"Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German jazz musician (trumpet and piano) and composer.

Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988-89) and at the Music Academy in Cologne (1989-1996). From 1991 he studied trumpet with Malte Burba, and during his studies he collaborated with trumpeter Bruno Light in the "The Street Fighters Duo". At this time he also joined the ensembles "The Street Fighters Quartet" and "The Street Fighters Double Quartet" together with Matthias Schubert, Bruno Leicht, and Claudio Puntin. In addition the "Axel Dörner Quartet" was initiated (with Frank Gratkowski, Hans Schneider and Martin Blume). With saxophonist Matthias Petzold. he participated on the albums Lifelines and Psalmen Und Lobgesänge.

Dörner has resided in Berlin since 1994, and occurs in the most diverse settings like "The London Jazz Composers Orchestra" and with "Hedros" (together with Mats Gustafsson, Günter Christmann, Barry Guy and others). Since then he has contributed on more than 50 album recordings.

Dörner is distinguished mainly by his versatility. He bouth play the more traditional Bebop, just like he fits in to classic Free Jazz or electronic music. He playd with Otomo Yoshihide at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in 2005. Dörner play both solo concerts and collaborates with his trio "TOOT" (together with Phil Minton and Thomas Lehn) and "Die Anreicherung" with Christian Lillinger, Håvard Wiik and Jan Roder, and in Ken Vandermarks "Territory-Band". Dörner is an integral part of the Berlin scene of experimental new improvisational music. Dörner was given special attention for his interpretation of all compositions by Thelonious Monk, with the pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach and his own band "Die Enttäuschung" released on a three CD album (Monks Casino, Complete 2005)."-Wikipedia

"- 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."

"Achim Kaufmann was born into a musical family in Aachen, Germany, in 1962, and became fascinated by jazz and the possibilities of improvisation as a teenager. He started writing tunes around that time. Later he studied music at the Conservatory in Cologne and also took classes with creative masters such as Dave Holland, Steve Coleman, Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, and Steve Lacy.

From 1996 to 2009, he lived in Amsterdam where he became part of that city's internationally renowned improvised music scene.Since 2002, he has been touring internationally with the trio Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode, an improvising unit which has released four CDs so far, to much critical acclaim.

In the late '90s and '00s, Achim led two groups with reed player Michael Moore: trio kamosc and gueuledeloup quartet.In 2007, he recorded kyrill, a set of compositions for piano trio featuring Valdi Kolli and Jim Black. Their follow-up cd, entitled verivyr, was released in 2011.

He has also collaborated with his wife, poet/painter Gabriele Guenther, on the audiodrama Borderline - From the Shadows of a Journey, and has written music for various chamber ensembles.In his solo work, mixed techniques are used to create a fluctuating world of sounds and gestures. Resonance and reverberation, space and density play an important role in both his solo and ensemble work.

Since his move to Berlin, he got involved in various new projects, such as the trio grünen with Robert Landfermann and Christian Lillinger, Oni Kramler (with Matthias Schubert, Antonio Borghini, and various guests), and a trio with cellist Okkyung Lee and trumpeter Axel Dörner.

In 2013, the sextet SKEIN (Kaufmann/Gratkowski/de Joode plus Richard Barrett, Okkyung Lee, and Tony Buck) had its premiere at the dOeK festival in Amsterdam and subsequently recorded for SWR radio.

He recently released duo albums with long-standing collaborators Michael Moore and Thomas Heberer.

In addition, Achim has played and/or recorded with Han Bennink, Mark Dresser, George Lewis, Steve Swallow, Tobias Delius, Wolter Wierbos, Mark Helias, Paul Rutherford, Thomas Lehn, Ab Baars, Paul Lovens, Dylan van der Schyff, Peggy Lee, Chris Speed, Tomász Stanko, Gerd Dudek, Bill Elgart, Paul Lytton, Harri Sjöström, Andrea Parkins, Harris Eisenstadt, Ingrid Laubrock, Tristan Honsinger, Shelley Hirsch, Steve Swell, Thomas Heberer, Urs Leimgruber, Roger Turner, Fay Victor, Fred Lonberg-Holm, John Hollenbeck, Bob Brookmeyer, Simon Nabatov, Lê Quan Ninh, Gerry Hemingway, John Hébert, Al Foster, Adam Nussbaum, and many more.

He was awarded the German SWR Jazz Award in 2001, and the prestigious Albert Mangelsdorff award in 2015.

"For many years, Achim Kaufmann has been one of the most inspiring and exciting personalities of the European jazz and improvisation scene. His music bears witness to great harmonic subtlety and structural depth. A brilliant pianist and composer, his reflected exploration of tradition has led him to a nuanced, contemporary sound language that encompasses poetry, energy and abstraction in equal measure." "-Julia Neupert, SWR radio