| Christian was born in Berlin, Germany in 1960 and picked up the guitar at age 15, playing popular songs. At age 20 he got seriously involved with jazz. At age 22 he studied jazz and classical guitar at the conservatory in Graz, Austria (1982-86). His teachers included (among others): Harry Pepl (jazzguitar), Harald Riebitsch (classical guitar), Adelhard Roidinger (improvisation) and Karl Drewo (ensemble). His co-students included (among others) Wolfgang Muthspiel, Markus Kohlprath and Helmut Kagerer (guitarists), Peter Herbert, Sven Schuster and Manfred Bründl (contrabass) and Walter Gauchel (tenorsaxophone). |  |
| In 1986 Christian moved to the Netherlands to finish his studies at the Hilversum Conservatory. He received his diploma in 1988. At Hilversum his teachers included (among others): Wim Overgaauw (jazzguitar) and Kenny Napper (ear-training). His co-students included (among others): Denise Jannah (vocals), Joris Teepe (contabass), Sebastian Altekamp (piano), Benjamin Herman (altosax) and Joost Lijbaart (drums).
Christian played or toured with musicians as Ack van Rooyen, David Friesen, John Engels, Ferdinand Povel, Volker Winck, John Hondorp, Toon Roos, Ruud Ouwehand, Gil Evans or Attila Zoller. He participated in clinics by masters as Lee Konitz, Herb Ellis, Phil Wilson, Ernie Wilkins, Jim Hall, Pat Metheny, Clare Fischer, Dave Liebman, Red Mitchell and many others. Christian's 25+ years of experience as a Jazz musician make him a veteran player who developed his own voice in music. His improvisational talents and instrumental wizzardry are noted and appreciated by peers, critics and listeners alike. Christian performs since 1983 throughout Europe in jazz clubs and at festivals, mainly with his own trio (and guest soloists) and his quartet. Between 1989 and 1994 he co-led the jazz group Questar with flutist/saxophonist Andreas Spannagel. In the last years he was also busy doing studio recordings of jazz standards and his own music in settings ranging from various duos (w/ voice, guitar or contrabass respectively) to sextet formations (guitar, bass, drums w/ saxophone, trumpet and trombone). He played and toured with Ack van Rooyen, David Friesen, John Engels, Ferdinand Povel, Volker Winck, Toon Roos, John Hondorp, Ruud Ouwehand, Gil Evans or Attila Zoller and many others. Christian got involved with synthesizers and computers in 1992. He uses these tools mainly for arranging, composing and notation of music. Christian has lived in Holland for 17 years. In 2003 he moved back to Germany where he is busy teaching besides playing in clubs and touring regularily. Watch concert videos and listen to more audio samples on Christian's Myspace site or his Youtube site.
For bookings or more info about performances in various settings you can contact me by email. You can also visit my Myspace site: http://www.myspace.com/christianhassenstein |
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