Hendrik Müller

He grew up in a very musical family in Detmold, as the son of a classical pianist/composer and a recorder player.

One of his first music related memories is to be sitting next to his grandfather on the organ bench, changing the registers, while he was playing in the local church.

While classical music had been the main influence on Hendrik until his teenage years (taking piano lessons from 6 years on and playing double bass in several youth orchestras) his interest in jazz and improvised music kept on becoming stronger and stronger.

“I remember listening over and over again to the very few jazz records that I could find in the house. I felt very strongly inside that I had to figure out how this music works, otherwise I could never come to rest”

Soon Hendrik started spending hours playing along most tunes that he could find on the radio or in the local record store.

“Listening very carefully and learning everything by ear was the most normal thing for me”

His stay as an exchange student in the USA, where he started playing and going to competitions with the high school big band, gave him the final boost to decide to become a professional jazz musician.

Back in Germany he started his studies at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater Hamburg and continued at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam, where he obtained his Master diploma in 2016.

Besides his own trio project, Hendrik is since several years a very active member of the international jazz scene, having worked together with Phillip Harper, Abdu Salim, Jimmy Halperin, National Radio Orchestra of Greece, Podium Witteman, Nicolas Altstaedt, Ghalia Benali, Sun-Mi Hong, the Daahoud Salim Quintet, Mehmet Polat & Embracing Colours, Erik Verwey Trio, Maarten Voortman Quintet and Eye Man All-Stars.

Hendrik has won numerous prizes in international jazz competitions such as the 1st prize at the International Jazz Award Zeeland withe the Keno Harriehausen Quartet in 2013, 1st prize at the Getxo Jazz Award with the Daahoud Salim Quintet in 2016 and 1st prize at the International B-jazz Competition in Belgium together with the Daahoud Salim Quintet in 2017.


Hendrik has also worked as a double bass, electric bass and jazz theory teacher at the Kathmandu Jazz Conservatory in Nepal in 2019.

Awards

1st price at the International Jazz Award Zeeland withe the Keno Harriehausen Quartet in 2013 1st price at the Getxo Jazz Award with the Daahoud Salim Quintet 2016 1st price at the International B-jazz Competition in Belgium together with the Daahoud Salim Quintet in 2017

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