Hans Lüdemann, born 1961 in Hamburg, 1978/79 in Los Angeles/California, since 1982 in Köln, 2009/10 and 2015/16 in Philadelphia/USA. Private studies with Joachim Kühn, Studies of Classical piano at the Hamburg conservatory and Jazz piano at the Musikhochschule Köln and the Banff Centre/Canada. In Köln he obtained the first Jazz masters degree in Germany. Hans Lüdemann`s international career started in 1985 in the group of Eberhard Weber/Jan Garbarek with a tour of Asia. He worked with a number of world class musicians, among them Muhal Richard Abrams, Paul Bley (Duo CD), Hayden Chisholm, Chiwoniso, Toumani Diabate, Tata Dindin, Marc Ducret, Mark Feldman, Sol Gabetta, Dobet Gnahoré, Roger Hanschel, Lee Konitz, Joachim Kühn, Albert Mangelsdorff, Phil Minton, Angelika Niescier, Yves Robert, Heinz Sauer, Gebhard Ullmann, Bobby Zankel and Eda Zari.

Hans Lüdemann is a „wanderer between the worlds“ who has created first rate European ensembles with the trio ROOMS and the octet TransEuropeExpress (T.E.E.) and who makes transcultural connections between Africa, Europe and Jazz together with balaphon player Aly Keita in the Trio Ivoire. As a solo pianist he improvised an „hommage a Köln concert“ in the Köln opera, he expands the acoustic piano sound with his „virtual piano“ into a microtonal instrument and he developed new playing techniques for the historic clavichord. In the concert series „die kunst des trios“, started in 2007, Lüdemann has created a wide range of piano trio conceptions, working together with an international cast of musical partners.
As a solo pianist and with his ensembles, Lüdemann has performed worldwide and is at home on festivals, concert stages and in clubs between Berlin, Bamako, Capetown, Delhi, Havana, Hongkong, New York and Paris. Performances include portrait concerts at the Musiktriennale Köln, appearances at EXPO 2000 Hannover, Jazzfest Berlin, Bachfest Leipzig, Offbeat Festival Basel, HIFA - Festival Harare, Copenhagen Jazzfestival, Elbjazz Hamburg and the opening of the „Budapest Music Centre“. Solo tours have led through Europe, Africa and North America. Lüdemann’s music is documented on over 40 CDs for renowned record labels and radio and tv productions. His biggest project so far, „die kunst des trios“, was released as a 5-CD-box and received the „ECHO Jazz award 2013“.

From the beginning, the creation and realization of original music was the motivation and focus of his work and his projects. In 1988 he introduced his first orchestral work, „Geschichte 2“, in 1994 the song cycle „Verloren ins weite Blau“ (Lost into the wide blue) for voices and chamber ensembles. Hans Lüdemann received composition commissions of the WDR, SWR, hR, the Ensemble Indigo, the NDR bigband, the duo Slaato/Reinecke, from Steinway & Sons and the „Kunststiftung NRW“. In 2014/15 he received the federal composition grant of the „Konrad Adenauer-Stiftung“. His works range from solo music and songs to chamber music and music for bigband, choir and orchestra. A number of his musical scores have been published by Schott, including the „Rhythmic Etudes“ for piano in 2015.

In 2002, Lüdemann was invited on a journey to Africa with German President Johannes Rau. He was appointed member of the Federal German composition jury for the Villa Massimo in Rome from 2003 - 2007. He taught Jazz piano and ensemble at the Musikhochschule Köln from 1993 - 2008, directed the „Creative Jazz Workshop“ at the European Academy Montepulciano/Italy 2001 - 2007, the „JeuneJazzJam Paris-Köln“ of the Musikhochschule Köln and CSNDP Paris in 2008 and taught as „Cornell Visiting Professor“ at Swarthmore College/USA in 2009/2010 and again in 2015/16. Hans Lüdemann lives as a musician and composer in Hoffnungsthal near Köln, Germany.

