Christian Dozzler
Encyclopedia
Christian Dozzler is a blues
, boogie woogie and zydeco
multi-instrumentalist
and singer from Austria
, now based in the Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas
) area. He plays piano
, harmonica
, accordion
and organ
, and writes most of his recorded material. He has been nicknamed "Vienna Slim".
and boogie woogie on the piano after he heard this music on the radio
at age 14. Eventually, he also learned playing the harmonica
and guitar
, and formed the 'Backyard Bluesband' in 1976, while still in high school. In 1984 he got called to co-front Austria's
'Mojo Blues Band', and toured and recorded
with them until 1993. From 1993 until 2000, he led
his own band 'Christian Dozzler & The Blues Wave'. In 2000 he relocated to the United States
and was keyboardist
for the Larry Garner
band from Baton Rouge
, Louisiana
, for two years. He settled in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
, area in 2002 and continued his solo career. As of 2010, he performs mostly solo piano blues
in North America
and Europe
, but also plays with Texas blues
bands like Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets
, Mike Morgan and the Crawl or 'Hash Brown & The Browntones' on a regular basis.
Releases with other blues artists or bands:
, "Big Maceo" Merriweather, Roosevelt Sykes
, Katie Webster
and Vince Weber, harmonica players Little Walter
, Big Walter "Shakey" Horton
, Sonny Boy Williamson #1
and #2
, Snooky Pryor, and zydeco
accordion player Clifton Chenier
. As well as other artists in the Chicago blues
and Swamp blues
styles.
CD Reviews:
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, boogie woogie and zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
multi-instrumentalist
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays a number of different instruments.The Bachelor of Music degree usually requires a second instrument to be learned , but people who double on another instrument are not usually seen as multi-instrumentalists.-Classical music:Music written for Symphony...
and singer from Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, now based in the Dallas/Fort Worth (Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
) area. He plays piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
, accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
and organ
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
, and writes most of his recorded material. He has been nicknamed "Vienna Slim".
Biography
Dozzler took classical piano lessons from the age of 5. He started teaching himself to play bluesBlues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and boogie woogie on the piano after he heard this music on the radio
Radio
Radio is the transmission of signals through free space by modulation of electromagnetic waves with frequencies below those of visible light. Electromagnetic radiation travels by means of oscillating electromagnetic fields that pass through the air and the vacuum of space...
at age 14. Eventually, he also learned playing the harmonica
Harmonica
The harmonica, also called harp, French harp, blues harp, and mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used primarily in blues and American folk music, jazz, country, and rock and roll. It is played by blowing air into it or drawing air out by placing lips over individual holes or multiple holes...
and guitar
Guitar
The guitar is a plucked string instrument, usually played with fingers or a pick. The guitar consists of a body with a rigid neck to which the strings, generally six in number, are attached. Guitars are traditionally constructed of various woods and strung with animal gut or, more recently, with...
, and formed the 'Backyard Bluesband' in 1976, while still in high school. In 1984 he got called to co-front Austria's
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
'Mojo Blues Band', and toured and recorded
Recording
Recording is the process of capturing data or translating information to a recording format stored on some storage medium, which is often referred to as a record or, if an auditory medium, a recording....
with them until 1993. From 1993 until 2000, he led
Bandleader
A bandleader is the leader of a band of musicians. The term is most commonly, though not exclusively, used with a group that plays popular music as a small combo or a big band, such as one which plays jazz, blues, rhythm and blues or rock and roll music....
his own band 'Christian Dozzler & The Blues Wave'. In 2000 he relocated to the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
and was keyboardist
Keyboardist
A keyboardist is a musician who plays keyboard instruments. Until the early 1960s musicians who played keyboards were generally classified as either pianists or organists. Since the mid-1960s, a plethora of new musical instruments with keyboards have come into common usage, requiring a more...
for the Larry Garner
Larry Garner
Larry Garner is an American Louisiana blues musician best known for his 1994 album Too Blues.-Biography:...
band from Baton Rouge
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Baton Rouge is the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is located in East Baton Rouge Parish and is the second-largest city in the state.Baton Rouge is a major industrial, petrochemical, medical, and research center of the American South...
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
, for two years. He settled in the Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
, area in 2002 and continued his solo career. As of 2010, he performs mostly solo piano blues
Piano blues
Piano blues refers to a variety of blues styles, sharing only the characteristic that they use the piano as the primary musical instrument. Boogie woogie is the best known kind of piano blues, though barrelhouse, swing, R&B, rock and roll and jazz are strongly influenced by early pianists who...
in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
, but also plays with Texas blues
Texas blues
Texas blues is a subgenre of blues. It has had various style variations but typically has been played with more swing than other blues styles....
bands like Anson Funderburgh & The Rockets
Anson Funderburgh
Anson Funderburgh is an American blues guitar player and bandleader of Anson Funderburgh and the Rockets since 1978...
, Mike Morgan and the Crawl or 'Hash Brown & The Browntones' on a regular basis.
