Old School by Christoph Bull

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"The whole album is really warm with beautiful arrangements and the level of musicianship is so high - really great! Track 2 reminded me of Rufus Wainwright who I really like!"

"I always appreciate it when I can understand the words, especially when the singer/writer has something to say. The instrumentals are great and the songs are really strong."

"I was blown away. The production, the arrangements, the songs...all top-notch."

"The songs are wonderful and you have a great way of using dynamics that so many pop writers don't seem to

master -- and your lyrics are neat, so evocative and complex. The swing cover of "Norwegian Wood" is a great idea and "Answer Me" is totally inspirational. I think my favorite so far however is "Unsaid Things and Nicotine".

"My whole family loves your CD. How do you manage to sound like the writings of ALL the Beatles?"

"You've got some terrific almost Jellyfish-esque stuff going on there - what wonderful production, and the wide variety of styles and orchestration!!"

Bio:

Christoph Bull was born in Mannheim, Germany. He improvised his first tunes on the piano at age five and started playing church services, organ concerts and rock shows at age twelve. He’s won first and second prizes in organ and songwriting competitions, including Jugend Musiziert, Bad Dürkheim Chamber Music Competition, Marcello Galanti International Organ Competition, and the Michael-Masser-Competition (UCLA). In 2006, he was a recipient of the ASCAPlus Award.

He studied at University of Church Music Heidelberg, Freiburg Conservatory, Berklee College Of Music, University of Southern California, and American Conservatory of Music. His teachers include Cherry Rhodes, Hermann Schaeffer, Ludwig Doerr, Charlie Banacos, Sam Swartz, Paul Jordan, and, in master classes, Craig Cramer, Guy Bovet, and Marie-Claire Alain.

Between 1990 and 2005 he worked as organist and music director at Blessed Sacrament Church Hollywood, German-language Christuskirche Glendale, and Seventh-Day-Adventist Church Eagle Rock. In the fall of 2002, Christoph Bull became the fifth university organist at UCLA.

He has produced several CDs with contemporary and classical music (www.christophbull.com), as well as a series of educational albums with children’s music (www.singlish.com). One of his songs, “Ali Ali Ali,” was licensed by Taschen Inc. to promote a collector’s book about Muhammad Ali (www.taschen-goat.com).

His concert and CD series 'organica' was conceived in 1999 to showcase the many facets of the pipe organ and other keyboards, ranging stylistically from traditional organ repertoire to original arrangements of popular and film music. It has repeatedly been Classical Pick Of The Week in the L.A. Weekly.

Among others, he’s recorded for Bootsy Collins and performed with George Clinton of Parliament Funkadelic. He’s consulted for Harry Connick Jr.’s Christmas Album and Steven Spielberg’s movie Minority Report. TV credits include “The Wayne Brady Show” and “The God Squad.”

Recently, he has been teaching, recording and concertizing on his own and with violinist Lili Haydn. Haydn and Bull have opened up for Cindy Lauper and George Clinton.

As a solo artist, Christoph Bull has performed extensively in the United States and Europe. He also performed with Sitar player Nishat Khan in India. In addition, he’s taken to accompanying silent movies such as “The General,” “Cops” and “Peter Pan”.

In July of 2004 Dr Bull was a featured recitalist and workshop presenter at the National Convention of the American Guild Of Organists. Since then, he’s also performed at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles as a solo performer and with the L.A. Master Chorale. He’s also performed with the Pacific Serenades and Grammy-winning Southwest Chamber Music.

Outside of music, Christoph has run the L.A. Marathon three times and won the German youth championship in baseball with this team, BC Tornados Mannheim.

To find out about future performances, recordings, and to sign up on Christoph’s e-mail list, please visit www.christophbull.com

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