Jakob Bänsch Quartett

In the organizer's words:

The rising star on the trumpet!

For his debut album "Opening", the young trumpeter and composer Jakob Bänsch was awarded the German Jazz Prize 2024 as "Debut Album of the Year". This was followed in February 2025 by his second album "All The Others", which artfully interweaves impressionistic classical music, modern jazz and folk elements. The border crosser, who grew up near Pforzheim, received both classical and jazz training at an early age and became a member of the Bundesjazzorchester in 2020.

He is considered a high-flyer and has performed with his own bands at festivals such as the Leverkusener Jazztage, Jazz Baltica and JazzOpen Stuttgart and has worked closely with international greats such as Nathan East, Nils Landgren, Wolfgang Haffner, Emil Mangelsdorff, Wolfgang Niedecken, Max Mutzke, Michael Abene and as a soloist with the WDR Big Band. He was a fellow of the WDR Composers Fellowship Program and a participant in the Elbphilharmonie Jazz Academy.

His works draw their inspiration primarily from classical music from around 1900 (including Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, Alexander Scriabin) as well as modern jazz from the 1960s and 1970s (e.g. Wayne Shorter, Herbie Hancock). This combination creates an unmistakable sound - full of lyricism, symphonic dramaturgy, epic intensity and virtuosity.