance are always carefully chosen and possess a personal resonance. He has a long history with two of the songs on Lovelight , for instance. The breezy “Hamp’s Boogie” is, says Michael, “a song I’ve known since I was 13. My dad bought me the Lionel Hampton record with it on for Christmas, and I remember making my parents listen to that song over and over.” Here, Kaeshammer does it justice via high-octane barrelhouse piano playing and swinging vocals.
The sweetly soulful “Glory Of Love” also dates back to his teenage years in Germany. As a precociously talented 16 year old, Michael scored a gig at a local jazz club, hired a Munich-based blues singer from Chicago to sit in, and learned the tune from him. “Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen,” is a similarly fresh take on a much-heard tune. It’s a Yiddish folk song that turned into a jazz song over the years,” says Michael. “My trio and I listened to all these versions in the studio, but they all sounded like wedding songs. Without rehearsing we just said ‘let’s make it New Orleans.’ My bassist picked up a groove, then came the drums, and now the version is one of my favourite tracks on the album.”
The broad stylistic range of the songs to which Michael gives fresh life mirror his open-minded, open-eared approach to music. Growing up in Germany, he first studied classical piano, before, at age 13, falling passionately in love with the boogie-woogie and stride piano playing styles of the likes of Albert Ammons, Meade Lux Lewis, Pete Johnson, Pinetop Smith and Fats Waller. His near-instant mastery of the form soon had him performing in clubs, concerts and festivals all over Germany. Later exposure to the sounds of New Orleans and artists like Professor Longhair and James Booker also made an indelible impression. In his own recorded work, Michael is not afraid to tackle jazz or blues classics or a contemporary pop tune, and artists he has covered range from Willie Dixon, Duke Ellington and Nina Simone to Jimmy Cliff and Sting.
Another weapon in Michael Kaeshammer’s formidable arsenal is his prowess as a performer. He loves to engage his audience, and his natural and quick-witted sense of humour is a real crowd-pleaser. “I don’t take myself too seriously,” he explains, as you might expect from someone calling that consummate entertainer Dean Martin his favourite crooner. Michael’s onstage charm has helped him become an in-demand entertainer across North America and Europe (he will soon tour China), and has won over the audiences of artists as musically varied as Holly Cole, Harry Manx, Colin James, and Anne Murray. Michael has shared cross-Canada tours with all of them, and he singles out a 40 date trek with Anne Murray as a real confidence boost. “We’d play hockey arenas filled with 10,000 people. I’d go on, and it’s just me and the grand piano, but it went great. Tours like that are helpful because the people there don’t necessarily see me as a jazz act, and I don’t want to be pigeonholed.’
To Kaeshammer, “being onstage is about hanging out with people, having a conversation. I just love it. I don’t want my audience to all be jazz fans or piano fans. I want people who want to hang out with me. You can really open yourself up onstage, and that’s like a high for me.” A committed road warrior, he just can’t wait to get back out on tour to play the new songs of which he is so justifiably proud.
Michael Kaeshammer’s musical Lovelight is indeed burning bright. Feel the warmth!
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