Date/Time
Date(s) - 22/Nov/2023
Genre - Jazz
Thilo Wolf, piano
Johanna Iser, vocal
Hansjörg Fink, trombone
Christian Diener, bass
Jean Paul Hoechstaedter, drums
The Thilo Wolf Jazz Quartet presents authentic, intelligent, finely structured swing, intoxicatingly played and harmonically constructed. Self composed music pieces like “April Feelings” give an insight into their virtuosity, technical skills and passion. The balanced mixture of the American songbook and Thilo Wolfs own compositions offers the audience floating and swinging as well as exciting and sensitive jazz which never loses its passion and joy. The Thilo Wolf Jazz Quartet is an experienced ensemble consisting of musicians who have been members of the Thilo Wolf Big Band for years. For example Norbert Nagel, Jürgen Neudert, Christian Diener, Markus Schieferdecker, Christoph Huber, Ole Seimetz, Omar Kabir or Paul Höchstädter.
Thilo Wolf works as a pianist, composer, arranger and bandleader. His Thilo Wolf Big Band is one of Germany’s leading big bands, which he founded at the age of 24. To date, the band has performed at numerous festivals in Europe. His jazz programme “SWING IT!” (BR television) was voted “Best Jazz Programme of the Year”, and the Thilo Wolf Big Band was also given the honour of being inducted into the “Big Band Hall Of Fame” in the USA. CD productions and concerts led Thilo Wolf to collaborate with multiple award-winning international stars. He produced CDs in New York, Munich, Nuremberg and Berlin and released a total of more than 25 of them with a total circulation of more than a quarter of a million copies. As a composer, Thilo Wolf has written four musicals to date, the last two of which have been nominated six times for the “German Musical Theatre Award” and won three awards. He is also regularly involved in the development of numerous musical productions and musical programmes as musical director, producer and conductor. His album “Swinging Cole Porter” with Mitch Winehouse was nominated for the “Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik”. With his company Wavehouse-Entertainment he also produces concert events and jazz shows for BR Fernsehen, ARD-Alpha, 3SAT and ARTE.
Whether Johanna Iser tours Asia, has a stint on “The Voice of Germany” (2013), sings a duet with Amy Winehouse’s father or happens to be on stage with Bobby McFerrin and Chick Corea – anything can happen. Between sold out open air concerts with big band & symphony orchestra and cabaret stages and festivals, where she often finds herself with jazz formations or her own band Koala Kaladevi (Hip Hop / Soul), or singing on international engagements in Asia & Egypt – for the singer there is one absolute truth she always likes to return to: Jazz & Soul. Vocal improvisation, scat – is thereby one of her greatest passions, which is also evident in the singer’s modern productions. In 2016 began her collaboration with Thilo Wolf, which has since led to numerous concerts with the Thilo Wolf Big Band and his smaller formations. At the beginning of 2018, she co-wrote the comeback track “Rolling Stone” by French pop icon Mylène Farmer, which reached number one in the charts in France. Furthermore, this year also saw the creation of the lo-fi project “KLANGER”. In 2019 she was involved in the release of 9 songs and released her first own single “Falling”.
Hansjörg Fink, received a sound and cross-stylistic education early on with Paul Schreckenberger (classical trombone), Bobby Burgess (lead and jazz trombone) and Klaus Wagenleiter (harmony, arrangement and composition). He was a trombonist in the Army Music Corps in Stuttgart- Bad Cannstatt and a member of the Federal Jazz Orchestra under Peter Herbolzheimer. His music studies took him to the Amsterdam University of the Arts in Hilversum/ Netherlands. For more than 30 years, Hansjörg Fink has regularly performed in concerts, music productions, as well as TV, radio and streaming formats with renowned European big bands, various ensembles and with numerous projects of his own. More than 5000 performances in over 70 countries have taken him across Europe and to major cities on all continents. Hansjörg Fink feels connected to the most diverse musical styles and is equally at home in big bands, musical and theatre productions, pop bands and at the major jazz festivals as he is in symphony orchestras, chamber music ensembles and solo projects. More than 75 album productions, including several of his own projects, document his work.
Christian Diener was born in 1964 in Nuremberg. After studying classical double bass in Munich and at Berklee College of Music in Boston, he returned to Germany in 1991 and has been working as a freelance musician ever since. Equally adept on acoustic double bass and electric bass, he quickly found his way into the German music scene, encouraged especially by Norbert Nagel and Thilo Wolf. Other important stations in his career so far have been the RIAS Big Band (1999-2002), Billy Cobham (1995), Pee Wee Ellis (since 1997), the No Angels (2003) and the ensemble JUNO (2008-2010).
He is regularly involved in productions and concerts of “Fourplay” guitarist Chuck Loeb, most recently his “Guitar Conference Band”. At the invitation of Chuck Leavell, pianist and musical director of the Rolling Stones, he plays in his European band. The tour resulted in the CD “Greenleaves and Bluenotes”. With Munich DJ and producer Chris Prommer and his “Drumlesson” band, he has been pursuing the fusion of electronic club sounds and acoustic instrumentation since 2008. Currently he is also working with Georg Ringsgwandl in his acoustic project “Staffabruck”.
Jean Paul Höchstädter is still one of the most sought-after jazz and big band drummers throughout Germany and Europe. He is known for his grooving, swinging playing and his ability to make large ensembles sound like one instrument.
He is the current drummer in one of the great regular big bands in the world: the HR Bigband, aka: “Frankfurt Radio Bigband” and has also played drums in many famous big bands in Europe, such as the WDR Bigband, the NDR Bigband, the SWR Bigband, Thilo Wolf Bigband, the Norbotten Bigband and many others. In his young career, Jean Paul Hoechstaedter has already had the honor of performing and recording with many of the greatest artists of our time such as Al Jarreau, Dave Grusin, Gregory Porter, Dave Sanborn, Iwan Lins, Joe Lovano, Branford Marsalis, the New York Voices and many others.
His extensive discography includes albums with Tanja Maria, Chuck Leavell, Dave Douglas, Richie Beirach and Clark Terry.
