Tim Allhoff, born in Augsburg in 1970, already started playing piano – self-taught – as a child, had the benefit of classical piano lessons later and then studied jazz piano at the Richard-Strauss Conservatory in Munich. He graduated with "magna cum laude" in 2007. The fact that he is a sideman much in demand in Germany goes without saying. But he does not limit himself to that, because he is much too busy, curious and ambitious. On one hand, he works as director of music at Ingolstadt Theater, and on the other hand he has his own trio, which has been in existence for about two years.

A man beyond categories: German Stefan Schultze plays piano in his own Stefan Schultze Trio as well as in the Octoposse octet. He teaches kids at schools in jazz and improvised music with his mobile project School Jazz is Cool Jazz. With his multimedia project Raw Rough Ready, he combines music with dance and video performances. While studying at the Manhattan School of Music, Stefan Schultze won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award for his composition Oracle Night (see track 4). He became a member of renowned BMI Jazz Composers Workshop and conducted his own quintet-with-strings arrangement of Karawahn (see track 6) at Carnegie Hall. He won the first prize for Green Falling (see track 5) at the ArtEZ Composition Contest in Enschede, Netherlands, and he was awarded Best International Jazz Band even twice in a row in Granada, Spain. Stefan said, “I don't shy away from doing things that are uneconomical or crazy. At the end of the day, one can manage anything as long as you really fancy it.”

The Tobias Meinhart Quartet was founded in 2008 and was immediately a success. They already played together on a stage with Joshua Redman and the Yellowjackets feat. Mike Stern in the year of their founding. In the following year, they won out against 80 other bands at the Straubing 'Startbahn Jazz' (trans.: Jazz Take-Off Runway) and took 1st place. They also received the Audience Award as best band at the International Jazz Competition Getxo/Bilbao (pianist Lorenz Kellhuber received the award as best soloist at the same time. In 2010, they primarily dedicated themselves to recording their debut album 'Pursuit of Happiness'. Tobias Meinhart already won in the solo category with the attribute 'Outstanding at the Bavarian 'Jugend jazzt' contest (trans.: Young People Play Jazz) in 2006. At that time, he studied at the Music Academy of Basel and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under teachers such as Ferdinand Povel, Adrian Mears, Johannes Enders and Wolfgang Muthspiel. In 2009, he started a Master Performance study in the field of composition at the Bern College of Art, following by Master's studies at the Aaron Copland School of Music in New York since 2010. When Lorenz Kellhuber began his studies at the College of Art in Berlin, he set a record. At 16 years of age, he was the youngest student in the history of the college. Two years previous to that, he took second place in the German national "Jugend musiziert" contest (trans.: "Young People Play Music). In the meantime, he has received a whole slew of awards, e.g., several 'Jugend jazzt' prizes (also as the youngest participant there) and 2nd place at the Freiburg International Piano Competition. Olli Hein became a member of the Bavarian State Young Jazz Orchestra when he was 20 and played there for six years. He studied jazz contrabass at Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich from 2004 until 2008 and got to know Gabriel Hahn there too. Gabriel Hahn also studied at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich. He began his jazz drums studies in 2003 and graduated with top grades in 2007. He is currently studying at Dresden College of Art and is the regular drummer in the support band of New York Voices.

Andreas Kurz has been part of the "Double Moon Records Family" as bassist on several CDs for almost 10 years. He was already a musician in demand before that in southern Germany and played alongside of Jan Eschke, Bastian Jütte and Johannes Enders at that time. He has performed far beyond the borders of his native place over the past years and played alongside Benny Golson, Joe Locke and Vincent Herring as well as on the successful last album of Max Mutzke. In addition, he has won a number prizes, e.g., as bassist of the Tim Allhoff Trio. In other words, it's time for him to move up to the front row as leader and composer and present his own album.
Saxophonist Johannes Enders is almost the foster father of Andreas Kurz in music; Kurz was already at his concerts when he was 13. Enders is one of the most successful (e.g., Echo Jazz 2012, Best National Saxophonist) and well-known German musicians, who has also attracted international attention with his bands such as "Enders Room" (electric jazz Wolfgang Haffner, among others) and "Triotope" (with Billy Hart). The range of styles of this exceptional musician is also very well suited to the richly varied compositions on the recording.
Jan Eschke has been a fellow traveler of Andreas Kurz for more than 15 years. The two have played together in several bands since then. In addition, Eschke has played in "Enders Room" and alongside Charlie Antolini, among others, i.e., versatility is certainly one of his great strengths too. The virtuoso and sensitive pianist also has his own trio under the name of "Dreizack".
Bastian Jütte has also been honored with prizes (among others, Echo Jazz 2013, Best National Drummer). He is known for not continually shoving his way loudly to the foreground, but instead convinces thanks to his fine feeling for subtlety. The perfect drummer for this quartet and one of the best musicians in Germany.