Anläßlich des Jazzfests in Bonn vom 26. April bis 12. Mai 2018 hat das Internationalen Besucherprogramm des NRW KULTURsekretariats eine Pressereise für sieben international-renommierte Jazzjournalisten und Experten organisiert, um relevante Institutionen und Orte zu besuchen sowie Gespräche mit Multiplikatoren und Institutionsleitern zu führen. Auch dem LOFT wurde ein Besuch abgestattet.
Vom seinen Eindrücken (und auch vom LOFT) berichtet Henning Bolte in einem “Live Review” auf allaboutjazz.com:

Auszug:
“Quite a different story is the astounding Loft venue venue and its history. It is also well known, but is much smaller in size and budget. As a consequence of the enduring commitment of one person, flutist Hans Martin Mueller, it still offers unique facilities to (young) musicians. LOFT was founded in 1986, the same year as the opening of the Cologne Philharmonic Hall and the concert hall in the Stadtgarten. Next to the Musikhoch-schule, an area steeped in history, Hans Martin Mueller (flutist of the WDR Symphony Orchestra and back then a teacher at the Musikhochschule) rented an unused workshop for his workspace and especially as an open forum for music. It was an ideal location. However some of the neighbors were disturbed by the sounds. Painter Sigmar Polke (1941-2010), cofounder of the ‘Capitalist Realism’ movement with Gerhard Richter e.a., was one of them and carries the honor of having ended the LOFTs first rent contract with a private agreement, which made it possible to move to its present location.

As a smaller venue Loft offers excellent (and again unique) possibilities for younger generation musicians to curate concerts (as an example see this series curated by Cologne trombonist Janning Trumann here) and record in the high quality studio there. Loft even has accommodation facilities for recording musicians. Numerous studio and live recordings have been produced there and are regularly broadcasted. “

Den vollständigen Bericht gibt es hier:
https://www.allaboutjazz.com/