Christian Ludwig Mayer has the animated between-musical-genres expressive fantasy of a Jaki Byard, the melodic touch of a Roland Hanna, the romantic soul of a Robert Schumann and an enormous helping of originality.
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-Marcus A. Woelfle
Rondo: Das Klassik & Jazz Magazin
Christian Ludwig Mayer is a pianist that will delight you with his sense of swing and the maturity that he brings to his performances.
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​-Prof. Rusty Hassan, Rundfunkmoderator und Jazz-Journalist
Downbeat magazine, Jazztimes, New York Times, Washington Post, Coda
About
Christian Ludwig Mayer: Piano and compositions
Christian Ludwig Mayer (1974) was an autodidact until his acceptance to the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich in 1997. There his studies included jazz piano with Prof. Leonid Chizhik, classical piano with Robert Regös, harpsichord with Michael Eberth and jazz composition with Thomas Zoller, all the while expanding his range of instruments via self-instruction (e.g., accordion, trumpet, guitar, double bass). In 2002 Mayer won the "Gasteig Förderpreis for Outstanding Students” playing a program featuring his own ensemble and compositions. Mayer completed his studies at the Conservatory with multiple degrees. To further his training in contemporary music, Mayer studied composition with Laurence Traiger, Wilfried Hiller and Anton Prestele. Mayer’s musical work spans a wide range of musical styles – from traditional (“folk”) to classical and experimental – and has taken him to numerous countries around the globe: Italy, France, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Switzerland, Iran, Singapore, Canada, Peru and the U.S.A. A further focus of Mayer’s work is his engagement with “alte Musik” (early music) and free improvisation.
In addition to commissioned works for diverse musical styles, Mayer writes theater music, jazz and, above all, chamber music. He also composes for his own ensembles, namely his Auwald Trio (crossover jazz/classical), his Ensemble International (“Ethnojazz”), and his Auwald Consort (chamber music). From 2010 to 2012 under the pseudonym “Ludwig Auwald”, Mayer was the composer and musical director of the “Nibelungen Festspiele Worms” and the “Dresdner Zwinger Festspiele” (Dieter Wedel, director). In 2017, Mayer’s Auwald Trio released its debut album “Token Gestures”, which was nominated by the German “Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik” for best jazz album January 2017. In the same year, Mayer’s clarinet quintet “Waldgeist” was performed at the 19th “Sommermusiken” in Landsberg by members of the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2018, Mayer and a handful of other composers received the “Placidus from Camerloher” composition prize; his piece “Camerloher Quintett” for piano and string quartet premiered at the “grenzenlos - in real time” music festival in Murnau, Germany in the fall of 2018.
In the music magazine “Rondo”, jazz journalist and critic Marcus Woelfle describes Mayer as follows:
“Mayer […] has the animated between-musical-genres expressive fantasy of a Jaki Byard, the melodic touch of a Roland Hanna, the romantic soul of a Robert Schumann and an enormous helping of originality.”
The motive of the romantic “Wanderschaft” (journey) is frequently reflected in Mayer’s compositions, thus he is often described as a “wanderer between musical worlds”.
Ludwig Leininger: Double bass
Ludwig Leininger studied jazz double bass at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich with Paulo Cardoso and electric bass with Patrick Scales. Thereafter he completed a graduate degree at the Musical Conservatory Nürnberg-Augsburg, majoring in classical double bass. Since finishing his studies, Leininger has worked as a freelance double bass player in numerous jazz-ensemble formations and has performed in various theater and studio productions. Leininger has toured in Morocco on behalf of the Goethe Institute, has performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival and has played on the MS Deutschland on a tour from Montreal to New York. Alongside concert performances, Leininger also appears regularly in musical theater. In addition to numerous performances in municipal theaters in Germany, Leininger performed at the Berlin Theatertagen and at the Nibelung Festival, Worms. His work as a studio bass player has earned Leininger credit on over 20 CDs.
