Everything Changes When You Realize You Can Change Your Personality

Heading back to campus, time to upgrade your entire tech setup. Switch to Verizon, buy or bring a qualifying smartphone and get a smart watch and a tablet on us. That's all your essential gear for zero extra dollars. Ace your classes, track your fitness, and stream your favorite shows. Visit Verizon.com or your local store today. Bring an eligible phone to purchase a new phone with device payment on post-paid service plan required up to $6.49.99 watch and tablet device payment purchase with new line on $20 per month tablet plan and $15 per month watch plan for 36 months required. Less up to $650 per month credit applied over 36 months per device, additional taxes fees in terms of apply. Welcome to a new edition of the Neon Jazz interview series with Munich, Germany, based focus and composer, Killian Slot-Eck. We get into his new album, Colorblind, that will be released on October 9, 2026, along with his career in the music. This project marks a clear shift towards a more song-driven approach, while still rooted in jazz harmony. The album moves into a space-shaped by Neo Soul, R&B, and contemporary songwriting, placing voice, melody, and lyric at the center. The high emotionality of his artistic expression combined with the frequent use of unconventional musical means, such as extended vocal techniques and scatting, distinguishes his music and makes it accessible to a wide audience. We get into his whole story from the beginning to now, enjoy this interview. Well I'm looking forward to getting into Colorblind, looking forward to getting into your world of music, so thank you again for taking a minute out. I appreciate it. Same goes out to you. Thank you for taking time. Yeah, you bet. So before we get into the album, I always begin with this question with the artists. You know, the COVID thing six years ago was a big deal. It really kind of set different courses for all of us. How did you get through that era and how was it influenced the way you create and do things today? Well it had its prosides and concides. First of all, we had a lot of time, so it was good to do creative stuff and do things that needs some time, you know, walking around and looking at the world and talking to people and mostly online, obviously, but then as it got easier and it kind of brought up a new sense of community for me. And on the other hand, obviously all the concerts and things like teaching I would do before turned into a more digital space and just slowly recovering. But I would say in Germany by now, most of the concert halls have recovered from COVID and are coming back. And the jazz scene in Germany is very and volunteer driven. So as soon as they had the opportunity to get back at work, they would do it. So I'm glad to say that mostly everything is back in place again. So let's talk about this brand new album. Give me kind of an idea of what you were going for. What was kind of the vision for this project? So imagine this is your grandmother and it's one of these days where you just go there and you do not really know what to expect and you come into that very familiar scene. You know the smell, you know, the vibe there and it calms you down a lot. And then you sit down on the table and you start talking about what happened because you didn't meet for quite some time. You know, she listened to the other edge of the country and you start talking about things that happened to you in your life and through these conversations, through the contact with somebody you like and in a place that you feel safe. You kind of see the details in all these stories and you discover how many things you've already experienced in your life since the last time you met and you start to understand that even though it feels like we're always on the run, if you take some time to look at the details and the small colors, then this kind of color blindness that at least for me, it feels like running and not seeing anything and that lifts off a bit and you start to see the colors again and that's like the big scheme of it all. Yeah. So what's going to come out on October 9th? Exactly. Okay. So when people have the chance to listen to it and they really get a wrap their ears around it, what are you hoping a listener gets from this project? The motivation to take a breath, sit down, drink a cup of tea and enjoy life. That's basically it. Yeah. No, go ahead. I'm sorry. That's why I am also decided to and not only put it out digitally but also put it on vinyl because that kind of has this vibe that you need to sit down, put it on and lean back and enjoy. It's a different kind of listening and you kind of have to take some time for it. So it's basically printed into the medium of vinyl, the feeling that I want them to have. So let's go to the beginnings of your life. How did music, singing, composing, was it always going to be music for you? I think so, yes. I mean, I grew up in a family that would do music all the time. Some would play some brass instruments. I also started with trumpet and there was a piano that I could play on all the time. I was improvising a lot. I barely learned how to play piano. I had some lessons but I mainly just went there and played when I think that's how my composing endurance