How Jan Luley made it? He is a well-known musician himself today, he has kept the CDs from back then: Video, Photos

Dozens of engagements every year, always on tour and as a professional musician – Jan Luley from the Hersfeld-Rotenburg district has been making blues and jazz music for 40 years.

Bad Hersfeld – There is an old wooden piano on the cobblestones in front of the barn, and jazz music can be heard from an open window across the courtyard in front of the blue half-timbered house in Oberhaun where the musician Jan Luley lives with his wife Eda.

On the upper floor is their own advertising agency, in the middle lives the family and on the ground floor Luley has his studio. The 52-year-old has been making “jazz, blues, gospel, Creole music and much more” for 40 years. It is important for him to mention this because “my music is very diverse and people tend to put jazz in a box. “Jazz music can be so beautiful, melodic, rhythmic and emotional,” says Luley.

The stage anniversary is coming up this year. To ensure that the engagement continues, a lot of telephone conversations have to be made and even more emails have to be answered. “And I travel at least 40,000 kilometers in Germany and Switzerland every year,” says Luley. The musician travels a lot in Switzerland, especially in winter – that’s high season and guests want to be entertained.

It’s a lot of work, but that’s exactly where Luley loves to be, on stage, with the audience – sometimes together with other musicians. “I don’t have to be creative at home, I just do finger exercises. Creativity takes place together with others on stage,” he explains.

And he’s been there for a long time now, making music professionally – since he completed his jazz studies in Holland in 1997. “I am a teacher of lichte muziek (Dutch light music/popular music),” says Luley happily, quoting his degree title; he still speaks a little Dutch today.

Entrance exam and love for New Orleans: After a demanding entrance exam, Luley also managed to study music, then he faced an even bigger challenge – being able to make a living from his music. Luley finally found a connection with the Barrelhouse Jazz Band, one of the most successful jazz bands in Germany, and not only shared his love of jazz with the other musicians – but also of its birthplace: New Orleans. “I traveled to New Orleans for the first time in 1996 and took piano lessons there,” says Luley. Then he has to laugh and shouts animatedly: “That’s totally unfair, US musicians can just come here and perform, we German musicians need a work visa.”

He is now more in the kitchen than behind the counter: Martin Diebel, restaurant operator from Niederaula.He is now more in the kitchen than behind the counter: Martin Diebel, restaurant operator from Niederaula.

The start couldn’t have gone better: With snowflakes and a stage program, Bebra started the four-day Advent market in front of the town hall. The start couldn’t have gone better: With snowflakes and a stage program, Bebra started the four-day Advent market in front of the town hall.

The consequences of the pandemic have had a huge impact on mental health. People with risk factors have a higher risk of becoming ill. The consequences of the pandemic have had an enormous impact on mental health. People with risk factors have a higher risk of becoming ill.

But that doesn’t stop the 52-year-old from traveling regularly to the city of jazz.

Where does his enthusiasm for music with its flexible pitches and rhythms come from? Father Roland Luley’s jazz band probably played a part in this: “When I was two years old, my father and friends founded the Hot Washboard Swing Company, which initially rehearsed at our house.” When Luley was 15 years old, he traveled with the musicians on their tour to Hungary.

The music of the band members, which included Claus Schmidtlein on the piano and Hans Budzik on the washboard, made an impression on Luley. Later he learns the piano. At the age of 13, Luley preferred listening to jazz instead of rock music. “Dixieland on the Walkman,” he says and grins.

Although Luley is a well-known musician himself today, he has kept the CDs from back then. The recordings fill an entire wall in his studio in Oberhaun.