Joachim Kühn, born 15 March 1944 in Leipzig, is one of the few global German jazz stars. His piano playing defies categorisation and has blazed new trails for contemporary jazz. The musical citizen of the world Kühn considers himself bound to the jazz tradition, linked to European concert music, but most of all dedicated to a sound that is now. He reveals vehemence and sensitivity, masterful technique and imagination, an unmistakable feel for his keyboard and an unfailing sense of dynamics. Whether in the interplay with long-standing musician partners, in ever changing and often extraordinarily challenging band constellations or alone in his solo gigs, Joachim Kühn succeeds in making music an event.
Kühn has been leaving his mark on the international jazz scene since the 60s. As a 22 year-old, he took part in an international competition for young jazz musicians, and decided not to return to socialist East Germany. Instead he launched a global career. That same year his first album came out on the renowned label Impulse, after playing at the Newport Jazz Festival in the USA.
Since then he has played in often challenging constellations with musicians from all over the world, with the most diverse of musical backgrounds. He worked with distinguished free jazz exponents like Archie Shepp and Ornette Coleman, and with musicians the likes of Billy Cobham, Eddie Gomez, Michael Brecker and Joe Henderson in the 70s fusion scene of the American west coast. Then he formed an internationally leading piano trio in the 80s in Paris with the bassist Jean-François Jenny-Clark and the drummer Daniel Humair.
Just two years after the founding of ACT, he was the focal point of an all-star band in 1994, with, for example, Alfred Mangelsdorff, Klaus Doldinger, Django Bates and the Hannover Radio Philharmonic Orchestra. The large-scale manifesto that arose of a Europe-based jazz music "Europeana" also reflects Kühn's musical influences: Although dedicated to a contemporary jazz sound, he has always felt a connection to European concert music as well.
The genre-crossing concept is especially apparent in his solo playing, which has always been important to Joachim Kühn – and to a degree the true challenge among jazz pianists. So it is that on the solo album "Allegro Vivace" released by ACT in 2005, his own pieces are accompanied by compositions from Bach and Mozart, Coltrane and Coleman. This merging of such musical contrasts again illustrates Joachim Kühn's risk affinity and talent for improvisation.
He shows his virtuosity in duets as well, always with an attentive ear for his partner so they can interact on an equal footing. His collaborations with the up-and-coming pianist Michael Wollny ("Piano Works IX: Live at Schloss Elmau", 2009), the grandmaster of sax Heinz Sauer ("If (Blue) Then (Blue)", 2010) and Archie Shepp ("Wo!man", 2010 on Archieball) were all highly praised by critics. The former was even named Album of the Year by the French jazz magazine Jazzman.
His openness and spirit of discovery led Kühn to put together a trio, the likes of which had never been seen before. In 2003 he found two kindred spirits with regard to the desire to improvise, in the Moroccan Majid Bekkas, who plays the lute instruments guembri and oud, and the Spanish percussionist Ramon Lopez. And they brought with them their own cultural backgrounds and musical experiences. Their first album "Kalimba" in 2007 was followed by "Out Of The Desert" (2009), which was recorded in a session in the northern African desert with local musicians, and by "Chalaba" in 2011.
Considering this abundance of musical pioneers, international collaborations, and his for German jazz unparalleled status, it came as no surprise when Joachim Kühn was honoured with the ECHO Jazz for lifetime achievement in 2011, together with his brother Rolf. The second ECHO Jazz followed one year later. The collaboration of his "desert jazz" trio with the hr big band, "Out of the Desert live at Jazzfest Berlin", was distinguished as the Best Big Band Production.
On "Voodoo Sense", the fifth album with Majid Bekkas and Ramon Lopez, Kühn's respect for tradition is audible. Already the nearly 20-minute opener "Kulu Se Mama" – recorded together with Archie Shepp, a group of African percussionists and vocalists led by talking-drum maestro Kouassi Bessan Joseph – refers back to the Coltrane album of the same name from 1965. Whether with archaic world-music, the blues-soaked saxophone ballad "L’eternal Voyage" written especially for Shepp, studies of pianistic harmonics such as "Crossing The Mirror" or thundering drama such as the final piece "Firehorse" – with a little help from his friends, Kühn has once again taken another step in his search for the magic of his very own music, the Voodoo Sense as it were.
When Joachim Kühn celebrates his 70th birthday on 15 March 2014, he can look back on an amazing career as a pianist. But he wouldn't be Joachim Kühn if he wasn't still making new plans for the future.

