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Jann Klose
By John Benson
Julie Mardin
Photo
Jann Klose Photo
Going back to where it all started to see familiar faces is exactly what eclectic singer-guitarist Jann Klose has in mind regarding his Saturday show in Youngstown.
“Youngstown is a very good market, and I have no idea why,” Klose, said, laughing, calling from New York City. “It just always was. Maybe it’s because it was one of the first places we started playing when I was living in Cleveland. Those were my first gigs like 10 years ago when we started playing shows at Cedars Lounge and other places in the area. I still have very close ties with friends in that area just because it was the place I really started at. My first band included members that came from Youngstown and went to (Youngstown State University’s) Dana School of Music.”
He added, “A good friend is Teddy Pantelas, the electric-guitar player who has played there for years. He played guitar for me for a while. After shows, we’d often go to Teddy’s house, and he’d turn me on to all of this great music I wasn’t aware of. He turned me on to fusion and a lot of Joni Mitchell that I didn’t know. He was like almost a mentor for me when we were doing those gigs.”
Born in Mannheim, Germany, Klose grew up in Nairobi, Kenya, and later Johannesburg, South Africa, before he returned to Europe. He eventually moved to Cleveland, and the Rock Hall City is where the then-young and wide-eyed artist started exploring his craft by releasing his first two studio albums. The process grew when he moved to New York City, eventually resulting in his latest effort, “Reverie.”
“It’s a record I always wanted to make,” Klose said. “Stylistically and sonically, I think I didn’t change that much, but my producer set us off in this direction of creating something that had more space where there’s a lot more subtle stuff going on. It’s just a bigger canvas. And the new songs that I’m writing now are dealing with a whole new set of feelings and experiences that have come up in the last couple of years. So I want to try and get more and more focused on what it is I’m doing. That’s sort of my goal with this, be as specific as I can.”