The April/May 2025 issue of JazzPodium, Germany’s oldest jazz magazine, features an interview with me conducted by fellow drummer and journalist Niklas Wandt in early February. He asked me about my beginnings, my first years in Berlin thirty years ago, my instrument setup, and my thoughts on the current state of jazz music. I answered…
I just happened to find out that yesterday was Pete “LaRoca” Sims’ 87th birthday. When I played with Dave Liebman and Bob Lenox at the Berlin club Schlot in 1999 (at that time still in the backyard on Kastanienallee), Dave strongly recommended that I look into Pete LaRoca and said that he was one of…
It’s a surreal feeling to hear my own sounds that I know so well incorporated into a movie on the big screen. I imagine that’s what Shelly Manne felt when he saw The Pink Panther in theaters.I’m happy to have helped Daniel Blumberg and Brady Corbet realize their vision of epic cinema, even if I was…
In the current issue of We Jazz magazine, Peter Margasak reviews three of my recent releases.About the double CD GRIENER/RODER: BE OUR GUEST, with which Jan and I celebrate our thirty years of collaboration, he writes: :“Many seasoned jazz fans, especially those following the European scene, have surely come across the names of drummer Michael…
I don’t consider myself a composer, but over the years I have composed a few pieces from time to time. In 2015 I recorded one of my pieces with Jürg Wickihalder and Uli Gumpert (with whom I will play a concert later today on the occasion of his 80th birthday) for the Intakt CD A New One. Some time…
Today is Ulrich Gumpert’s 80th birthday.We first played together in the mid-nineties, shortly after I moved to Berlin, on the initiative of bassist Matthias Bauer, who invited us both to play in a trio.I remember the first rehearsals in Uli’s apartment, right across from the Berliner Ensemble, in the middle of the city. The house…
Leaving the band was not an easy decision for me, but a necessary one. I am proud of what we have achieved in our time together since 2016, but after more than 60 concerts, three CD productions (Lavaman, Music Minus One, Die Komplette Enttäuschung) and the double LP Monk’s Casino Live at Au Topsi, it…
The Simon Rummel Ensemble is one of the ensembles I am particularly fond of and have been a part of since its inception 12 years ago. I hardly know of any other group in which such a variety of instruments and musical styles play together so beautifully and with such ease, with recorder, Casio keyboard, (unamplified!)…
Yesterday I had the opportunity to play a solo concert – something I don’t do very often. I never seem to be able to prepare for such occasions and just follow the sounds wherever they take me. I was told to play a solo of up to 20 minutes, and I pretty much hit the…
Although I did my very best to answer the questions in this week’s edition of the Free Jazz Blog’s Sunday interview as honestly as possible, I probably would have given completely different answers the next day. Or next week. Or next year. Or maybe not. Thanks to Paul Acquaro for giving me this opportunity, and…
I feel more than honored; after 40 years in this music, this is the first time I made it on the cover of a magazine, and with such a lovely photo by Petra Cvelbar.Many thanks to Franpi Sunship Barriaux for making this possible.On top of that there are reviews of my three recent releases in…
I’ve been playing with Jan Roder for over 30 years, and if I look over at the bassist at one of my concerts, there’s a good chance it’s Jan. Bill Meyer has now interviewed Jan and me about our beginnings in Berlin in the nineties, which has just been published in the new issue of…
This was because the author had confused her in my then short biography with the underrated but less well-known saxophonist Thomas Schweizer. I was a bit embarrassed at the time and realized that I’d have to play with Irene at some point to set the record straight. Fortunately, a few years later I had the…
I played my first concert in Berlin, at the Stakkato Festival at Kato in the Schlesisches Tor train station. It was supposed to be a trio with Walter Gauchel and Rudi Mahall, but since Walter didn’t show up, Rudi and I played as a duo, as we had already been doing for 12 years before.…
The first time I met Ernst-Ludwig “Luten” Petrowsky was in 1983, when I was 15 and went together with Rudi Mahall to a concert at the Jazzstudio Nürnberg, where Luten was playing with his wife Uschi Brüning. Rudi and I copied their compositions during the break (with their permission) and played them the next day…
Today is the 69th birthday of Gerold Genssler. Most people know him as the maker of excellent strings, mostly for double bass (I think they are currently sold under the name Sonores). For me, however, he is above all the person who lured me to move to Berlin in 1994, which in retrospect was one…
Today is the 80th birthday of Günter Christmann. I can honestly say that without him I would not be the musician I am today.I will be eternally grateful to him for taking me under his wing after I came, almost by accident, to a solo concert by Evan Parker that he organized when I was 15. I…
Exactly 20 years ago today, I traveled to Dresden for the first time to teach drum students in my new role as adjunct professor of jazz drumming at the Dresden Academy of Music. Being a high school dropout without a university education, I still don’t know exactly how I came to this honor, but as far…
Forty years ago today, I got my first drum set. The first time I sat down to play, I knew immediately that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The story goes like this: When my mother wanted to move to another city, I decided to move in with…
In the dark ages before the Internet, I could occasionally catch the tail end of a long-gone practice: Accompanying musicians on the road as part of the hired rhythm section. This gave me the opportunity to play with the likes of Mal Waldron, Benny Bailey, Mark Murphy, Spike Robinson, Lenny Spivak and a few others…
I first heard Paul when I was fifteen years old. He played with Günter Christmann, who often invited him to Hannover for his vario projects. Since Paul usually arrived by train and didn’t bring all his equipment, Günter asked me if I would make my drums available for the concerts. So I came into close…
Gene Krupa is the one who got me started on this journey which changed my whole life. The more I know about him, the more I admire him. In 1980 when I was not even a real teenager I heard “Sing Sing Sing” from the famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert on public radio and was…
