Biography
My name is Jan and I’m a jazz pianist, based in Cologne.
I started playing piano at the age of 7. In my teenage years, I became intrigued by improvised music and began to increasingly devote my life towards this discipline by means of performing, composing, and teaching.
In recent years, I have studied jazz piano in Amsterdam, Essen, and Stockholm. Immersing myself in these different music scenes and educational systems fundamentally shaped the way I approach music and teaching. My latest project Storm Before the Calm features musicians I met in each of these aforementioned cities in an attempt to merge my various influences into one coherent sound.
In 2021, I concluded my academic journey with a master’s degree in music (M.Mus.) from the Royal College of Music in Stockholm.
Since 2019, I have released a trio albumm Of Memories To Come, and have contributed to various releases as a side person such as Duy Luong’s band, ZOUY, and Renáta Hervoly’s RØNEE.
Aside from jazz piano, I also have an interest in music production for other genres like hip-hop and electronic music. In the wake of a global pandemic and the subsequent standstill of life in the spring and summer of 2020, I found myself with plenty of time to explore my own sound as a producer. As a result of this process, I released my EP It Wasn’t Meant To Be under my producer alias j. xndr in 2020. Following, I collaborated with Icelandic singer Stína Ágústsdóttir and together we released an EP called TGRSS in 2022.
In addition to playing, composing and producing music, I also teach piano at Carl von Ossietzky Universität Oldenburg and Musikschule der Stadt Monheim.