Christopher Culpo Solo

Christopher Culpo, like Duke Ellington, one of his favourite composers, is “beyond category”. Combining the worlds of Western classical music, avant-garde chamber music and jazz improvisation in his compositions and playing, Culpo’s US roots have been delightfully infected by the country he now calls home, France. He is – to borrow a title from another of his admired composers, George Gershwin – an American in Paris.

I have had the pleasure of introducing Christopher Culpo on various stages in Cape Town. His solo piano recitals provoke nods of recognition, inner shrieks of delight and moments of “and now?”, as – amidst some of his own compositions – he raids the Great American Songbook and an archive of jazz standards for a continuous performance of beautiful music exquisitely
played.

Nigel Vermaas
Arts Journalism Lifetime Achievement Award; jazz documentary maker and
jazz presenter for Bush Radio (Cape Town) and SAfm (National Public
Service Radio: SA)