The encounter of the greatest German jazz musician, the trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff and the unsurpassed drummer, percussionist and musical globetrotter Reto Weber with his Percussion Orchestra, which included the African percussionist Nana Twum Nketia (who died in 1994) and the Iranian zarb player Keyvan Chemirani, was a great stroke of luck. This constellation has existed since the beginning of the 90s, with occasional reinforcement from another wind instrument player, usually the saxophonist Chico Freeman. The band has performed throughout the world and at all important music festivals. One high point was their concert at the Montreux Jazz Festivals in 1994, which you can listen to on the CD "Live At Montreux." It is a brilliant masterpiece with a multicultural basis, free improvisation, and creative and virtuoso performances.
To be frank, nothing more needs to be said about Albert Mangelsdorff. He is without doubt the most renowned German jazz musician internationally and has enjoyed this reputation for decades. No one else has influenced and dominated German jazz history as decisively as he has. His unmistakable trombone style revolutionized the discipline of this instrument in the 70s. Experiments with voices produced effects unknown until then and created blown multiphone, noise-like sounds as if they were the most natural things in the world, a kind of refined game with chords.

Richard Galliano started studying piano and accordion at the age of 4 with his father Lucien Galliano, accordionist and teacher.
Particularly gifted and invested, he quickly entered the Nice Conservatory, directed at that time by organist Pierre Cochereau, and followed courses in harmony, counterpoint and trombone. He won first prize in 1969 with trombone.

He arrived in Paris in 1975 and met Claude Nougaro, becoming his friend, his accordionist and conductor until 1983.
The author and composer had found each other. They got along beautifully. From this close collaboration many songs that are part of the heritage of French music, such as Allée des brouillards, Des voiliers,Vie Violence were born.

The second decisive meeting took place in 1980, with the Argentinean composer and bandoneonist Astor Piazzolla.
Astor strongly encouraged Richard to create the French “New Musette”, as he himself had previously invented the Argentinean “New Tango”.

Markus Stockhausen was born in 1957 and began playing the piano at the age of six. In 1975 he began to study piano and trumpet at the music school in Cologne. One year before his final exams he was the 1981 winner of the Deutscher Musikwettbewerb prize. Since then he has regularly performed as a soloist, including many premieres such as the trumpet concerto “Jet Stream” composed for him by Peter Eötvös in 2002 and performed for the first time with the BBC Symphony Orchestra in London. He is also a regular guest at renowned international music festivals.

Markus Stockhausen is one of the most versatile musicians of our time. He is as much at home in jazz as in contemporary and classical music. For about 25 years he collaborated closely with his father, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who composed many beautiful works for him. With his brother Simon he realised several internationally acclaimed musical projects.
As soloist, improviser and composer Markus Stockhausen is in international demand. He leads or collaborates in various ensembles with musicians like Arild Andersen, Patrice Héral, Mark Nauseef, Jörg Brinkmann, Angelo Comisso, Christian Thomé, Ferenc Snétberger, Florian Weber, and plays intuitive music in the duo Moving Sounds with his wife the clarinettist Tara Bouman. His group Eternal Voyage features musicians from India, the Netherlands and Lebanon. From the year 2000 until 2010 he directed a concert series called Klangvisionen with intuitive music in the church of St. Maternus in Cologne. Rolf Zavelberg was responsible for the artistic light design.

