Singer-songwriter Jann Klose first came to Cleveland as an exchange student from his native Germany in the early '90s. It was the latest relocation for a kid who'd grown up in Kenya and South Africa. He returned to Cleveland in 1996 and established a music career, releasing two CDs, studying voice and singing with numerous local ensembles. Since moving to New York in 2000, he's acquired further credentials including performing with touring companies of Jekyll and Hyde and Jesus Christ Superstar, providing music for an off-Broadway production, releasing an EP and live digital release, and forming a touring band. He's released his first post-Cleveland full-length CD, Reverie, late last year, and is coming back to celebrate with his Cleveland friends. - Anastasia Pantsios

What took you so long to release this CD?

We spent so long with [the 2003 EP] Black Box, trying to get things off the ground. We did so much touring and so much groundwork with it. And there were various hindrances; there wasn't enough funding. I wanted to release it and have enough sales so it would at least cover my production costs. After a couple of years of touring, I felt like I had enough of a base that I could release something and get something out of it.

Why the title Reverie?

So far, on every one of my CDs I've used song titles, but I didn't feel like any of the song titles fit as a title for the album. So I tried to find other words that related to "dream" and to the state of dreaming because I felt a lot of the record had that type of vibe, the state that you're in when you're dreaming, this sort of wondrous state where things just happen and they're out of your control but they happen through you. I saw it when I looked up words similar to dream in the dictionary and I said, "That's it."

How did Cleveland shape your music?

The biggest thing was I started to know what it felt like to be a performer from David Gooding who I was studying with at the time. It was the time for me to really learn and find out what my bag was. David put me in every ensemble he was working with. I sang with a couple of choirs, I sang with Fairmount Temple, I sang with the Cleveland Opera Chorus and I got my own band going. The greatest thing was he made me feel like I was a singer who could make a living. Cleveland was like school time.

How has living in New York changed your musical outlook and style?

There's so much. The diversity definitely. The competition. You're competing with hundreds and hundreds of other singer-songwriters. It's a lot easier to establish a following on the road.

Any drawbacks to being in New York?

No, I don't think there's any drawbacks. The noise is painful sometimes, cars honking, people shouting. A lot of other people, when it's noisy, it bothers them. It doesn't bother me.

Do you think living around the world as a kid influenced your music?

I do. I can't say there's a specific thing that influenced me musically, but it's influenced me as a person and the way I look at the world and the way I look at people, and I think that goes into my music. It wasn't so much I listened to African music growing up. I listened to a lot of American music. If some people get a chance to travel, they think it's scary. That's when you should travel - when it's scary.

I saw you were mentioned in an article on jazz singers. Do you consider yourself a jazz singer?

That was kind of a surprise to us. I think it was because one of the songs, "The Beginning," is really a jazz song. I have been grouped in the jazz category and folk and blues and rock category. There's such a mix of styles [on the CD] and that's intentional. Sometimes it's a hindrance because people always want to put you in some sort of group. It's fine. I don't really care about it. It's flattering they put me in a list with all those other people.

What are your current goals?

I'd like to be doing more of what I'm already doing. I love touring and playing in front of people. We're doing about 60-70 dates a year which is already quite a bit but I'd like to do 100-150 a year. We're going to the UK and Germany in July. I'd like to go over to Japan so we're working on that. We're going to spend the next couple of years working this record.

Jann Klose and the League of Proper Musicians, Stratospheerius

8 p.m. Wednesday, April 16

The Winchester

12112 Madison Ave.

216.226.5681

Tickets: $7