Lorenz Hunziker-Rutigliano: Drums
Lorenz Hunziker-Rutigliano studied drums at the Bern University of the Arts (HKB-Switzerland) in the Swiss Jazz School with Billy Brooks and composition and arrangement with Frank Sikora and Klaus Wagenleiter. After finishing his music degree, he attended master classes in New York with John Riley and in Basel with Jorge Rossy.
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Since finishing his music teaching degree in 2005, Hunziker-Rutigliano has played worldwide with artists such as Pepe Lienhard, Kol Simcha (the world Quintet), Thomas Moeckel, David Klein, Anna Rossinellli, Mañana, Bergitta Victor und Eliana Burki. He also led the concert series “Selma – enveloped in longing” (Selma - In Sehnsucht eingehüllt) together with artists such as Sarah Connor, Thomas D. (Fanta 4) Joy Delanane, Hartmut Engler (PUR) und Stefanie Kloß (Silbermond).
Hunziker-Rutigliano can be heard on numerous CDs and has performed in musical and theater productions such as “Fame” and “Jesus Christ Superstar” at the Theater Basel, “Peter Pan” at the Konzert Theater Bern, “Carmen, A Highschool Opera” at the Staatstheater Braunschweig; he has also performed in concert theater pieces such as “M & The Acid Monks” and “Gilgamesh Must Die!” at the Deutsche Oper Berlin.
ALBUM: TOKEN GESTURES
Nominated for the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik"
(PDSK "best list" 2/2017)
About the debut CD "Token Gestures"
Guenter Buhles
Jazz Podium
To sum up the Auwald Trio and the CD: The music speaks for itself
Marcus A. Woelfle
Rondo Magazin
"Token Gestures", the debut album of the Auwald Trio, is amazingly diverse. Mayer, the composer of all the music, has the animated between-musical-genres expressive fantasy of a Jaki Byard, the melodic touch of a Roland Hanna, the romantic soul of a Robert Schumann and an enormous helping of originality
Markus Noichl
Allgäuer Zeitung
A virtuoso high-wire act balancing between madman and genius without a net or false bottom. Like an E.T.A. Hoffmann, this free spirit risks everything. That nowadays something like this still exists…
Selected Press
Editorial tip in the music magazine Silberhorn: The debut album „Token Gestures“ from the Auwald Trio
“Mayer has the animated between-musical-genres expressive fantasy of a Jaki Byard, the melodic touch of a Roland Hanna, the romantic soul of a Robert Schumann and an enormous helping of originality. He knows everything and – together with his trio members Ludwig Leininger (b) and Lorenz Hunziker-Rutiliano (d) – combines it with ingenuity in an appealing, down-to-earth manner. The Auwald Trio doesn’t fit in any category; above all it swings like crazy.”
-- Marcus A. Woelfle, Silberhorn Magazin
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Crazy and brilliant: The Auwald Trio and its debut CD
“A virtuoso high-wire act balancing between madman and genius without a net or false bottom. Like an E.T.A. Hoffmann, this free spirit risks everything. That nowadays something like this still exists…”
-- Allgäuer Zeitung
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An insider tip that really is one
“Mayer’s works tell a story, are unbelievably, cleverly thought out and are exceptionally well composed.”
-- Süddeutsche Zeitung
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Fantastic "wanderer"
“Mayer has found a freedom in his expression that goes way beyond the typical ‘jazz sound’. His original works are multifaceted and full of lively tonal ideas and ingenuity. […] The results of [C.L. Mayer’s] inspiration between rhythmical and playful and between melodic and symphonic amaze completely.”
-- Allgäuer Zeitung
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LoisachJazz festival with the Auwald Trio
“The three [musicians] presented complex jazz improvisations that normally would have become ‘heavy fare’. However, with earthy rhythm, the Auwald Trio knows how to bring ‘complicated jazz’ back to reality. The most varied stylistic elements arise and disappear again seamlessly, for example a tango, a Charleston, a waltz, a French musette or alpine elements.”
