In the late 1970s, a group of young jazz musicians came together and founded the Initiative Kölner Jazzhaus. Their goal: to become politically visible and audible, and to have access to their own means of production. It was the beginning of a success story, with their own concert hall, their own label, and their own training institution, the Offene Jazz Haus Schule.
Since that time, more and more musicians have distinguished themselves not only within their musical genre: they found venues, festivals, curate programs, and raise their voices for their interests. Eleven years ago, the Kölner Jazz Konferenz was established; the Initiativkreis Freie Musik represents the interests of Cologne’s entire independent music scene; and both within these and in the further advocacy groups and associations in Cologne, there are individuals who, alongside their commitment to jazz and improvised and contemporary music, are also outstanding musicians themselves — for example at the Stadtgarten: Hendrika Entzian, Ulla Oster, Robert Landfermann, and Janning Trumann, or here with us at 2ndFLOOR e.V.: Shannon Barnett and Sebastian Sternal. Clemens Orth has founded his own venue Salon du Jazz, Stefan Döring the O-Ton, and musicians organize concert series and festivals such as the Impakt Kollektiv, the Klaeng Festival, the Cologne Jazzweek, Jazz-O-Rama, the Jazzzeit im Heimathirsch, Jazz Bott Live, the Plattform Nicht Dokumentierbarer Ereignisse, and the Bruitkasten, or found self-governed large ensembles such as the Subway Jazz Orchestra, the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, or the Fuchsthone Orchestra.

Cologne therefore has an impressive tradition: here in particular, musicians have time and again taken the initiative themselves to fight for their interests.

And so now Felix Hauptmann has also been elected to the board of 2ndFLOOR e.V. — one of the most remarkable musicians of his generation.
Since moving here, he has been closely connected to the LOFT, has realized numerous projects and recordings with us, has played countless concerts here, and rightly calls it his second home. In his latest project Serpentine, Felix focuses on chamber-musical reduction, while his trio Percussion (with Roger Kintopf and Leif Berger) recently presented its fourth release produced at the LOFT. In mid-June he can be heard here with the brilliant trumpeter Jakob Bänsch, and in late June in a duo with his congenial colleague Kirke Karja — seven concerts involving him will have taken place here before the summer break, emblematic of the great significance Felix and his music hold in our program. At the 6th Cologne Jazzweek, in cooperation with NICA artist development, he will premiere his commissioned work Yards & Empathy in early September — in the concert hall of our colleagues at the Stadtgarten.

Felix is now also engaged as the 3rd board member of our association, and we are of course very much looking forward to the music he has yet to share with us.