"- Andreas Willers

- started out as a blues- and avantgarde guitarist, first outing 1981 on the FMP label (Hier & Als Auch, solo guitar),

- studied el.guitar and composition in Los Angeles (MI), Hamburg (HfM) and Banff (Canada),

-has played and/or recorded with Tom Arthurs, Steve Argüelles, Conny, Johannes & Matthias Bauer, Franz Bauer, Florian Bergmann, Jim Black, Samuel Blaser, Paul Bley, Kent Carter, Audrey Chen, Günter Christmann, Alvin Curran, Tobias Delius, Yorgos Dimitriadis, Axel Dörner, Wilbert De Joode, Michel Doneda, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Silke Eberhard, Dirk Engelhardt, Mark Feldman, Rudi Fischerlehner, Alexander Frangenheim, Alain Grange, Lou Grassi, Frank Gratkowski, Phillip Greenlief, Michael Griener, Christof Griese, Trilok Gurtu, Roger Hanschel, Ratzo Harris, Gabriele Hasler, Phil Haynes, Thomas Heberer, Thomas Heidepriem, Gerry Hemingway, Devin Hoff, Tristan Honsinger, Carl L. Hübsch, Jörg Huke, Hui-Chun Lin, Dieter Ilg, Paul Imm, Thomy Jordi, Anders Jormin, Theo Jörgensmann, Kai Kanthak, Achim Kaufmann, Martin Klingeberg, Willi Kellers, Meinrad Kneer, Frank Köllges, Uwe Kropinski, Klaus Kürvers, Almut Kühne, Klaus Kugel, Ingrid Laubrock, Urs Leimgruber, Dave Liebman, Martin Lillich, Christian Lillinger, Hans Lüdemann, H.D. Lorenz, Dieter Manderscheid, Rita Marcotulli, Christian Marien, Lisa Mezzacappa, Jordina Millá, Matthias Müller, David Murray, Glen Moore, Nikolaus Neuser, Rudi Neuwirth, Lauren Newton, Horst Nonnenmacher, Lothar Ohlmeier, E.L. Petrowski, Dominique Pifarély, Elvira Plenar, Oliver Potratz, Bobby Previte, Claudio Puntin, Tom Rainey, Enrico Rava, Dirk Raulf, Hugo Read, Yves Robert, Herb Robertson, Michael Rodach, Jan Roder, Simon Rose, Olaf Rupp, Julie Sassoon, Volker Schlott, Andreas Schmidt, Niko Schäuble, Frank Paul Schubert, Matthias Schubert, Frank Schulte, Dorothea Schürch, Louis Sclavis, Elliot Sharp, Arkady Shilkloper, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ches Smith, Fabrizio Spera, Oli Steidle, Bob Stewart, Christof Thewes, Gebhard Ullmann, Peter Van Huffel, Petras Vysniauskas, Henrik Walsdorff, Ute Wassermann, Kathie Webster, Tim Wells, Fritz Witteck, Hannes Zerbe a.m.m.

- toured Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia/New Zealand and Southeast Asia for the Goethe Institut; festival appearences include Vancouver, Vienna, Salzburg, Melbourne, Madrid, Vigo, Cheltenham, Bern, Jakarta, Istanbul, Wroclaw, Monterrey, Sibiu, Amsterdam, Münster, Moers, Köln, Leverkusen, Vilshoven, Kiel, Viersen, Berlin, Freiberg, tours throughout the USA and Europe in places like The Stone, The Knitting Factory, Onkel Pö's amm

- has composed for the Jazz Baltica Ensemble, the NDR Bigband, different New Music ensembles, several scholarships and awards, founding member of the musicians cooperative Jazzfront Berlin-Brandenburg, was member of the Initiative Kölner Jazzhaus,

- taught electric guitar at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin, from 1991-96, wrote workshop articles for the German Gitarre&Bass magazine on improvisation and performance."

"Meinrad Kneer is a double bass player, composer, improviser, band-leader and label owner. His music moves along the musical boundaries of jazz, improvised, contemporary-composed and ethnic music.

