Theo Bleckmann has spent decades living in the space between: between categories, between careers, between composition and improvisation, even between apartments. Born in rural Germany, he trained as both a boy soprano and a competitive figure skater, before coming to New York at 23 to study with the legendary singer Sheila Jordan. Quickly he found a home among musical misfits. Since then, he has built a singular life in music that balances jazz, avant-garde experimentation, composition, performance art, and teaching.
Bleckmann’s new album, Love & Anger (Sunnyside), produced by drummer Ulysses Owens Jr., revisits touchstones from his past (his ongoing musical partnership with guitarist Ben Monder, his love of Kate Bush, his reimagining of the Beatles) while reaffirming his belief in collaboration, curiosity, and emotional honesty. As he says, the record came together only when friends reminded him, “This is good; stop doubting yourself.”
Here he talks about growing up in Germany, skating and singing, discovering jazz, studying with Sheila Jordan, finding community in New, what it means to live a “life in music” rather than have a “career in jazz,”, the changing landscape of education and social media, and the deeply human need to listen - to music, to one another, and to oneself.