Discography
Under his name:- 1994 Take It Easy (Wolf)
- 1996 Perfect Day (Wolf)
- 1998 Smile Awhile' (Wolf)
- 1999 Louisiana (BluesWave)
- 2004 All Alone and Blue (BluesWave)
- 2008 The Blues and a Half (BluesWave)
- 2009 Livin' Life (w/Robin Bank$) (BluesWave)
Releases with other blues artists or bands:
- 1984 Mojo Blues Band - Hot Bricks (Bellaphon)
- 1986 Al Cook - A Legendary White Face In Blues (Extraplatte)
- 1986 Al Cook - On The Road To Rock & Roll (Extraplatte)
- 1987 Mojo Blues Band - Midnight in Swampland (EMI)
- 1987 Hans Theessink - Baby Wants To Boogie (Blue Groove)
- 1987 Magic Slim & The Teardrops - Chicago Blues Session Vol.3 (Wolf)
- 1987 Alabama Junior Pettis - Chicago Blues Session Vol.4 (Wolf)
- 1988 Axel Zwingenberger & Champion Jack Dupree & Mojo Blues Band - Champ's Housewarming (Vagabond)
- 1989 Mojo Blues Band & Guests - The Wild Taste Of Chicago (EMI)
- 1989 Hans Theessink - Johnny & The Devil (Blue Groove)
- 1989 Al Cook - 25 Blues Years, All Star Jamboree (Die Muehle)
- 1989 John Littlejohn - Chicago Blues Session Vol.13 (Wolf)
- 1991 Mojo Blues Band - Alligator Walk (EMI)
- 1992 Mojo Blues Band - Super Blues News (EMI)
- 1992 Axel Zwingenberger & Red Holloway & Mojo Blues Band - Heat It Up (Vagabond)
- 1993 Austrian Blues Summit (Wolf)
- 1994 Mojo Blues Band - Blues Roll On (EMI)
- 1994 Hans Theessink - Hardroad Blues (Blue Groove)
- 1995 Bluespumpm - You Got It (Sony)
- 1996 Michael Pewny - Crazy 'Bout Boogie (Bellaphon)
- 1997 Hans Theessink - Journey On (Blue Groove)
- 1999 Axel Zwingenberger & Red Holloway & Mojo Blues Band - Red Hot Boogie Woogie Party (Vagabond)
- 2000 Mojo Blues Band - Blues Parade 2000 (Styx)
- 2000 Bluespumpm - Dirty Dozen (OK)
- 2002 Larry GarnerLarry GarnerLarry Garner is an American Louisiana blues musician best known for his 1994 album Too Blues.-Biography:...
- Embarrassment To The Blues? (Ruf) - 2002 Robin Banks - Live After Dark (self)
- 2003 Thomas Stelzer - Cajun Moon (Sap)
- 2004 Chris Zalez - Texas Cantina (Pacific Blues)
- 2007 Ray Reed - Where The Trinity Runs Free (Dialtone)
- 2007 Wanda King - Songs In The Key Of Blues (self)
- 2008 Tejas Brothers - Tejas Brothers (self)
- 2008 Aaron Burton - How Can I Be Blue (self)
- 2010 Aaron Burton - Recession Blues (self)
- 2010 Naz & The Falsehoods - Pack Of Lies (Allie Mae)
Influences
Among his biggest influences, Dozzler cited pianists Otis SpannOtis Spann
Otis Spann was an American blues musician, who many consider the leading postwar Chicago blues pianist.-Career:Born in Jackson, Mississippi, United States, Spann became known for his distinct piano style....
, "Big Maceo" Merriweather, Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes
Roosevelt Sykes was an American blues musician, also known as "The Honeydripper". He was a successful and prolific cigar-chomping blues piano player, whose rollicking thundering boogie-woogie was highly influential.-Career:Born in Elmar, Arkansas, Sykes grew up near Helena but at age 15, went on...
, Katie Webster
Katie Webster
Katie Webster , born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist.-Career:Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband record labels, such as Lightnin' Slim and Lonesome Sundown...
and Vince Weber, harmonica players Little Walter
Little Walter
Little Walter, born Marion Walter Jacobs , was an American blues harmonica player, whose revolutionary approach to his instrument has earned him comparisons to Charlie Parker and Jimi Hendrix, for innovation and impact on succeeding generations...
, Big Walter "Shakey" Horton
Big Walter Horton
Walter Horton, better known as Big Walter Horton or Walter "Shakey" Horton, was an American blues harmonica player. A quiet, unassuming and essentially shy man, Horton is remembered as one of the premier harmonica players in the history of blues...
, Sonny Boy Williamson #1
Sonny Boy Williamson I
Sonny Boy Williamson was an American blues harmonica player and singer, and the first to use the name Sonny Boy Williamson.-Biography and career:...
and #2
Sonny Boy Williamson II
Willie "Sonny Boy" Williamson was an American blues harmonica player, singer and songwriter, from Mississippi. He is acknowledged as one of the most charismatic and influential blues musicians, with considerable prowess on the harmonica and highly creative songwriting skills...
, Snooky Pryor, and zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
accordion player Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier , a Creole French-speaking native of Opelousas, Louisiana, was an eminent performer and recording artist of Zydeco, which arose from Cajun and Creole music, with R&B, jazz, and blues influences. He played the accordion and won a Grammy Award in 1983...
. As well as other artists in the Chicago blues
Chicago blues
The Chicago blues is a form of blues music that developed in Chicago, Illinois, by taking the basic acoustic guitar and harmonica-based Delta blues, making the harmonica louder with a microphone and an instrument amplifier, and adding electrically amplified guitar, amplified bass guitar, drums,...
and Swamp blues
Swamp blues
Swamp blues, sometimes the Excello sound, is a sub-genre of blues music and a variation of Louisiana blues that developed around Baton Rouge in the 1950s and which reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s. It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music,...
styles.
Awards and nominations
- Concerto-Poll 1998 (Austria): Best Blues CD International award for Smile Awhile.
- Concerto-Poll 2000 (Austria): Best Blues/Roots Musician National award.
- Trophees France Blues 2000 (France): Nominated for Best European Blues-Singer and for Best European Blues-Artist awards.
- Blues Critic Awards 2008 (USA): Nominated for Best Blues Keyboardist.
External links
CD Reviews: