Jazz Cafe – Faces & Places

They perform their favourite pieces by these giants in their very own, individual style, breaking down structures and expanding the improvisations.

All the band members have long been an integral part of Berlin’s vibrant jazz scene and have made their mark on the international music scene in a wide variety of line-ups.

An evening full of surprises, adventurous improvisations and wonderful songs.

LINE-UP

• Michael Attias – saxophones
• Florian Müller – guitar
• Jonas Westergaard – bass
• Oliver Steidle – drums

Michaël Attias has earned a reputation as one of the most promising and collaborative figures on the 21st-century New York jazz scene, with a background and perspective that make him a ‘distinctly cosmopolitan saxophonist and composer’, as the New York Times put it.

His travels through North Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and the Midwestern United States eventually led Attias to New York City in 1994, where he continues to pursue his passion as an improviser, composer and bandleader.

The Village Voice described Attias’s music-making as ‘constantly shifting melodies, a wealth of timbres and a unique personality – you can almost see his music expanding and contracting’.

As a sideman, he has played and recorded with some of today’s most original and captivating musicians, including luminaries such as Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian, Oliver Lake, Anthony Coleman, Ralph Alessi, Tony Malaby, Kris Davis, Andy Milne, Fay Victor and many others.

Florian Müller studied jazz guitar at the Nuremberg University of Music under Helmut Kagerer and Paulo Morello and now lives in Berlin as a freelance musician.

He has also taken private lessons with, amongst others, Pat Martino and Jack Wilkins. He works as a composer in numerous ensembles and tours throughout Germany, including with Rudi Mahall.

He is a three-time winner of the Bruno Rother Scholarship. Müller now also teaches at the Jazz-Institut Berlin.

Jonas Westergaard, who hails from Copenhagen, studied at the Rytmisk Musikkonservatorium. Since the 1990s, he has been active on the Danish and German jazz and improvisation scenes, working with, amongst others, Christopher Dell, Benjamin Koppel, Christian Lillinger, Henrik Walsdorff, Marc Schmolling, in the Trio Spoom (with Ronny Graupe and Christian Lillinger, as well as with Michael Wollny) and the group Delirium (featuring, amongst others, Mikko Innanen).

In the field of jazz, Westergaard took part in 33 recording sessions between 1997 and 2012, working not only with those mentioned above but also with Jakob Bro, George Garzone, Søren Kjærgaard, Jesper Løvdal, Hans Ulrik, Petter Wettre and Jesper Zeuthen.

After being awarded a special prize by Danmarks Radio in 2006, he recorded the album *Helgoland* (2008) with a nonet, featuring his own compositions.

Oliver Steidle, winner of the New German Jazz Prize in 2008 and 2010, is best known for his collaborations with Der Rote Bereich, Peter Brötzmann, Philm, his band Killing Popes and Klima Kalima; he has been performing internationally for years and, according to the press, is one of the leading figures of Berlin’s constantly evolving young avant-garde scene.

The list of musicians with whom he has collaborated is long and could go on endlessly: Kurt Rosenwinkel, Richie Beirach, Louis Sclavis, Tomasz Stanko, Aki Takase, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Sean Bergin, Tristan Honsinger, Trevor Dunn, Andrea Parkins, etc.

Supported by funding from the Senate Department for Culture and Social Cohesion, Jazz Project Funding