Christian Jacob (musician)

Christian Jacob
Recording "Time Lines", 1998
Background information
Born	Metz, Lorraine, France
Genres	Jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician, composer, arranger
Instruments	Piano
Years active	1980s–present
Labels	Concord, WilderJazz, BFM Jazz, SSJ Japan
Associated acts	Tierney Sutton, Maynard Ferguson, Betty Buckley
Website	www.christianjacob.com

Christian Jacob is a jazz pianist. He has gained widespread exposure as co-leader, arranger and pianist with vocalist Tierney Sutton, although he has also maintained a substantial career as a solo artist and leader.

Jacob was born in Metz, Lorraine, France on May 8, 1958. A pianist by age 4, he was immersed in study of the French classics. Something of a child prodigy, Jacob had perfect pitch and natural talent. He did not discover jazz until age 10, but when he did, its improvised nature appealed to him immediately. Early influences were Dave Brubeck and Oscar Peterson. As a teen, Jacob studied under Pierre Sancan at the Conservatoire National Superieur de Musique in Paris. Later, he would teach piano at the Conservatoire National de Region in Metz.

In January 1983, Jacob entered Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts, and won many awards as a student, including the Joe Zawinul Jazz Masters Award, Oscar Peterson Jazz Masters Award, and Down Beat "Top Collegiate Jazz Soloist" before graduating Magna Cum Laude in 1985. Jacob then took a teaching position at Berklee.

During his years in Boston, he formed "Bostonian Friends", a musical partnership with Swiss saxophonist Fritz Renold, which produced jazz recordings ("Starlight" 1996) and classical commissions ("The 6 Cycles" with the Thai Symphony Orchestra 1999, and "Helvetic Suite" 1998). Although having renounced the classical performing circuit for jazz, Jacob has maintained ties with the classical world through projects such as these commissioned works. Renold introduced Jacob to the Swiss Youth Jazz Orchestra, for which he was an arranger and educator throughout the 1990s. From 1992 to 1994 Jacob also served as Director in Residence of the "Orchestre Regional Jazz de Lorraine" in Nancy, Meurthe-et-Moselle, and composed their inaugural commission.