Jens Bunge

"We must welcome Jens Bunge to the growing ranks of chromatic harmonica players in jazz. (... ) Jens has a round tone and technique, supported by musicianship. Good luck, the road is not easy but you've got the conviction and the equipment. " - (Toots Thielemans) - Jens Bunge was born September 24, 1963. At the age of 18, he began to teach himself to play the chromatic harmonica. Influenced by the recordings of Toots Thielemans, he soon found his passion for jazz. In the mid 80's, while studying theology at the University of Heidelberg (Bunge is an ordained Protestant minister! ), he began to perform with local big bands and jazz groups. The following years saw him as a guest soloist with the Thilo Berg Big Band featuring Ack van Rooyen, and the German Jazz Orchestra BuJazzO, conducted by Peter Herbolzheimer. Other musicians he performed with are: Art Farmer, Barbara Dennerlein, Emil Mangelsdorff, Bill Ramsey, Wolf Mayer, Anke Helfrich, Matthias Dörsam, Peter Lehel, Thomas Siffling, Janusz Muniak, Rüdiger Oppermann, Tony Sheridan, Judy Roberts, Greg Fishman, Jackie Allen, Patricia Barber, Duduka da Fonseca, Leni Andrade, Elena Suchánková and many more. Being an untiring globetrotter, Jens Bunge has played his harmonica on all five continents: New York, Chicago, San Francisco, Montreal, Honolulu, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Beijing, Bangkok and Cape Town are just a few of the locations where he appeared as a featured guest. He took part in harmonica festivals such as the European Harp Festival 1996, the World Harmonica Festivals 1997, 2001 and 2005, the Asia Pacific Harmonica Festivals in Korea (2000), Japan (2002), Hong Kong (2004) and Taiwan (2006), the International Harmonica Carnival in Malaysia (2007), the Highlands Festival (Malaysia 2009), Harmonica Bridge Festival Bydgoszcz/Poland (2009), Merate Musica/Italy (2010). Besides his workshop activities he is – alternating with Jamey Aebersold - a regular writer for the jazz column of the international magazine "The Harmonica Educator". By now, Jens Bunge has recorded seven CDs under his own name, and appears as a guest on recordings of Ralf Gauck ("Take A Look Behind"), Peter Lehel ("Ballads"), Chantal ("Live At The Cavern", DVD "Chantal Meets Tony Sheridan"), Ruth Ling ("Simple Love Song"), Rick Smith ("The Liminal Man") and Kay Tse ("Slowness"). In 2007, the sound of his jazz harmonica was sampled for the Yamaha Tyros keyboard. In 2008 he went to China to record his CD "Shanghai Blue", which features jazz arrangements of Chinese and Taiwanese folk and pop songs.