came up because composing on the one hand, it's a daily craft. You just have to do it over and over again and you get better at it. But on the other hand, you also need to have a lot of endurance because it's kind of a marathon because sometimes you want to write something specifically and it just doesn't seem to come out. And my father would write songs with us for birthday parties and all our family members. They were super bored already because every time when the Slavic children would come up, it's going to be 20 verses of some kind of a song that they would have written for the birthday child. But that kind of simulated the creativeness and then obviously my siblings and they would play all different kinds of instruments and I was always amazed by how good they are and then how fast they learned and I always wanted to do the same. And then I kind of went into that path and I started trumpet. I picked up choir singing. I started playing in the school's big band, then I sang in the school's big band. Then I started classical singing as a soloist and then somehow I ended up studying jazz vocals and music and in Latvia and in Riga. And all I'm here. So who were influences? Who were you listening to? Who have you emulated? Who do you love? Yeah, I've went from very crazy stuff to very pleasing stuff. So obviously in the classical music I listened to a lot of palestrina and I would you say Christian music, basically contemporary, not contemporary but very old Christian music, choral music and then in the school's big band I would start singing New York, New York, beyond the sea. So I listened to all the cruners, Bobby Darren, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and and then I picked up that kind of vibe and at some point I discovered Elge Roe who made the who kind of helped me to transfer from the big band pruning stuff to the more experimental vocal approach and with him and also Bobby McFarren, I kind of discovered my voice as an instrument and at some point I even had the chance to to sing with Bobby McFarren as he would always collect local jazz singers and in the cities that he did his concerts and I was lucky enough to end up in one of those vocal ensembles and so that that was like the peak of my experimental phase and growing older I kind of finally found the right words to also write music with lyrics because up until that moment I was either covering music or I was using my voice only as an instrument and I think Diane Reeves had kind of the same experience until her 30s I think she didn't write lyrics and at some point it was the same with me I felt like okay now it's the time to reflect a bit on life and try to put it into words and I was lucky enough to convince a very good piano player and producer called Sam Hilton he's from the United States actually from Seattle but he lives in unique now to work with me on my songs and I brought the songs and he would give some input and had all the fancy instruments in his studio and made yeah producing the music a very fun process. So do you remember the first live show jazz or otherwise you saw the Bluey Away that was very formative in the way that you would approach the studio or microphone? Yes, I remember it. It was in a very small town close to where I grew up in the very close to the Austrian border and it was a concert by a band called Quattro Nuevo which translated means something like the new picture and it's a very famous local band here and by now also they still play and I know some of the musicians personally and they played something I would say they played more world music and tango sound wise but with jazz approach so they would improvise a lot and there was a lot of playfulness in there and I really really liked the way how it sounds and by now I still listen to them a lot and the cool thing about them is that they they travel to places and record things there and bring the culture from their places and make it their own in a way and it's a concept that I understand is maybe also the main reason why I do music because as clichés it may sound and music is a language that is understood everywhere. I've been to India, I've been to Pakistan, I've been to the United States, I've been to Canada, I've been to Israel and a lot of places in Europe and jazz and music in general is a place where you can always meet and have a chat and it's always an amazing experience and it's always a very peaceful way to meet people and to make common experiences and that's what life is all about I would say, meeting people, having valuable moments and creating collective memories. So what do you like the best about waking up every day being in the jazz community, being a composer, being a musician? What do you look forward to? What do you love about it? The moment to be on stage and be together with other musicians and experience that thrill that it has to be on stage and everybody is prepared and then you give it to some kind of higher power. You just come on stage and everybody trusts a lot in their own abilities, in the abilities of the fellow musicians and into the moment, to the audience and I can't get enough of that situations where you're on stage and you kind of have to communicate without communicating, it has a certain magic. So when you decided that you