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Christoph ROIS (AUSTRIA)

Christoph Rois was born 1967 in Vienna (Austria). At the age of 16 years he was inspired by Albert Ammons Pete Johnson and Meade "lux" Lewis as well as that Hamburg Boogie master Axel Zwingenberger, he started to learn autodidactically the piano play. In this time it visited regularly live-conzerts of different Boogie pianists, particularly those of its idol Axel Zwingenberger. Soon he had his first live-act in the Viennese "Jazzland". In the consequence he studied Blues and Boogie Woogie and got in closer touch with the piano as played by pianists such as blindly John Davis, James "Stump" Johnson and Roosevelt Sykes. There followed both live-acts in the country and abroad and the recording of various records and CDs. 1994 he discovered his preference for authentic piano Blues and in his expression-strong interpretation appears his special talent for this piano style. In the nineties Christoph Rois co-operated regularly with jazz trumpet player Franz Luttenberger, sometimes as duo and in the formation "Christoph Rois Boogie Boys". The combination of boogie-Piano and new Orleans jazz, which was strongly dominated by the trumpet, has its models in Albert Ammons "Rhytm Kings". Rois and Luttenberger recorded their version of it on a record. In the years 1997–2000 the pianist was firm member of the Mojo Blues Band. With the group he completed hundreds of foreign tours, which led him to the USA, to Germany, Benelux, Switzerland and to other countries. In this formation on many occasions he shared the stage with his idol of the initial days: Axel Zwingenberger. Christoph Rois plays classic Blues and Boogie Woogie. It is the music which was developed in the USA in the Twenties and Thirties. Probably the most famous and best boogie pianists were Albert Ammons, Pete Johnson and Meade “Lux” Lewis – who are also the examples of Rois (especially Albert Ammons). Nowadays there are only very few pianists who are actually able to play classic boogie. One reason might be, that there are virtually no notations available. The main share of the pieces which Christoph plays are original tunes from the above mentioned pianists. This repertoire is amended by his own compositions and improvisations which imprint his personal style.

website : www.christoph-rois.net

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