As a composer he has received commissions from, among others, the RIAS Chamber Choir, The London Sinfonietta, the Orchestra d‘Archi Italiana, the Winterthur Chamber Orchestra, the Cheltenham Music Festival and the 12 Cellists from the Berlin Philharmonic. In 2007 he wrote “Tanzendes Licht“ for trumpet, big band and string orchestra for the Swiss Jazz Orchestra and the Camerata Bern, as well as “Symbiosis“, a double concerto for clarinet and trumpet with string orchestra, comissioned by the Franz Liszt Chamber Orchestra. In 2009 he composed “Oliver’s Adventures“ for children’s orchestra and choir, in 2011 “Yin“ and “Yang“ for the Metropole Orchestra, premiered at the Muziekgebouw Amsterdam for the Holland Festival. Also in 2011 he wrote “GeZEITen“ for about 600 musicians, comissioned by the Niedersächsische Musiktage in Cuxhaven. In 2012: “Ein Glasperlenspiel“ for solo trumpet and accordeon orchestra, 2013: “Das Erwachende Herz“ for solo trumpet, clarinet and voice and symphony orchestra, commissioned and performed by the Hamburger Symphoniker.
Markus Stockhausen also teaches in various situations, including “Intuitive Music and More” and “Singing and Silence”. To date he has released or participated in more than 70 CDs. In 2005 he was the winner of the WDR jazz prize.

“I believe that Christof has become, quite candidly and without sounding pathetic, the best saxophonist in Europe today. Every time I hear him I am totally fascinated. He has in the mean time reached a level of skill that is almost spooky.” Volker Kriegel, 2002 Christof Lauer was born on 25th May, 1953 in the German town of Melsungen/Hessen. He started piano lessons at the age of six and, later, learnt the cello. He studied cello at Dr Hoch’s Conservatory in Frankfurt. In 1971 he changed to tenor saxophone and within a year had begun jazz and saxophone studies at the Music High School in Graz in Austria under Professor Dieter Glawischnig. He undertook his first tours with his own quartet and was also a member, during his student years, of bands in Vienna and Munich.
Within a year of his return to Frankfurt in 1978 he was a member of the legendary jazz ensemble of the radio station, Hessischer Rundfunk, under the direction of Albert Mangelsdorff and joined the group “Voices” with Heinz Sauer, Ralf Hübner, Bob Degen and Thomas Heidepriem. At the age of 26 he was already regarded as one of the most important jazz musicians in Germany. In the following years he was almost permanently on the road, taught jazz classes at Dr Hoch’s Conservatory and received in 1986 the jazz prize of Südwestfunk, the South West German radio. 1990 saw the release of the first album in his own name: Christof Lauer (with Joachim Kühn, Palle Danielsson and Peter Erskine). This was followed in the next years by two more albums as leader: Bluebells, 1992, with Wolfgang Puschnig, Bob Stewart and Thomas Alkier and Evidence, 1996, with Anthony Cox und Daniel Humair. His debut recording Christof Lauer was immediately awarded with the prestigious German record critics’ annual prize. Lauer was invited to be a soloist in the NDR Big Band in 1993, which was in the process of making a transition from traditional to modern avant-garde big band. In 1994 he became a member of the United Jazz Rock Ensemble and in 1996 a permanent member of Albert Mangelsdorff’s quintet.
His fruitful collaboration with the ACT label began in 1999 with Fragile Network (ACT 9266-2). His fourth album as leader (with Michel Godard, Mark Ducret, Anthony Cox and Gene Jackson) underlines Lauer’s quality as a unique rich composer and arranger as well as an excellent soloist. It brought him once again the annual prize of the German critics. “Lauer has for long been his own man and as “Fragile Network” once again shows, one of the best European saxophonists.”(Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung) In that year he was invited by the well-known Turkish ney player Kudsi Erguner to take part in a world music project which brought together classical music of the Ottoman Empire with western improvisation and jazz rhythms. The CD Ottomania (ACT 9006-2) strikingly documented this special musical encounter. Another important encounter also took place in the same year 1999. Christof Lauer made the acquaintance of the outstanding pianist Jens Thomas and this soon evolved into an intense musical collaboration and friendship. Their collaboration was first demonstrated by the first duo album Shadows In The Rain (ACT 9297-2), which reinterpreted the music of pop star Sting in a most original manner. On four of the tracks they were accompanied by the Cikada String Qurtet, for whom none other than Colin Towns wrote the arrangements. The album won the quarterly German jazz critics’ prize and the annual prize of French magazine “Jazzman” (CHOC de l’année).
Following this Lauer and Thomas had the chance to take part in a number of prestigious tours in Europe and Asia and played, inter alia, at the Paris Jazz Festival.After the success of their debut as duo, the two musicians set up a second chamber music project together, this time based on original compositions. Pure Joy (ACT 9415-2) released in April 2003. “Simple, compact compositions such as rarely exist in jazz” is how Lauer described the rationale for a tight interactive performance free of the stylised jazz conventions. “Stunning, melodies almost too good to be true, performed by two musicians who are amongst the best and most high profile currently to be heard on the European jazz scene,” wrote German magazine Jazzpodium and Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung swooned: “Christof Lauer and Jens Thomas have hijacked for the jazz universe a beauty and wildness which are without boundaries. One can only imagine what surprises these amazing musicians have in store for the future.” With Heaven (ACT 9420-2) Christof Lauer has delivered just such as surprise for the end of 2003: church music, which was in fact for Lauer, the son of a pastor, the first form of music of any type that he experienced as a child. He has had the desire to record sacred music in a church, and not before time. His friendship with Norwegian Geir Lysne has at last led to the long-planned project: together with Norwegian Brass the recordings for Heaven were made in the Vålerengen Kirk in Oslo, a choice of unexpected reworkings of classic Christmas songs and religious music, for which Geir Lysne is responsible as arranger and musical director and including two very special guests from Norway, Sondre Brantland and Rebekka Bakken.
Lauer found a new outlet in the collaboration with pianist Eric Watson. The American pianist, currently living in Paris, and Lauer had known each other for a long time. In April 2003 they were on tour together in France playing a quartet repertoire that Watson had especially composed for Lauer as a guest star with his own regular trio - comprising bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Ed Thigpen: These pieces, recorded in Summer 2003, were titled Road Movies (ACT 9429-2) and were released in September 2004.
One thing is for sure: Very few musicians can offer as much intensity as Christof Lauer, as the recordings with his new trio aptly demonstrate on Blues in Mind (ACT 9446-2), which will be released in January 2007. The flexibility of the fascinatingly matched partners and the scope of the compositions enable Lauer to express all aspects of his art. German Lauer, Frenchman Michel Godard (tuba & serpent) and British drummer & pianist Gary Husband all contribute compositions to this CD of exclusively original material – pieces that open up a great variety of worlds. Each track offers new colours and tonal hues, held together by the authority of the three players.
In the past 30 years Christof Lauer has appeared in all manner of various formations with an incredible continuity – on all continents of the earth and international festival from Montreux to Istanbul and from Havana to Beijing, both with his own bands or as sideman. The variety and creative energy of Lauer’s encounters and projects time and again reflects his deepest held conviction: “Jazz is communicationú”

