Dozenten – Guitar Days

Ben Monder

A musician in the New York City area for over 30 years, Ben Monder has performed with a wide variety of artists, including Jack McDuff, Marc Johnson, Lee Konitz, Billy Childs, Andrew Cyrille, George Garzone, Paul Motian, Maria Schneider, Louis Cole, Marshall Crenshaw, and Jandek. He also contributed guitar parts to the last David Bowie album, “Blackstar”. Ben conducts clinics and workshops around the world, and has served on the faculties of the New England Conservatory and The New School. He was the recipient of a Doris Duke Impact Award in 2014 and a Shifting Foundation Grant in 2013. Ben continues to perform original music internationally in solo and trio settings, and in a long-standing duo project with vocalist Theo Bleckmann. He has appeared on over 200 CDs as a sideman and has released seven as a leader: Day After Day (Sunnyside, 2019), Amorphae (ECM, 2015), Hydra (Sunnyside, 2013), Oceana (Sunnyside, 2005), Excavation (Arabesque, 2000), Dust (Arabesque, 1997), and Flux (Songlines, 1995).

Jens Christian Kwella

Jens Christian Kwella is a Danish jazz guitarist who has worked professionally since 1986, performing 100–130 concerts annually in Denmark and internationally. His playing spans the full spectrum of jazz, from traditional to experimental and electronic forms, and is marked by a strong technical foundation combined with deep musical presence.

Kwella has collaborated with artists such as Curtis Stigers, Randy Brecker, Marc Johnson, Eliane Elias, John Stowell, and Aarhus Jazz Orchestra, among many others. He has released seven critically acclaimed albums under his own name, most recently GuitarRama Jazzical (2023), featuring duets for classical and electric guitar.

In addition to his performing career, Kwella is Associate Professor of Guitar at the Royal Academy of Music in Aarhus and a highly respected educator on the international jazz scene.

Critics have praised his artistry and musical authority. Jazz journalist Niels Overgaard wrote in Jazznyt (August 15, 2023):
“Kwella is an extremely experienced and driven guitarist with a strong technical foundation, allowing him the calmness and authority to strike a fine balance between technique, heartfelt expression, and presence.”

Claus Spechtl

Claus Spechtl is the younger brother of the actor Rainer Spechtl. He studied jazz guitar at the then Conservatory of the City of Vienna (now MUK) and, since no career as a musician was originally planned, he also studied mathematics and physics at the University of Vienna. After becoming a mag.rer.nat. the first engagements followed, among others in the Theater an der Wien and in the ORF Big Band as well as private musical training, with the help of Karl Ratzer in Vienna and John Abercrombie in New York.
Subsequently freelance live and studio musician for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra, the ORF Big Band/Orchestra Richard Oesterreicher, André Heller (“Flic Flac”), Michael Heltau, Peter Alexander, the Wolfgang Lindner Band and Dagmar Koller. He played in various jazz bands, including: happy floating with Karl Ratzer and jazz-in with Toots Thielemans. He also worked with Ed Neumeister, Robert Politzer, Zipflo Weinrich and ex-Miles Davis bassist Angus “Bangus” Thomas.
Claus Spechtl’s own trio with Uwe Urbanowski and Walther Großrubatscher performed with Thomas Gansch, Wolfgang Puschnig, Roman Schwaller and Andy Middleton. He worked with his brother Rainer in the bands Blaulichtviertel and the duo Wiener Blues. There were concerts in the large halls of the Vienna Music Association and the Konzerthaus, the large broadcasting hall of the ORF and in the Porgy & Bess, but also on the Donauinsel, the Vienna Blues Spring in Reigen and Fernwärme, the Volksstimmefest and the Ottakringer Kirtag. Tours led, among other things, to Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Moscow.
From 1986 to 2022, Claus Spechtl led the jazz guitar class at the Music and Art Private University of the City of Vienna, and held improvisation workshops and master classes at the Lucerne University of Music, at the 20th IASJ Meeting in the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, at the Conservatorio Stanislao Giacomatonio Cosenza, at Zeillern Castle and at the Scheibbs Jazz Seminar.

Christoph Helm

Christoph Helm was born in 1973 and grew up in Lower Austria. He began playing the guitar at the age of 11, first self-taught – inspired by changing local role models – and later as a student at the Vienna Conservatory (now MUK) with Claus Spechtl, where he had his first serious encounter with jazz and graduated with honors in 1996. From his first year of study, he played in bands of a wide variety of styles – always striving to reflect the peculiarities of the respective musical idiom in the best possible way while still maintaining his very personal voice. And so his portfolio as a guitarist shows a remarkable and comprehensive mastery of numerous genres from blues, rock, metal, pop, funk, soul & jazz to world music. In 2000 he founded the band The Bad Powells, which would soon develop into one of the most successful live acts in Austria through original and highly musical interpretations of songs from the disco era. For seven years and four albums he worked intensively with the songwriter and cabaret artist Jimmy Schlager and was co-founder of the Solomons, a band that specialized in the Motown sound of the 60s (with an emphasis on harmony singing and creative arrangements). He played in a band with the Moroccan Raï singer Kadero Ray, accordion wizard Otto Lechner & Zawinul bassist Linley Marthe and recorded with the Austrian producer legend Christian Kolonovits. In addition to contributing to more than 40 albums, he can also be heard on numerous soundtracks, especially the ORF hit series “Vorstadtweiber”, to which he also contributed as a composer. He was able to live out his love of jazz and improvised music on CDs such as “Dance of Infinity” (Walter Sitz Trio) or, most recently, the trio’s much-acclaimed debut album Elmo Nero (with Gina Schwarz & Max Plattner). “Christoph is a wonderful guitarist and composer” (Gilad Hekselman) “I was very impressed with his playing. He has a real command of the jazz vocabulary on guitar, and improvises and accompanies with finesse and authority” (John Stowell)

Mickylee

A native of ex-Yugoslavia, Miroslav Mirosavljev aka Mickylee has found his home in Vienna Austria, where he has been active in the music scene for many years.

After getting his Master of Arts Degree in Jazz Guitar and Jazz Composition at the world-known University for Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, where he studied with Guido Jeszenszky, Karl Ratzer, and Karlheinz Czadek, Mickylee concentrated mostly on playing and teaching. However, his portfolio also includes composing music for theater and motion pictures. During his long collaboration with Virtual Sheet Music, he arranged many works for solo guitar as well as other ensembles, such as string quartets, brass quartets, etc.

In 2001, Mickylee won the 1st prize at the International Big Band Composition Contest in Barga, Italy. He regularly performs in Austria and all across Europe but has also played concerts in North America, Africa, and Asia. On his YouTube channel, Mickylee has around 400 videos, mostly due to his 2013 project called “Daily Solo”, where he posted a video a day for a whole year.

His solo album “deComposing Cats” ensured him a place among the top Jazz/Fusion guitar players in this part of the world. He is also a member of a Viennese Fusion/Funk band Inspirational Corner, with which he recorded an album called “Chameleon Lab Explosion”. “In the Wheel” is the name of the album he recorded with acoustic guitar player Peter Mayer. In his collaboration with renowned guitar players John Stowell and Ulf Bandgren, Mickylee recorded an album called “Portuguese Blue”, published under the “Quinton Records” label. “Revival” is his most recent project and self-titled album with his long-time friend and musical colleague, one of the most acclaimed singers, Chanda Rule.

Besides teaching privately and in the music school in Brunn am Gebirge, Mickylee works as a University Professor at the JAM MUSIC LAB Private University Vienna, where he also holds the position of Dean of Studies.