Steffen Schorn

Steffen Schorn - bio english

Steffen Schorn stands as one of the outstanding original musical voices of the german jazz and actual music scene.

He has been awarded numerous prizes and performed in over 65 countries worldwide.

As a specialist for the low end of the woodwind family he established instruments like the bass sax, contraalto- and contrabass clarinet, Bb- and Eb-tubax as solo instruments.

In the 90's, he has played in literally every german professional big band, has been a steady member of the George Gruntz Concert Jazz Band, the Peter Herbolzheimer Rhythm Combination & Brass and the NDR (North German Radio) Big Band.

Several trips took him to Brazil, where he lived, learned and performed with Hermeto Pascoal e Grupo.

This has been a major source of inspiration in developping his own personal language between the poles of structure and spontaneity.

In chamber music groups like the Schorn Puntin Duo, the Kölner Saxophon Mafia, his trio Triosphere and his Septet, he experimented with reducing large scores to only 2 or 3 instruments wich led him to a very dense linear, "harmolodycal" thinking, which after re-expansion, adds new levels of expression to orchestral sound.

His repertoire for large and small ensembles consists of 6 concert suites, a selection of Jazz-based tunes called "Songbook", the rhythmically advanced "Groovebook" and over 30 arrangements of tunes by the Brazilian genius Hermeto Pascoal.

He has been commissioned works for festivals and ensembles like Norwegian Wind Ensemble, Donaueschinger Tage für Neue Musik, Int New Jazz Meeting Baden Baden, Beethovenfest Bonn and Romanischer Sommer Köln.

Since 2001 he is professor for saxophone and composition and head of the jazz department at the Musikhoschschule in Nürnberg.

In 2010/2011 he will be curator for the Norwegian Wind Ensemble

Concerts, TV- and radio broadcasts, festival appearances:

Argentinia, Austria, Benin, Bolivia, Brazil, Camerun, Canada, Central Africa, Chile, China, Columbia, Denmark, Egypt, Estonia, Finnland, France, Ghana, Great Britain, Greece, Holland, Honduras, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liechtenstein, Luxemburg, Madagascar, Mongolia, Mexico, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Schottland, Sweden, Switzerland, Senegal, Singapur, Spain, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Togo, Uruguay, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam, Zimbabwe

Collaboration with:

Gerd Albrecht, Jay Anderson, Ray Anderson, Dave Bargeron, Shirley Bassey, Jim Black, Carlos Benavent, Gery Bertini, Carlos Bica, Greetje Bijma, Allan Broadbant, Bob Brookmeyer, Gary Burton, Uri Cane, Philip Catherine, Don Cherry, Natalie Cole, Lars Danielsson, Bill Dobbins, Peter Erskine, Allery Eskelin, Clare Fischer, Roberto di Gioia, Michel Godard, Danny Gottlieb, George Gruntz, Peter Herbert, Peter Herbolzheimer, Peter Herborn, Daniel Humair, Chris Hunter, Al Jarreau, Gene Jackson, Harold Jones, Sheila Jordan, Chaka Khan, Steve Khan, Olga Konkova, Bernd Konrad, Klaus König, Joachim Kühn, Femi Kuti, Ngu-Yen Lee, Howard Levy, Dave Liebman, Albert Mangelsdorff, Marilyn Mazur, Vince Mendoza, Don Menza, Frank Möbus, Mark Murphy, Simon Nabatov, Mark Naussif, Jovino Santos Neto, Lucas Niggli, Walter Norris, Atle Nymo, Frøde Nymo, Tony Oxley, Hermeto Pascoal, Don Rader, Diane Reeves, Mike Richmond, John Riley, Dino Saluzzi, Heinz Sauer, A. v. Schlippenbach, Larry Schneider, Maria Schneider, John Schröder, Tuva Semmingsen, Günter "Baby" Sommer, Martial Solal, Marc Soskin, Chris Speed, Marvin Stamm, Thomasz Stanko, Helge Sunde, Miroslav Tadiç, Aki Takase, Clark Terry, Cuong Vu, Jack Wallrath, "Wah Wah" Watson, Kenny Wheeler, Nils Wogram, Hannes Zerbe, Itibere Zwarg a. o.

Prizes & Awards:

1991Finalist European Jazz Competition (Schorn Puntin Duo)

1993Golden Amadeus, 1. Prize Musik Kreativ Wettbewerb

1994Förderpreis des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen für junge Künstler

1994Southern Comfort's Jazzmusician of the Year

1999 Jazz Prize of the German State Baden-Württemberg

2000SWR-Jazzpreis (Kölner Saxophon Mafia)

2002 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Award) (Kölner Saxophon Mafia)

2003/04 1. Prize "JazzArt" with TRIOSPHERE

2004 Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik (German Record Award) (Kölner Saxophon Mafia)

2009 WDR Jazz Award for Composition