In the artist's words:

Rudi Mahall (born December 23,^[1] 1966 in Nuremberg) is a German bass clarinettist in the field of contemporary jazz. He is considered "one of the most internationally sought-after jazz musicians from Germany."^[2

Mahall began playing the clarinet at the age of fourteen. While studying classical clarinet, he explored contemporary music and improvisation and switched to bass clarinet because of Eric Dolphy. He became a professional musician in 1990.

The bands in which he was or still is involved include Der Rote Bereich (initially with Frank Möbus, Marty Cook, Jim Black and Henning Sieverts) and Pro Susi, and after moving to Berlin in 1993, Die Enttäuschung (with Axel Dörner, Jan Roder, among others)^[3] as well as Fossile3 (with Sebastian Gramss) and Fusk (with Kasper Tom Christiansen, Philipp Gropper, Andreas Lang), among others.

Rudi Mahall, 2020

He has been involved in several projects and CDs with Aki Takase (including on the music of Eric Dolphy and Fats Waller) and has contributed to Alexander von Schlippenbach's complete recording of the work of Thelonious Monk and the Globe Unity Orchestra. He has also given concerts with Conny Bauer, Lee Konitz, Barry Guy, Karl Berger, Paul Lovens, Sven-Åke Johansson, Radu Malfatti, Ed Schuller, Ray Anderson, Kenny Wheeler, Hannes Bauer and many others. Since 1999, he has collaborated on several projects with the Saarland jazz trombonist Christof Thewes. In 2023 he formed the trio Mostly Monk with Geoff Goodman and Matthieu Bordenave^[4].

Mahall has performed at the Jazz à Mulhouse festival, the Moers Festival, JazzFest Berlin, the Leverkusener Jazztage and at jazz festivals in New York City, Amsterdam, Munich, Würzburg and Nuremberg. He has toured Portugal, South and East Africa, among other places.

Rudi Mahall received the SWR Jazz Prize in 2011^[2].