David Helbock (born 28 January 1984 in

Koblach Koblach is a municipality in the district of Feldkirch in the Austrian state of Vorarlberg Vorarlberg ( , ; gsw, label= Vorarlbergisch, Vorarlbearg, , or ) is the westernmost state () of Austria. It has the second-smallest geographical area ...

) is an Austrian

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a m ...

musician.

Music education

Helbock began playing

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

at the age of six. After several years of lessons at the music school

Feldkirch Feldkirch may refer to: Places * Feldkirch, Vorarlberg, a medieval city and capital of an administrative district in Austria ** Feldkirch (district), an administrative division of Vorarlberg, Austria * Feldkirch (Hartheim), a village in the munici ...

with Nora Calvo Smith and at the jazz seminar

Dornbirn Dornbirn () is a city in the westernmost Austrian state of Vorarlberg. It is the administrative centre for the district of Dornbirn, which also includes the town of Hohenems, and the market town Lustenau. Dornbirn is the largest city in Vorarlb ...

with Paul Winter, he switched to the music high school in Feldkirch in 1998. During school he began to study piano with Ferenc Bognar at the Vorarlberg State Conservatory, where he completed his classical concert diploma in 2005. Since 2000, Helbock has also taken lessons with the New York jazz pianist

Peter Madsen Peter Langkjær Madsen (; born 12 January 1971) is a Danish convicted murderer and former entrepreneur. In April 2018, he was convicted of the 2017 murder of Swedish journalist Kim Wall on board his submarine, ''UC3 Nautilus'', and sentenced ...

, with whom he also played in the band ''Mistura'' and in his ensemble ''CIA'' (Collective of Improvising Artists).

Activities

With his different musical projects, like the "David Helbock Trio", "David Helbock's Random/Control" and also as a solo artist, Helbock toured all over the planet. In 2012, Helbock released ''Purple'', an album on which he only covers songs by

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. T ...

, such as ''

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

'', ''

Alphabet St. "Alphabet St." is a song from American musician Prince's 1988 album, ''Lovesexy''. It was the first single from that album and the album's only top 10 single, reaching the top 10 in both the UK and US. Initially written as an acoustic blues song, ...

'', ''

Kiss A kiss is the touch or pressing of one's lips against another person or an object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely. Depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sexual attraction, ...

'' and '' Purple Rain''. In 2014, Helbock appeared as a soloist on

Michael Mantler Michael Mantler (born August 10, 1943) is an Austrian avant-garde jazz trumpeter and composer of contemporary music. Career: United States Mantler was born in Vienna, Austria. In the early 1960s, he was a student at the Academy of Music and V ...

's CD ''The Jazzcomposers Orchestra - Update'', released by ECM Records. He also plays on Mantler's albums ''Comment c'est'' (2017) and ''Coda'' (2021). Since 2010 till 2015 Helbock's CDs as a leader were published on the label Traumton in

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

. Since 2016 Helbock is an exclusive artist with the record company

ACT Music ACT is a German record label founded in 1992 by Siegfried Loch. It is a division of ACT + Music Video founded by Loch and Annette Humpe in 1988. ACT started as a pop music label but folded soon after it started. Loch turned it into a jazz label, ...

from Munich. Up to date Helbock released five albums on ACT - "Into the Mystic" (2016 with the David Helbock Trio), "Tour d´Horizon" (2018 with Random/Control), "Playing John Williams" (2019 - Solopiano), "The New Cool" (2021 with Arne Jansen & Sebastian Studnitzky) and "Playground" (2022 with french singer Camille Bertault). In 2010 he released his "Personal Realbook", a compositional project, where he wrote one tune every day for a whole year, inspired by the Brazilian jazz legend

Hermeto Pascoal Hermeto Pascoal (born June 22, 1936) is a Brazilian composer and multi-instrumentalist. He was born in Lagoa da Canoa, Alagoas, Brazil. Pascoal is a significant figure in the history of Brazilian music, mainly known for his abilities in orches ...

. Hermeto also contributed a song to Helbock's CD "Think of Two" in 2014.

Awards

Helbock is a prizewinner at the world-biggest Jazzpianosolo Competition in

Montreux Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

2007 and 2010 and in addition also won the audience prize. In 2011 he was awarded the Outstanding Artist Award of the government of

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Selected discography

* 1998: ''Happiness'' (Solo) * 2003: ''Emotions'' (Solopiano) * 2004: ''Transformation'' (David Helbock Trio) * 2006: ''Celebrating modern Genius'' (HDV Trio) * 2007: ''Time'' (Solopiano) * 2008: ''Suite of Philosophical Sounds - SUN RA'' (with Peter Madsen's CIA) * 2008: ''All In'' (HDV Trio) * 2010: ''My Personal Realbook'' (Sheet Music) * 2010: ''Thousand Miles Journey'' (with Peter Madsen's CIA) * 2010: ''David Helbock's Random/Control'' * 2011: ''Diagonal'' (Frick/Helbock Duo) * 2012: ''Purple'' (Solopiano) * 2014: ''Think of Two'' (Random/Control) * 2014: ''What's Next? I Don't Know!'' (Raab/Helbock Duo) * 2014: ''The Jazzcomposers Orchestra – Update'' (with Michael Mantler) * 2015: ''Mistura'' (with Peter Madsen) * 2015: ''Aural Colors'' (David Helbock Trio) * 2016: ''Into the Mystic'' (David Helbock Trio) * 2016: ''Comment Cést'' (with Michael Mantler) * 2018: ''Tour d´Horizon'' (Random/Control) * 2019: ''Playing John Williams'' (Solopiano) * 2021: ''Coda'' Orchestra Suites (with Michael Mantler) * 2021: ''The New Cool'' (with Arne Jansen & Sebastian Studnitzky) * 2022: ''Playground'' (with Camille Bertault)

References

External links

Homepage of David Helbock

Infopage (AllAboutJazz)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Helbock, David 1984 births Living people Austrian jazz pianists Austrian jazz composers Male jazz composers Male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century male musicians