-- Oberland Magazin
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Expectations exceeded
“Christian Ludwig Mayer’s music ventures from the old jazz of the 1920s, across the various jazz-genres and up to modern jazz and allows some classical to shine through. […] His strongly expressive piano playing, which sometimes mimicked a ‘show’, magically turned the musical artistry of the Trio into a unique and wonderful orchestral experience.”
-- Neue Fricktaler Zeitung (CH)
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Virtuoso "wanderer" between worlds
“88 keys are not enough for him: Christian Ludwig Mayer needs the entire grand piano as a sound generator, plucking and pounding, swiping [his hands] across the strings; making use of the swinging sound box. […] completely new tonal worlds. Three world class musicians. Three hats off!”
-- Allgäuer Anzeigenblatt
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This trio amazes people
“On the piano [Christian Ludwig Mayer] has a fantastic and quick ‘style’ that brings Ludwig Leininger on double bass and Lorenz Rutiliano on drums along with him. This trio amazes [people] with tremendous diversity: lots of jazz, swing, waltzes, ‘ländler’ and – as they admit themselves – some pieces that are just ‘odd’.”
-- Augsburger Allgemeine
Christian Ludwig Mayer: The Call of the Woods
“Insatiable curiosity about the musical traditions of all ages consumes this ‘Proteus’.” [READ THE FULL ARTICLE IN GERMAN]
-- Marcus A. Woelfle, Rondo Magazin
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Sense of swing
"Christian Ludwig Mayer is a pianist that will delight you with his sense of swing and the maturity that he brings to his performances."
​-- Prof. Rusty Hassan, Radio host and Jazz journalist (Downbeat magazine, Jazztimes, New York Times, Washington Post, Coda)
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Music that takes your breath away
“Christian Ludwig Mayer…Ludwig Leininger…and Lorenz Hunziker-Rutiliano…make such brilliant and virtuoso music spanning so many styles that it just about takes your breath away. For that which Christian Ludwig Mayer composes and brings with him on the stage is the term ‘jazz’ too narrow: Mayer is an exceptional musical talent who doesn’t fit in any category and who shifts between genres.”
-- Tölzer Kurier
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Album Review: "Token Gestures" -- Debut album of the Auwald Trio
“Earlier, like in the last millennia, neither European nor (especially) German jazz musicians dared to form Jazz Trios […] Now it’s time to introduce the not-yet-well-known Auwald Trio! The pianist Christian Ludwig Mayer, the double bass player Ludwig Leininger and the drummer Lorenz Huziker-Rutiliano recorded a striking CD in Murnau with the title ‘Token Gestures’. Those who listen to the CD think to themselves when they hear the first piece ‘Nocturnal Constitution’: Aha, these three musicians studied the ‘[Bill] Evan’s Trio communication dictionary’ and learned something! Yet, immediately thereafter you’re dumbfounded by the lively, tempo-rich ‘The Battle of St. George’ with its cut-sheer-across-the-keys, room-grabbing stride piano, its rich double bass and its crisp drums. […] And then, all of a sudden, the 19th -- even the 18th century becomes audible with the piece ‘Reconnaissance: Im Gehäuse’ before the music from ‘Into it’ rips loose: What is that? Jack Bruce meets Mal Waldron? […] This CD continues with this type of diversity: sometimes deeply ballad-like, sometimes fiercely driven, sometimes with the breath of an easy, swinging French musette, sometimes casting a glance into the realm of Latin music […]. And for those who leaf through the booklet and read its contents, those people are also – so to say – verbally impressed, without really being able to make head or tail of the ingenious-ironic Text nor learning anything about the three musicians. Are these ‘Gestures’ also in this way symbolic, only pro forma = token? – All the same, the summary of the Auwald Trio and the CD is as follows: The music speaks for itself.”
-- Guenter Buhles, Jazz Podium
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Musical genius
“Immediately after the first note it’s apparent that this ensemble provides first class, concert-level, chamber music-like jazz in the finest sense. […] It became clear that the musicians feel connected to early jazz and classical European music traditions. […] High levels of creativity and many surprising combinations are the hallmark of this music […].”
-- AZ Füssner Blatt
