Robert Keßler is a guitarist and composer whose music combines contemporary jazz with world music, blues and
pop.
Born in Jena in 1984, his heart beat for music at an early age. As a teenager, he rode his bicycle to jazz festivals to meet his idols, and later his path led him to the motherland of jazz. After studying at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music and the Jazz Institute Berlin with Kurt Rosenwinkel and Jiggs Whigham, he declared his love for Modern Jazz on his debut album „Jasmin“. In the following years, he opened up to blues, R’n’B and country as well as to the music cultures of Latin America, Spain, Arabia and Eastern Europe, recorded the records „Emilias Lächeln“ and „Moravica“ with the band Klezmeyers and toured Europe with them. He pays homage to the philosophy of absolute sound experience especially on his current trio album „Bloodline“, which he recorded with bassist Andreas Henze and drummer Tobias Backhaus. Those who have never met Robert Keßler will be able to get very close to a human being in these songs. He reveals a lot about his children, his neighbourhood, his world view. „Bloodline“ is an honest self-portrait of an artist’s personality, a flawless jazz album and an enchanting story that in the best moments seems to listen more than it tells.
As a sideman, Robert Keßler was involved in productions of the Berlin Theater des Westens and the Theater am Potsdamer Platz, recorded soundtracks and worked with artists such as Jocelyn B. Smith, Elen Wendt, New York Voices, Udo Lindenberg, Felix Jaehn and Herbert Grönemeyer. He was a lecturer for guitar at the Hanns Eisler Academy of Music Berlin, at the Jazz Institute Berlin and since 2017 has been a professor for guitar and ensemble at the SRH University Berlin, School of Popular Arts formerly Hochschule der Populären Künste, where he heads the music production and popular music courses. He now lives in Berlin-Weißensee with his wife and three children.
– Wolf Kampmann