British multi-instrumentalist Django Bates is well-known for his razor sharp wit as a player, composer, and arranger. Batesfounded the quartet Human Chain in 1979 -- a group that is still together in the 21st century -- and is, along with Courtney Pine and Iain Ballamy, one of the architects of the British jazz renaissance which began in earnest in the late '80s. Bates also leads the 19-piece big band Delightful Precipice. Bates' solo work consists of six notable recordings including the stellar Quiet Nights on Tim Berne's Screwgun label (for which he won Denmark's prestigious Jazzpar prize) and 1993's Summer Fruits and 1994's Autumn Fires recordings on the JMT label. In addition to his work as a leader, Bates has been prominently featured as a sideman as a member of Bill Bruford's jazz fusion ensemble Earthworks from 1986-1994, and in the bands of Georges Russell and Gruntz. He has been a session player as well, contributing to the extreme edge of the vanguard on Tim Berne's Caos Totale and Bloodcountprojects, as well as to Ballamy's solo recordings. In addition to his work in the jazz world, Bates is also a composer, writing Dream Kitchen for percussionist Evelyn Glennie, Fine Frenzy for the Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company, and a piano concerto for soloist Joanna MacGregor and the RLPO. He also founded the Circus Umbilicus, a true circus-cum-musical project and composed the keyboard concerto entitled 2000 Years Beyond UNDO, which was performed at the millennium Barbican Festival.