Joo Kraus Quartet - New Year's Concert of the Jazz Initiative

To welcome the New Year, the Jazz Initiative has invited Ulm trumpeter Joo Kraus and his trio to the cultural center. Guests can expect a vibrant mix of jazzy soul, funk, hip-hop, Latin, and more. For many years now, Joo Kraus has rightly been considered one of the most renowned jazz trumpeters in our region. Although the trumpet was not literally placed in his cradle, it was certainly laid next to his school notebook. His father played the trumpet and taught him the first fingerings. At the age of 19, propelled into the scene by winning first prize at the national competition "Jugend musiziert," he gained five years of stage experience with the electro-rock band "Kraan." In the early 1990s, Joo co-founded the hip-jazz duo "Tab Two" with Hellmut Hattler. The rhythm section and effects already came from the computer—a groundbreaking innovation at the beginning of the 90s. "Tab Two" performed all over Europe, in Asia, and the USA, produced eight albums, and were one of the biggest influencers in this genre worldwide. In the 2000s, Joo Kraus increasingly wrote his own songs. He produced his album "Sueño" in Havana's oldest recording studio and arranged songs by Michael Jackson into an intellectually demanding homage to the King of Pop. Joo Kraus boasts many decades of international stage and studio experience, countless worldwide tours, two Grammy nominations, the Echo Jazz award for best German trumpeter, and five German Jazz Awards in gold. Whether Joo performs with Cuban pianist Omar Sosa, with Paula Morelenbaum, as a guest of Klaus Doldinger, with the SWR Big Band, or with his own quintet, there is always that unmistakable sound: humble yet powerful, with infectious joy of playing combined with sensitive attentiveness to his fellow musicians. Joo has also been active as a songwriter for many years, having written for artists including Tina Turner. Additionally, he arranges and composes for orchestras, big bands, and theater. The Ulm native is wholeheartedly a musician who loves to dissolve genre boundaries and stylistic labels, creating music as he lives: freely and expressively. Thus, he embarks on ever-expanding journeys of discovery from his home planet of jazz, playing with shooting stars from other galaxies—whether they are called soul, funk, pop, hip-hop, Latin, or electronic. As a trumpeter and composer, Joo has opened his perception to musical styles from around the world, but his sometimes melancholic, sometimes cheerful melodies remain one hundred percent Joo Kraus.