He studied double bass and music in the Netherlands (conservatories of Hilversum and Amsterdam), where he quickly entered the Dutch jazz- and subsequently the international scene of free improvisation.

In 2002 he receives one of the most prestigious Dutch music awards: the 'Jur Naessens Music Award' for the project 'New Anatomy', realized with his band 'Dalgoo' and inspired by the work of the Russian writer Daniil Kharms.

His compositional work has been supported between 2001-2011 by the Dutch 'Funds voor de Scheppende Toonkunst' (today 'Funds Podiumkunsten') and in 2013 he recieved a grant from the Berlin senate to compose music for his Phosphoros Ensemble.

From 2007 to 2011 he organized the concert series 'U-Ex(perimental)' devoted to free improvisation, in cooperation with flutist Mark Alban Lotz, the Centraal Museum and the SJU Jazz Podium in Utrecht (NL).

Since 2011/2012 he lives in Berlin.

He currently leads the Meinrad Kneer Quintet, the Trio Baars / Kneer / Elgart, the Phosphoros Ensemble, and works as a co-leader in the groups Dalgoo, Rose/ Kneer/ Barrett and Sequoia.

He also plays a.o. with the following ensembles: Julie Sassoon Quartet, Andreas Willers Septet, Peter Van Huffel Octet and Bite the Gnatze, and worked with musicians as Najma Akhtar, Richard Barrett, Johannes Bauer, Han Bennink, Iva Bittová, Axel Dörner, Bill Elgart, Ceylan Ertem, Fred Frith, Tristan Honsinger, Paul Lovens, Roscoe Mitchell and Jon Rose, and ensembles as different Baraná formations, the Ab Baars Quartet, House of Mirrors, the Gravitones, Play Station 6, the Astronotes, the Joost Buis tentet, the AXYZ-Ensemble, the bigtet Tetzepi, the Ig Henneman String Quartet, the Marc Sinan Company, the KNM Ensemble and realized, with his own bands and as a side man, about 30 records.

During the last years he has been touring extensively in most countries of Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Turkey, North Africa and Mexico.

His internationally renowned label 'Evil Rabbit Records', founded together with pianist Albert van Veenendaal in 2006, is dedicated to contemporary improvised music rooted in the European culture."

"Christian Marien , born 1975 in Münster (Westf.), Has been playing drums since his thirteen years. Punk and rock are his roots, but he found an early access to jazz and art, eventually studying jazz drums in Amsterdam and Berlin where he has been living since 2000. There he first made a name for himself in the jazz scene, including as co-founder of the ensembles Olaf Ton and Stereolisa. More and more, he turned to the improvised music, played with a large number of high-caliber improvisation artists (like Frank Gratkowski, Gebhard Ullmann, Jürgen Kupke, Christian Weber and many others) and became an integral part of Berlin's improvisational and jazz- Scene.

For many years, he has worked extensively with his duo "Superimpose" (with Matthias Müller - Trombone) and the trio "The Astronomical Unit" (with Matthias Müller-Trombone and Clayton Thomas double bass). He plays concerts in Europe and North America, among others, at the Montreux Jazzfestival, the Jazzfestival in Hermannstadt, the Leipzig Jazz Festival, and the Jazzfestival. He is also a member of numerous other ensembles (Z-Country Paradise, UnbedingT, Benjamin Weidekamp Quartet, Miss Platnum, Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchestra) Rüsselsheim, Jazzfestival Frankfurt, Moers Festival and releases CDs on labels such as "leo records", "Jazzwerkstatt", "Klangräume", "NRW Jazz" or "2ndFLOOR Edition".

His interest in genre-encompassing artistic exchange brings him together with visual artists (Thomas Bratzke, Philip Wiegard), actors (Judith Strößenreuter), or dancers (Hans-Werner Klohe, Kadir "Amigo" Memis, July Hamilton). The performance group "Ritsche, Zast & Marien", which combines improvisation in music and painting, contests performances, festival performances and exhibitions."