About the musicians:.. GABRIEL COBURGER – saxophones, flutes, compositionGabriel Coburger was born in 1967 in Hamburg, Germany, and studied with Herb Geller and Roman Schwaller at the Hamburger Musikhochschule from 1988 to 1993. During his studies with Ferdinand Povel and John Rocco, he played first alto with the German Bundesjazzorchestra directed by Peter Herboltzheimer. As first tenor saxophonist, Gabriel recorded and performed with the world renowned North German Radio Bigband, NDR. Simultaneously, he worked with Johnny Griffin, Lionel Hampton, Al Jarreau, Clark Terry, Albert Mangelsdorff, Geir Lynse, Inga Rumpf, Wolfgang Schlüter and Nils Landgren. In the summer of 1993, Coburger received a full scholarship to spend a year at the New School in New York City. He studied and performed with Lee Konitz, Dewey Redman, Dave Liebman, Rich Perry, Kenny Werner, John Abercrombie, Joe Chambers, Jack Walrath and Maria Schneider. He remained in New York from 1997 – 200. During this time he produced two CD’s, Color Suite and Be- fore I Leave (recorded live on tour). Both produced by Lofish Music. Gabriel Coburger ’s concert and festival appearances have brought him to Sofia, Bulgaria in 1992, to Maribor, Slovakia in 1996, Ham-burg,1996, back to New York (Texacofestival at the Knitting Factory) in 1997, to the Baltic Sea Jazz Festival in Salzau with Geir Lysne, 2002, and to the Copenhagen Jazz Festival in 2003. In 2005, the Gabriel Coburger Quartet toured Taiwan, and with the NDR Bigband in Shanghai, South Africa and Mocambique. 2006 a concert series in Trinidad and 2007 in Brazil with Joao Bosco. And also in 2007 he was the first winner of the Hamburger Jazzpreis.

KEN NORRIS – vocalsKen Norris holds a degree of Fine Arts in Architecture from Yale University, USA. He moved to France in 1990 and developed his career across the continents, studying for a short time at the American School of Modern Music in Paris. He has composed and performed with Daniel Banks at the New York University Tisch School of the Arts, and with Janine Carter on the award- winning radio drama What Light from Darkness Grows. The success of his first album, Modern Folklore (1996), composed for percussion and voice, led him to a series of new projects as composer, arranger, vocalist and co-producer, and inspired him to study folk and traditional music as the basis for a new series of albums, including In the Spirit of Christmas (for mixed choir and strings, 2008), and Modern Songs of Praise, his current project for tape and mixed choir). Norris has been invited to peform at the Crest Vocal Jazz Competition, the Printemps de Bourges Festival (both in France), the 2008 Voice and Guitar Competition, and many regional festivals in Germany. In addition to his inspiring work with the Jean-Paul Quintet, Norris is a featured soloist with the Hessen Jugend Jazz Orchestra, the Hamburger Polizei Orchestra, and the Burgharmonie Orchestra in Enschede, Holland. He has performed throughout the Persian Gulf, France, Germany and the United States. In addition to a heavy performance schedule, Norris maintains teaching positions (vocal technique, jazz and popular musics) at the Hamburg School of Music and at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater.

MATTHÄUS WINNITZKI – piano, keyboardsPianist and composer Matthäus Winnitzki was born in Poland in 1977. He moved to Germany at the age of 5, at which time he began playing the piano. He later studied classical and jazz piano with Prof. Dr. Die- ter Glawischnig at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg. Winnitzki has composed, performed and recorded with his own groups, «lautgut 76» and «sonora 51», and is a sought-after sideman in numerous jazz-related projects. In 2005 he founded the innovative music label «brennt rekords» together with fellow musician Jörg Hochapfel. Since then they have released several CD’s with German and European artists. In 2007 he was awarded a scholarship by the Dr. E. A. Langner Foundation.

SVEN KERSCHEK – acoustic and electric bassSven Kerschek was born in 1973 in Elmshorn, Germany, but lived in Flensburg where he developed his skills as bassist in several Big Bands. In 1993 he moved to Hamburg to study jazz guitar at the Hamburger Hochschule für Musik und Theater. His own bands are, among other projects, «Kerschek Kartell», «Lautlinger», and «Testreihe». In 1997, Kerschek was honored with the Hamburg Jazz Award from the Vereins & Westbank for his work with Testreihe. He has toured with Sergio Boree, Jack Walrath, John Schröder, Stefan Meinberg, Claudio Puntin, Jonas Schoen and he performes in two ensembles with Gabriel Coburger. Kerschek’s interest in contemporary theater has led him to collaborate with director Wolfram Apprich on various stage perfor- mances in Berlin, Saarbrücken, Osnabrück and Göttingen. He is still living in Hamburg as a freelance musician and loves to play often with Gabriel Coburger. Concert tours brought him to Russia, the Unites States of America, Scandinavia and Europe.

DEREK SCHERZER – drumsDerek Scherzer was born in Diez an der Lahn (Germany). From 1996 to 1999, Derek studied drums and percussion at the Hochschule der Künste – HKA in Arnheim, Netherlands under the instruction of Joop van Erven and René Creemers. He continued his academic research at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater in Hamburg, under Wolfgang Haffner, Gene Jackson, Clarence Penn and Hans Dekker. Since 1999 Scherzer is a well-known figure on the North German jazz scene. Having performed and recorded with artists such as Herb Geller, Ulita Knaus, Buggy Braune, Dusko Gojkovic, Jean Paul Quintet. Invitations for various concerts led him from Iceland to Central America to Syria.