Christof May is a German

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 jazz musician who performs on the clarinet

Clarinet

The clarinet is a musical instrument of woodwind type. The name derives from adding the suffix -et to the Italian word clarino , as the first clarinets had a strident tone similar to that of a trumpet. The instrument has an approximately cylindrical bore, and uses a single reed...

 and saxophone

Saxophone

The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...

.

May studied jazz

Jazz

Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...

 saxophone with John Ruocco at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague

Royal Conservatory of The Hague

The Royal Conservatory of The Hague is a conservatorium of music, providing higher education in music and dance, it is located in The Hague, Netherlands.-The Conservatory:...

 from 1992–1998 and from 1998 - 2002 classical

Classical music

Classical music is the art music produced in, or rooted in, the traditions of Western liturgical and secular music, encompassing a broad period from roughly the 11th century to present times...

 clarinet with Ab Vos. He earned a Master's Degree

Master's degree

A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...

 in music there.

From 1995 on, he worked as a sideman

Sideman

A sideman is a professional musician who is hired to perform or record with a group of which he or she is not a regular member. They often tour with solo acts as well as bands and jazz ensembles. Sidemen are generally required to be adaptable to many different styles of music, and so able to fit...

 with Susanne Abbuehl

Susanne Abbuehl

Susanne Abbuehl is a Swiss jazz singer who performs in various jazz mediums like Progressive jazz, avant-garde jazz, Continental jazz, and post bop....

, Michel Portal

Michel Portal

Michel Portal is a composer, saxophonist, and clarinetist.Portal studied clarinet at the Conservatoire de Paris...

, David Liebman, Claudio Puntin, Samuel Rohrer, Florian Zenker, Amina Figarova

Amina Figarova

Amina Figarova is a jazz composer and jazz pianist. She currently lives in Rotterdam, Netherlands.-Education:Amina began studying music as a child, beginning learning the piano, and expanding into musical composition and arrangement as she matured...

, Erik Ineke and Trygve Seim

Trygve Seim

Trygve Seim is a Norwegian jazz saxophonist and composer. Born in Oslo, Norway, Seim started to play the saxophone in 1985 after hearing Jan Garbarek's CD eventyr...

.

With Abbuehl, May can be heard on the ECM

ECM (record label)

ECM is a record label founded in Munich, Germany, in 1969 by Manfred Eicher. While ECM is best known for jazz music, the label has released a wide variety of recordings, and ECM's artists often refuse to acknowledge boundaries between genres...

 productions April and Compass. He toured through Europe, Africa und North America, playing a.o. in Cape Town, Maputo, Montreal, Portland, Oregon, Oslo, Paris, Rome and other European cities. With the Dutch radio orchestra "Metropole Orkest", he worked a.o. with Kenny Werner

Kenny Werner

Kenny Werner is an American jazz pianist.-Biography:Kenny Werner is a world-class pianist and composer. His prolific output of compositions, recordings and publications continue to impact audiences around the world....

 and Bob Malach and recorded CDs with drummer

Drum kit

A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

 Terry Bozzio

Terry Bozzio

Terry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.-Biography:Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed...

. In the classical field, he worked with the symphony orchestras of Krefeld-Mönchengladbach, Aachen and Duisburg in Germany.

His own project, Maygus is inspired by the music of Miles Davis

Miles Davis

Miles Dewey Davis III was an American jazz musician, trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. Widely considered one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century, Miles Davis was, with his musical groups, at the forefront of several major developments in jazz music, including bebop, cool jazz,...

 from the seventies. The name of the project refers to the 1974 released record Dark Magus

Dark Magus

Dark Magus is a live album by jazz artist Miles Davis recorded at Carnegie Hall in New York City on March 30, 1974. The album was released in 1977 in Japan as a double-LP by Columbia Records, and released in 1997 in the United States in a double-CD format...

. The band's first CD was released in November, 2007 as Vol. 20 of the series "Jazzthing Next Generation", in a cooperation of German magazine Jazzthing and the jazz label, Double Moon.

Selected discography

• Ugly Beauty, 1994, The Jazzmeteors
• I Am Rose, 1997, Susanne Abbuehl
• April, 2000, with Susanne Abbuehl, Wolfert Brederode and Samuel Rohrer
• Far Enough, 2000, Nimbus, with Wolfert Brederode
• Festina Lente, 2003, Nimbus, with Wolfert Brederode, featuring David Liebman
• chamber works, 2005, Terry Bozzio
  Terry Bozzio
  Terry John Bozzio is an American drummer best known for his work with Missing Persons and Frank Zappa.-Biography:Terry Bozzio was born December 27, 1950 in San Francisco, California. He started at age 6 playing makeshift drum sets. At the age of 13 he saw The Beatles premier performance on The Ed...
  
   & Metropole Orchestra
• Compass, 2006, with Susanne Abbuehl, Wolfert Brederode and Lucas Niggli
• Maygus, 2007, Jazzthing Next Generation Vol. 20

External links

• Christof May's Homepage
• MAYGUS
• review on All About Jazz
  All About Jazz
  All About Jazz is a leading jazz music website for enthusiasts and industry professionals based in Philadelphia in the United States.Founded by Michael Ricci in 1995, the Web-Site is maintained by a volunteer staff of writers, editors, and musicians, and provides coverage of all genres of jazz from...