It is with deep sadness that Blue Flame Records/Schubert Music Europe bids farewell to Christoph Spendel – an outstanding pianist, composer, and teacher whose musical influence extended far beyond the borders of Germany.
Christoph Spendel was born on July 19, 1955, in Bytom (then Upper Silesia, now Poland). He received his first piano lessons from his mother, Maria Christa Spendel, at the age of five and later continued his training at the Robert Schumann University of Music in Düsseldorf. He began his professional music career in the mid-1970s. He was a member of the group “Jazztrack” and worked with international greats such as Albert Mangelsdorff and Miroslav Vitouš, Wolfgang Schlüter, Michael Naura, Thoma Heidepriem, Charlie Mariano, Lenny Mac Dowell, Pete York, Herbie Hancock, Jo Zawinul, and many others. Christoph Spendel was one of the first artists on the Blue Flame label and released the album “Autumn Breath” with flutist Lenny Mac Dowell in 1986. His musical spectrum ranged from acoustic jazz to electronic sounds in many productions for Blue Flame Records. He combined classical, jazz, fusion, and electronic music in an impressive way. In addition to his work as a musician, he was a professor of jazz piano, particularly at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts.
Significance and legacy
Christoph Spendel was not only a virtuoso and composer—he was a mentor to many young musicians, a bridge builder between stylistic worlds, and a stylist with a clear signature. His piano playing was characterized by melodiousness, depth, and timeless elegance. With his music, he opened doors: to new soundscapes, to the connection between tradition and modernity, and showed that jazz need not have boundaries.
Jazz, fusion, electronic, and world music
While many jazz pianists of the 1980s followed either the acoustic tradition or the fusion sound, Spendel sought synthesis. In works such as “African Connection” and “Global Village,” he experimented with ethnic grooves, electronic timbres, and jazz harmonies. His music never became technology for technology’s sake—he understood electronics as an extension of expression. This makes him one of the early European artists who established electronic jazz as an independent art form.
The educator – mentor to a generation
Since the 1990s, Christoph Spendel has influenced countless students as a professor of jazz piano at the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts. Those who knew him describe him as demanding, humorous, and deeply musical – a teacher who not only imparted technique, but also taught his students to think in sound. He taught improvisation as a way of life: “Music is created in the moment – but it carries everything you are,” he used to say. Many of his students became successful musicians and educators themselves, carrying on his openness. In his later years, he returned more strongly to acoustic forms, playing intimate solo concerts and releasing several albums that sounded like musical diaries – reflective, clear, conciliatory. On the occasion of his 70th birthday and his 50-year music career, a new album, “Piano Graffity,” was released on October 24, 2025, shortly before his death, to be followed by live concerts that Christoph Spendel will no longer be able to experience.
Further information and discography: www.spendel.com
Farewell:
We remember an artist and educator who lived and shared music with passion and dedication. Our sympathy goes out to his family, friends, and all those who loved his music and grew with him. May the sound of his piano continue to resonate – in memories, in recordings, and in all the people he inspired.
November 2025
Blue Flame Records / Schubert Music Europe GmbH
