On Thursday, April 27th of 2023, this year’s winners of the German Jazz Award were announced at Bremen’s Metropol Theater (see video). After 2021 and 2022, the awards were presented for the third time this year, and it’s almost unbelievable: after having won already in 2021, the LOFT was now awarded Club of the Year for the second time.
As in the previous two years, the venue category was not determined by the 25-member expert jury, but could be determined by the more than 1,300 members of the German Jazz Union (UDJ) in a direct, secret (online) vote, so of course our special thanks go out to all UDJ members who voted for us again.
It was a fantastic success for us already that we made it to the finals again together with the Donau115 in Berlin and the Saxstall (in Pohrsdorf). The fact that the LOFT won again this year is nothing less than a sensation!
Without the everlasting support of the musicians, the loyal audience, Cologne’s politicians and the Cultural Office of the City of Cologne, the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia, the Deutschlandfunk, the patient neighbors in our house and our neighborhood Cologne-Ehrenfeld, and especially through the work of our fabulous and unique team, this award would not have been possible.
We congratulate all nominees and award winners, especially those from Cologne and Berlin close to us: Heidi Bayer, the trio LUAH, Matthias Schriefl, Evi Filippou, Elias Stemeseder and the Melt Trio (Bernhard & Peter Meyer with Moritz Baumgärtner).
And we are especially happy that our former jungloftler Janning Trumann and his team were awarded Festival of the Year for the Cologne Jazzweek – this year’s program was recently presented, and ticket sales have already started.
A big Thank you to everyone who made the German Jazz Award possible: the State Secretary for Culture Claudia Roth, the Initiative Musik, the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media, the members of the juries and the entire team of the German Jazz Award.
Dr. Urs Benedikt Müller and Hans Martin Müller