Jochen Baldes

Saxophonist & Composer He studied with Andy Scherrer, Joe Haider, Bert Joris, and Frank Sikora, and attended masterclasses with Rick Margitza, Ray Anderson, Mark Turner, Cedar Walton, Wynton Marsalis, Billy Higgins, Tom Harrell, and Kenny Werner. He has performed at jazz festivals in Montreux, Willisau, Schaffhausen, Terneuzen (NL), Grahamstown (ZA), Voronezh, and Kursk (RU), and has toured extensively across Europe, Cuba, South Africa, and Russia. His diverse discography features recordings with Andy Brugger’s Diet Bang, the Lucerne, Zurich, and Martin Streule Jazz Orchestras, the Adrian Frey Septet, Herbie Kopf, and Christoph Stiefel. He has also composed music for SRF Radio & Television. Notable cross-disciplinary projects include a collaboration with author Uwe Timm for the launch of his novel Rot, and leading the group Jochen Baldes Subnoder. He also co-leads the band Kobal with German poet Nicolai Kobus. In 2012, he collaborated with singer and audiovisual artist Johanna Jellici on Two Voices for the Ulmer Museum, later releasing the CD Invisible Door with Jellici/Baldes’ Soundfields. Named Artist in Residence at the Moods jazz club in April 2017, his project Jellici Baldes Spacetracker released The Journey and Slider on Leo Records, followed by Jochen Baldes Bashō on UNIT Records. Additionally, he has performed as a soloist with the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich and contributed solo improvisations to Howard Shore's soundtrack for David Cronenberg's film Naked Lunch.