wanted to pursue this life as a musician, you have these dreams, you have this idea of what it's going to be like to live your life as a musician. Then you live this life now as a musician. What's been the difference between the dream living it? And there's a lot of work to do that I can tell you it's but you grow a lot along the way and I don't want to miss it but it's it's always been like that if you if you want to do something, if you want to go somewhere other people don't usually go, there's a long path to that way or it never ends. I think the hustle never ends and I kind of like it but I also sometimes I think what didn't I decide to become a baker or do something different, but it's part of the deal and I wouldn't I wouldn't change my decision to be honest. Of course I didn't know what it what challenges exactly would be there. I mean probably I thought I would have to practice way more and by now I would say I would love if I could practice more and do less of the other stuff because it's a business in a way if you want to survive and you have to do everything. I just just right before our meeting I was cutting my EPK video which I recorded myself you know with a phone and sitting alone and writing the script and reading it out and now cutting it and putting the whole thing together it's yeah that's not being a musician actually but on the other hand it's also fun and I get to shape my own image and it's it's okay it's part of the deal. Yeah for sure. So it's sometimes coming out of Kansas City I'll step out of a club on 18th and Vine where it really this American classical music so to speak turned into this art form and I think how far and wide it's spread to Munich and to all these places around the world. So my question to you is this why do you love this art form we call jazz? It's a question I get asked very often somehow it just caught me I didn't really choose jazz jazz choose me chose me and and it's exactly those those guys also coming from Kansas City like the Count Basie Big Band and it's it has this this fun and this bounce and this playfulness and all the jazz musicians I see and that I work with all have this little boy in them that wants to push push it to the like push the music and and find something they like in it and this and I like the vibe that is around jazz it's yeah it's also something people always say but it's jazz is of course a harmonic language and a rhythmical language first of all and it has a long tradition that is filled with a lot of also misfortune and jazz musician never had it easy but they always had this yeah I think they they all follow this call that they need to express themselves in that specific way in their own way and yeah it gets you addicted in a way so let's get a little fantastical here let's say you could get into a time machine and go back in time and see one jazz show where you go on who you're going to see to be honest I think I would I would go quite classy and I think I would like to see and count Basie and Frank Sinatra at the Sands live yeah I got that album on vinyl it's stellar it's it's it's it's unbelievable so everyone has a perception of you family friends fans everyone on the band stand everyone on a business end but you run the show for you what's your perception of you who do you think you are I'm a nice guy I really like everybody I'm really thankful about everybody that is on stage with me backstage and obviously in front of the stage and I think that is also why I kind of managed to to get in some kind of honest relationship with everybody I meet but on the other end and that's not so easy to sell because it's not I'm not the one who dresses crazy I'm not the one who sings very virtuosically you know it's the the ones I met people they kind of understand it but it's a long way there to meet them so I would say I'm I'm just a nice guy who likes to sing I love it color blind is the new album coming out on October 9th 2026 if anybody wants to get a copy I'm sure it'll be streaming everywhere but if people want to download or get a copy catch you live any of the good business where do they go and well to be honest like the music will be out on all streaming platforms but if you want to buy the vinyl you can get it straight from me through my website or through bandcamp just hit me up I'm also very active on Instagram and all the socials so there's going to be a way and you'll get it signed and straight shipped by me so there's no no market in between it's just me and straight artist direct I love it Kellyanne this has been wonderful thank you sir thank you for taking a minute out from Neon Jazz it was wonderful to meet you and best of luck on the release I appreciate it thank you so thanks for listening and tuning in to another Neon Jazz interview where we give you a bit of insight into the finest players and singers in Munich Kansas City and spots all over the world giving fans all that jazz thanks to Kellyanne for swinging on by the show if you want to hear more Neon Jazz interviews you can find us on Spotify and Apple Podcasts subscribe to us at youtube and for everything Neon Jazz go to the Neon Jazz dot flockspot.com until next time enjoy the jazz my friends New Shoes, New Clothes, Brand New Grade. 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