Pianist Hans Lüdemann, Echo Jazz Prizewinner 2013, founded the trio in 1999 and has been its leader since then. He started his career as a musician in Hamburg, where he studied under Joachim Kühn, among others. He continued his studies in Canada and Cologne, where he still lives today. He soon became one of the pianists most in demand in Germany and has played alongside of Jan Garbarek, Eberhard Weber, Paul Bley, Marc Ducret, Toumani Diabate, Heinz Sauer, Angelika Niescier and many others. He discovered African music with its 12/8 rhythm and very individual pentatonic scales at an early stage during several trips and tours; the music is thrilling and you can even dance to it despite its often very complex polyrhythm. As a result, his work with "Trio Ivoire" has become a core piece of his many varied activities.
Aly Keita was born in Abidjan (Ivory Coast), but grew up in Mali where he already had lessons in playing the traditional pentatonic balafon as a child. He met George Makinto and consequently encountered jazz when he was still an adolescent. He developed his own diatonic balafon, which enabled him to play in new ways and provided him with many new chances. Starting from the 90s and until today, he has played alongside of Pharoah Sanders, Rokia Traoré, Jan Garbarek, Majid Bekkas and Omar Sosa, to name just a few. Keita is the most skillful and versatile balafon player worldwide today. He is also bursting with ideas and full of boundless energy. He even developed his own chromatic balafon for these recordings.
Christian Thomé is an extremely versatile drummer. Following his studies in Holland, he was able to gain an excellent reputation in new music, jazz and world music. You can hear him on recordings by Moritz Eggert and Markus Stockhausen as well as the Schäl Sick Brass Band. He has played alongside of Michel Godard as well as Dhafer Youssef, Till Brönner and Lee Konitz. He fits in like a puzzle piece into a constellation, which is characterized strongly by rhythm anyway.

Christian Thomé (b. 1970) – His previous oeuvre made Christian Thomé work with various musical styles. His projects range from contemporary jazz and freely improvised music to world music, experimental electronic and pop music to classical music. As a sideman, Christian Thomé has worked with the great musicians of the national jazz scene, like Dieter Manderscheid, Markus Stockhausen, John Goldsby, and Till Brönner and many others. In addition, he has worked with big orchestras like the Hamburg Symphony Orchestra or the Philharmonic Orchestra of Trieste. He toured the Middle East with the world-music ensemble Schäl Sick Brass Band for the Goethe Institute and performed on many festivals at home and abroad. He tours with various ensembles, such as Trio Ivoire, Niobe, Trio Stockhausen/Comisso/Thomé, Nanoschlaf, Alony and the Bliss. Thomé is a lecturer of jazz percussion, jazz ensemble and subjectrelated teacher training at the Institute of Music at the University of Osnabrück. In addition, he works as a private and music school teacher.

Reiner Winterschladen (b. 1956), trumpet, has taken an active part in the musical genres of rock (Westernhagen, The Element Project), funk and electro productions (Trance Groove, Nighthawks) as well as in film music since 1979. Winterschladen has performed with Dieter Manderscheid, Radu Malfatti, Achim Krämer, Tony Oxley, Pee Wee Ellis, Ekkehard Jost, and Ali Haurand, among others. Winterschladen is one of the great improvising artists on his instruments and one of the leading trumpet players in Germany. Since 1995 he has been a member of the NDR Big Band. For his work in the band Blue Box (now nuBox), Winterschladen was awarded the arts prize of the city of Düsseldorf in 1985.

Ballaké Sissoko (b. 1968), the son of the famous Griots Djelimady Sissoko, is a brilliant kora player. He has worked with Toumani Diabaté and Taj Mahal, among others. His first album with Toumani Diabaté (kora) and the singers Alboulkadri Barry and Rokia Traoré as well as Fanga Diawara, solo violinist of the Mali National Instrumental Ensemble, was released in 2005, followed by another CD with chamber music in 2009, the result of his collaboration with the classical cellist Vincent Ségal (bumcello). The album “At Peace” was released in 2013.