Jazz connects RheinMain with John Schröder u.a.

An event as part of the Jazz connects RheinMain program of the Frankfurt RheinMain Cultural Fund, with

• John Schröder - g, dr; Oliver Potratz - b; Burkard Kunkel - basset horn, bcl, zither; Sebastian Sternal - p.

John Schröder, once celebrated by the press in Frankfurt as a “guitar prodigy” after his first performances in 1978, has been one of the busiest jazz musicians since moving to Berlin in 1997, who also has merit on the drums. After his first recordings in 1982 and working in a duo with Joe Gallivan, he played with Roberto di Gioia, saxophonist Peter Weniger and bassist Marc Abrams in the fusion group Zuppa Romana. In 1994 he joined the successful band The Red Area, founded by Rudi Mahall and Frank Möbus in 1992, with whom he performed in numerous countries.
For the recording of a concert at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 2001, the group received the German Record Critics' Quarterly Prize (1st quarter of 2005). He also played with Stefan Lottermann, Achim Kaufmann and other musicians from the Cologne scene. Schröder is a member of Das rosa Rauschen (with Felix Wahnschaffe), the Norbert Scholly Group, the Fabian Gisler Quartet, Erdmann 3000, LAX and other band projects. He founded the band Momentum Impakto with his guitar student Kalle Kalima. He played with many 1988), James Moody, Joe Lovano, Randy Brecker, Enrico Rava, but also with Christopher Dell in a quartet and duo.
He played at major international jazz festivals around the world and recorded albums with well-known musicians such as Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, Till Brönner, Kudsi Erguner, Tim Fischer, David Friedman, Gitte Haenning, Kalle Kalima, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Rolf Kühn, Christoph Lauer, Christian Lillinger, Hans Lüdemann, Albrecht Mayer, Claudio Puntin, Radio Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Yves Robert, Eric Schaefer, Helen Schneider, Tomasz Stanko, Gebhard Ullmann, Rolando Villazon, Jiggs Whigham and many other inspiring colleagues from the international jazz scene.

Oliver Potratz was born in Hamburg in 1973. He initially began his musical career as a violinist and electric bass player. It wasn't until he was twenty that he switched to the double bass. Just a year later, he began studying classical double bass in Berlin with Prof. Michael Wolf, which he completed with the distinction “very good”. He then completed his jazz studies at the U.d.K. Berlin and completed it with a Master of Arts in Jazz Composition (summa cum laude) with Greg Cohen at the Jazz Institute Berlin. Since then, concert tours with various ensembles and as a soloist of contemporary music have taken him to over 60 countries on five continents. In 2016 he was project manager of the German-Afghan music project 'SAFAR' of the HfM Franz Liszt in Weimar with concert projects in Afghanistan and Germany. He won various prizes, including the New German Jazz Prize 2008, the German Record Critics' Prize in spring 2020, two awards with the German Jazz Prize 2021 and won the largest Austrian music prize, the Amadeus 2023, with the band Shake Stew. He was a Jehudi Menuhin scholarship holder Foundation and received several scholarships from the Berlin Senate.
Oliver Potratz can be heard as a sideman, collective member, band leader and producer on over 70 CD productions and has written music for radio productions and radio plays, as well as for television, most recently for the successful series Babylon Berlin. In addition to his internationally successful band work, he is currently musical director for Tim Fischer. He played at major international jazz festivals around the world and recorded albums with well-known musicians such as Andromeda Mega Express Orchestra, Till Brönner, Kudsi Erguner, Tim Fischer, David Friedman, Gitte Haenning, Kalle Kalima, Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Rolf Kühn, Christoph Lauer, Christian Lillinger, Hans Lüdemann, Albrecht Mayer, Claudio Puntin, Radio Sinfonieorchester Berlin, Yves Robert, Eric Schaefer, Helen Schneider, Tomasz Stanko, Gebhard Ullmann, Rolando Villazon, Jiggs Whigham and many other inspiring colleagues from the international jazz scene.

Burkard Kunkel (bass clarinet, basset horn, zither) picked up the zither at the age of seven and played it as a child at home evenings in Spessart, Bavaria, for spa guests. At some point he locked the zither in the closet for 18 years, listening to and playing rock, funk and then jazz. He came to Frankfurt in 1991 as a medical student and in 1996 received a jazz work scholarship from the city of Frankfurt as a bass clarinetist. In addition to his work as a child and adolescent psychiatrist, he continues to give new impetus to the contemporary jazz scene. Since 2002, he has also been making Mozart's "favorite instrument", the basset horn, and, in addition to the bass clarinet, also the zither from his childhood sound in a new guise.
With Christian Ramond and John Schröder he played in the legendary Frankfurt band Atlantic Augen from 1997-2004. From 2003 to 2004 he played in the Trio Gulliver with Oliver Potratz and John Schröder. After 20 years, the “Cats” are now meeting each other.

Sebastian Sternal, born in 1983, has worked with jazz greats such as Dee Dee Bridgewater, David Binney and John Riley; Concert tours have already taken him to the USA, Namibia, South Africa, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Poland, Bulgaria and Albania.
His project “Sternal Symphonic Society” (Traumton Records) brings together outstanding young musicians from jazz and classical music in an 11-piece “symphonic combo” and has won many awards. In 2017, his trio album “Home” with Larry Grenadier and Jonas Burgwinkel was released, celebrated by audiences and experts alike: “Early contender for album of the year” (Jazzthing) - “intense masterpiece” (Stereoplay).
Sternal teaches as a professor of jazz piano and ensemble at the Mainz University of Music and heads the department for jazz and popular music. Thanks to a fellowship from the Gutenberg Research College, he founded the excellence project “Jazz Campus Mainz” in 2021.
He has received numerous awards and scholarships: ECHO Jazz (2018, 2016, 2013); Annual Prize of the German Record Critics 2015; New German Jazz Prize 2014; WDR Jazz Prize 2007 (Cologne); Concours piano jazz Martial Solal 2010 (Paris); Academic Foundation of the german people; Studied jazz piano and composition in Cologne and Paris, among others with Hubert Nuss, Joachim Ullrich, Hervé Sellin and John Taylor; long-time member and lecturer in the Federal Jazz Orchestra (Peter Herbolzheimer).