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The April/May 2025 issue of JazzPodium, Germany’s oldest jazz magazine, features an interview with me conducted by fellow drummer and journalist Niklas Wandt in early February. He asked me about my beginnings, my first years in Berlin thirty years ago, my instrument setup, and my thoughts on the current state of jazz music. I answered…
I just happened to find out that yesterday was Pete “LaRoca” Sims’ 87th birthday. When I played with Dave Liebman and Bob Lenox at the Berlin club Schlot in 1999 (at that time still in the backyard on Kastanienallee), Dave strongly recommended that I look into Pete LaRoca and said that he was one of…
It’s a surreal feeling to hear my own sounds that I know so well incorporated into a movie on the big screen. I imagine that’s what Shelly Manne felt when he saw The Pink Panther in theaters.I’m happy to have helped Daniel Blumberg and Brady Corbet realize their vision of epic cinema, even if I was…
In the current issue of We Jazz magazine, Peter Margasak reviews three of my recent releases.About the double CD GRIENER/RODER: BE OUR GUEST, with which Jan and I celebrate our thirty years of collaboration, he writes: :“Many seasoned jazz fans, especially those following the European scene, have surely come across the names of drummer Michael…
I don’t consider myself a composer, but over the years I have composed a few pieces from time to time. In 2015 I recorded one of my pieces with Jürg Wickihalder and Uli Gumpert (with whom I will play a concert later today on the occasion of his 80th birthday) for the Intakt CD A New One. Some time…
Today is Ulrich Gumpert’s 80th birthday.We first played together in the mid-nineties, shortly after I moved to Berlin, on the initiative of bassist Matthias Bauer, who invited us both to play in a trio.I remember the first rehearsals in Uli’s apartment, right across from the Berliner Ensemble, in the middle of the city. The house…
Leaving the band was not an easy decision for me, but a necessary one. I am proud of what we have achieved in our time together since 2016, but after more than 60 concerts, three CD productions (Lavaman, Music Minus One, Die Komplette Enttäuschung) and the double LP Monk’s Casino Live at Au Topsi, it…
The Simon Rummel Ensemble is one of the ensembles I am particularly fond of and have been a part of since its inception 12 years ago. I hardly know of any other group in which such a variety of instruments and musical styles play together so beautifully and with such ease, with recorder, Casio keyboard, (unamplified!)…
Yesterday I had the opportunity to play a solo concert – something I don’t do very often. I never seem to be able to prepare for such occasions and just follow the sounds wherever they take me. I was told to play a solo of up to 20 minutes, and I pretty much hit the…
Although I did my very best to answer the questions in this week’s edition of the Free Jazz Blog’s Sunday interview as honestly as possible, I probably would have given completely different answers the next day. Or next week. Or next year. Or maybe not. Thanks to Paul Acquaro for giving me this opportunity, and…
I feel more than honored; after 40 years in this music, this is the first time I made it on the cover of a magazine, and with such a lovely photo by Petra Cvelbar.Many thanks to Franpi Sunship Barriaux for making this possible.On top of that there are reviews of my three recent releases in…
I’ve been playing with Jan Roder for over 30 years, and if I look over at the bassist at one of my concerts, there’s a good chance it’s Jan. Bill Meyer has now interviewed Jan and me about our beginnings in Berlin in the nineties, which has just been published in the new issue of…
This was because the author had confused her in my then short biography with the underrated but less well-known saxophonist Thomas Schweizer. I was a bit embarrassed at the time and realized that I’d have to play with Irene at some point to set the record straight. Fortunately, a few years later I had the…
I played my first concert in Berlin, at the Stakkato Festival at Kato in the Schlesisches Tor train station. It was supposed to be a trio with Walter Gauchel and Rudi Mahall, but since Walter didn’t show up, Rudi and I played as a duo, as we had already been doing for 12 years before.…
The first time I met Ernst-Ludwig “Luten” Petrowsky was in 1983, when I was 15 and went together with Rudi Mahall to a concert at the Jazzstudio Nürnberg, where Luten was playing with his wife Uschi Brüning. Rudi and I copied their compositions during the break (with their permission) and played them the next day…
Today is the 69th birthday of Gerold Genssler. Most people know him as the maker of excellent strings, mostly for double bass (I think they are currently sold under the name Sonores). For me, however, he is above all the person who lured me to move to Berlin in 1994, which in retrospect was one…
Today is the 80th birthday of Günter Christmann. I can honestly say that without him I would not be the musician I am today.I will be eternally grateful to him for taking me under his wing after I came, almost by accident, to a solo concert by Evan Parker that he organized when I was 15. I…
Exactly 20 years ago today, I traveled to Dresden for the first time to teach drum students in my new role as adjunct professor of jazz drumming at the Dresden Academy of Music. Being a high school dropout without a university education, I still don’t know exactly how I came to this honor, but as far…
Forty years ago today, I got my first drum set. The first time I sat down to play, I knew immediately that this was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. The story goes like this: When my mother wanted to move to another city, I decided to move in with…
In the dark ages before the Internet, I could occasionally catch the tail end of a long-gone practice: Accompanying musicians on the road as part of the hired rhythm section. This gave me the opportunity to play with the likes of Mal Waldron, Benny Bailey, Mark Murphy, Spike Robinson, Lenny Spivak and a few others…
I first heard Paul when I was fifteen years old. He played with Günter Christmann, who often invited him to Hannover for his vario projects. Since Paul usually arrived by train and didn’t bring all his equipment, Günter asked me if I would make my drums available for the concerts. So I came into close…
Gene Krupa is the one who got me started on this journey which changed my whole life. The more I know about him, the more I admire him. In 1980 when I was not even a real teenager I heard “Sing Sing Sing” from the famous 1938 Carnegie Hall concert on public radio and was…