Christian Jacob

Born in Lorraine, France, Christian Jacob began playing classical music at age 4 and became immersed in the music of Claude Debussy and Maurice Ravel, whose harmonic universe was influential on jazz. By the mid 1990's Christian teamed up with vocalist Tierney Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker and bassist Trey Henry to record their first CD together, ?Introducing Tierney Sutton?. The band became known for its sophisticated, refreshing arrangements, and the obvious musical joy they felt when playing together.

By the mid 1990's Christian teamed up with vocalist Tierney Sutton, drummer Ray Brinker and bassist Trey Henry to record their first CD together, ?Introducing Tierney Sutton?. The band became known for its sophisticated, refreshing arrangements, and the obvious musical joy they felt when playing together. They developed into a tightly knit group that recorded six critically acclaimed CDs for Telarc Jazz. ?Unsung Heroes?, ?Blue in Green?, ?Something Cool?, ?Dancing in the Dark?, ?I'm With the Band? and ?On the Other Side?. The later two were both nominated for a Grammy Award.

In the midst of his success with the Tierney Sutton Band, Christian released his third trio CD, this time on his own independent label WilderJazz. The 2004 release, ?Styne & Mine?, is a tribute to the music of Jule Styne, and reached #3 in the jazz radio charts.

The success of ?Styne & Mine? motivated Christian to record ?Contradictions? in 2006. The CD pays homage and offers another look at the original compositions of renowned pianist Michel Petrucciani.

Due to the popularity of his recordings in Japan, (According to The Japan Times he is one of the best-selling foreign jazz pianists in Japan) Christian was invited to tour and record his first live trio recording there. The resulting CD ?Live in Japan? was released in 2008 in the U.S. and reached #17 in the national jazz charts.

At present Christian Jacob continues to divide his time between his two bands (The Tierney Sutton Band and The Christian Jacob Trio) and arranging and composing for various artists. He continues to grow and transform with each project, always striving for something new.