Theo Bleckmann

Theo Bleckmann stands out as an award-winning vocalist in new music, a jazz singer, and a composer whose work crosses multiple traditions stretching from classical repertoire into avant-garde territory. Having studied under the celebrated Sheila Jordan, he first appeared on the scene during the early 1990s through associations with experimental figures such as Kirk Nurock and John Hollenbeck, along with his role inside Meredith Monk’s ensemble. Several well-received recordings on the Winter & Winter imprint followed, among them the Jazz Echo Award-winning Twelve Songs with Kneebody in 2008 and the Grammy-nominated Schumann’s Favored Bard Songs from 2009. Bleckmann has broadened his range further by turning toward pop material, evidenced by Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush in 2011, and by teaming with the forward-looking brass group the Westerlies for This Land in 2021.

Although the Great American Songbook shaped his initial listening, Bleckmann originally pursued ice dancing in his German homeland rather than vocal performance. A 1989 workshop encounter with mentor Sheila Jordan prompted his relocation to New York, where he quickly became embedded in the city’s music, theater, and performance communities. His earliest release, the 1992 duo album Theo & Kirk alongside pianist Kirk Nurock, led to additional pair projects with guitarist Ben Monder and sustained work across varied contexts with drummer John Hollenbeck, including the 1999 recording Jazz Child with Jordan herself.

Fifteen years of membership in Meredith Monk’s ensemble yielded appearances on Mercy in 2002 and Impermanence in 2008. Additional partnerships have encompassed Philip Glass, John Zorn, Kenny Wheeler, and David Lang. After issuing his solo debut Origami on Songlines in 2001, Bleckmann established a lengthy catalog on Winter & Winter that features three “bar songs” projects with pianist Fumio Yasuda—Las Vegas Rhapsody: The Night They Invented Champagne in 2006, Berlin: Songs of Love and War, Peace and Exile in 2007, and Schumann’s Favored Bar Songs in 2009, the last of which earned a Grammy nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album. Sandwiched between the final two of those sets came 2008’s Twelve Songs by Charles Ives, realized with the jazz-rock unit Kneebody and praised for its inventive reinterpretations of the composer’s material. The Deutsche Phono-Akademie presented him with the Jazz Echo Award in 2010 for I Dwell in Possibility. That same year the vocal collective Moss, formed with Luciana Sousa, Peter Eldridge, Lauren Kinhan, and Kate McGarry, delivered its self-titled Sunnyside debut. Winter & Winter brought out Hello Earth! The Music of Kate Bush in 2012, a release frequently cited among the year’s strongest recordings. Bleckmann appeared as featured guest on trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire’s The Imagined Savior Is Easier to Paint in 2014 and served as vocalist for the Julia Hülsmann Quartet’s Clear Midnight: Kurt Weill & America the following year. His ECM debut as leader arrived with Elegy in 2017, while 2019 saw the electronic-focused LP1 created with New York improviser Joseph Branciforte on the new Greyfade label. Further joint efforts include Terrain with composer Jacob Cooper and singer Jodie Landau in 2019 and This Land with the Westerlies in 2021.