Christian Dyble“Papa Nubs”

About

I was born in “America’s Dairyland,” Wisconsin, and came into this world a little lopsided. Born without my left hand, I’ve always had to find my own way of doing things, music included.

It started with the trumpet. I didn’t really choose it; at the time, it was the only band instrument anyone assumed I could play with one hand. But I was always drawn to the old Yamaha Clavinova in my childhood home. From a young age I started playing around on the keys, which led to a lifelong journey of developing my own technique for the piano.

Later, I fell in love with the art of jazz and improvisation. It’s a kind of problem solving you perform live, in the moment, which really resonated with me. I went on to study jazz and classical music at Lawrence University in Appleton, where I earned a Bachelor of Music in trumpet performance and composition with a jazz emphasis.

While I work across a wide range of styles, my playing and writing remain rooted in the jazz tradition. I draw heavily on the language of the blues and bebop, and Thelonious Monk is my biggest influence: his angular lines, unexpected harmonies and playful sense of humor shape much of what I do. Many of my compositions begin from a songwriter’s perspective, with a lyrical melody and a story to tell, before taking shape through the harmonic depth and rhythmic drive of jazz.

For me, jazz is a medium for exploration. I adapt my style to chase the sounds I hear, and the result is music that is wide-ranging yet unmistakably my own. I live and play by a philosophy of adaptive artistry.