With "Muse" and “Pyjama” I tried to put myself as a saxophonist and improviser in the center of the action. Over the course of three months I wrote compositions for my trio with David Helm on double bass and Thomas Sauerborn on drums aiming for elicit an intoxicating energy and diversity from the saxophone trio lineup. Lovingly fleshed out and colored, I wanted to maneuver through complex forms and harmonic structures with creativity and soloistic virtuosity. In doing so, we oscillate between free, unbound soundscapes and powerfully driving passages.

For Pyjama I arranged nine of these compositions for an octet that featured two different “harmonic unities”. On one hand there is Pablo Held improvising and beautifully coloring and shaping through spontaneous interplay and on the other hand we have a brass quartet consisting of two trumpets (Heidi Bayer and Bastian Stein), trombone (Shannon Barnett) and bass-trombone (Matis Cederberg).

On Muse I emphasize the inclusion of the individual voices. Thus Shannon Barnett (trombone), Bastian Stein (trumpet) and Pablo Held (piano) complement the trio to a quartet in selected works that are carefully composed for this purpose. The players become muses, correlatively and selflessly shaping and mutually interpenetrating the compositional and interactive shadings.

Both albums are available on bandcamp through my label Tangible Music.

After many years of conjoint work with my colleague Leonhard Huhn we created a new Quartet named “Schmid’s Huhn” as our means of expression. With bassist Stefan Schönegg and drummer Fabian Arends we have released three albums so far on the Berlin-based Vinyl label shoebill music (Schmid’s Huhn 2014, Golden Spheres 2018 and Layers live 2022).
Leonard and I understand each other instinctively. Our “slight and powerful tone” (Jazzthing) merges into one sound at which it folds contrapuntally in the very next moment opening up new sound scopes. This phenomenon is used in our compositions to reveal tonal details, attrition and different colors. We improvise, communicate and interact with each other whereat the treatment of the individually composed material is conducted by the particular moment. With bass and drums an earthy and lyrical sound arises which “sovereignly fills the space between tradition and avant-garde” (Jazzpodium).

For Lars Duppler and myself, the special appeal of our joint duo project lies not only in the familiar, ever-changing interplay. The confrontation and intensive exploration of our second home, Iceland, also guides our musical path and inspires new works and soundscapes. In the process we create an intimate sound, which we now captured for the first time on the album "Hringferð". As a co-production with Deutschlandfunk Cologne, we recorded the album in its entirety in just three hours. This gives it a unique mood and captures the nuanced interplay in a natural and spontaneous way. We span a meaningful arc from arrangements of traditional, Icelandic "rímur" to subtle original compositions framed by free improvisation.

Founded in 2013, the SUBWAY JAZZ ORCHESTRA or SJO\CGN has earned an extraordinary reputation as a top-class freelance big band over the past few years. The 18 musicians from Cologne not only owe this to their monthly concerts at the famous Club Subway, but also to their successful collaborations with various renowned international composers and soloists at home and abroad (including Maria Schneider, Helge Sunde, Miho Hazama a.o.).
As a founding member and musical director of the orchestra, I invest a lot of time, heart and soul into the musical development of the band, composing and arranging as well as organizing concerts and various international projects. So far, the SJO\CGN has released four recordings with different music. 2023 will see the release of my first big band album with entirely original music written especially for this orchestra.