Nils Wülker

Over the past twenty years, Nils Wülker has become one of the most successful jazz trumpeters and composers in Europe. Born in Bonn in 1977, he began piano lessons at the age of seven, switching to the trumpet at ten; initially focusing on classical music, with no trace of jazz yet. During an exchange year in the USA, at the age of sixteen, he finally discovered jazz, and through US3's "Cantaloop" and its original composer Herbie Hancock, he found his way to Miles Davis. Back in Germany, in 1996 he was discovered by the North Rhine-Westphalia Youth Jazz Orchestra, where he played until he began his jazz studies at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Even during his studies, he was active in Peter Herbolzheimer's BuJazzO, the RIAS Big Band, and Thärichen's Tentett, and before graduating in 2002, Nils Wülker released his debut album "High Spirits," which was highly praised by critics and audiences alike, featuring musicians such as Gene Calderazzo and Orlando LeFleming – making him the first German jazz musician to be signed by SONY Music. The following year, the then 26-year-old composed, played, and produced his own new music for Bavarian Television's Space Night, which was released on the album "Space Night Vol. 10 Jazz" (featuring Wolfgang Muthspiel and Jochen Rückert, among others).

Between 2005 and 2012, Nils Wülker released five albums on his own label, EAR Treat Music, featuring guest artists such as Torun Eriksen, Silje Nergaard, and Dominic Miller, further solidifying his reputation as a "great lyricist" (FAZ), "exceptional composer" (Crescendo), "German jazz prodigy" (Spiegel), and "master melodist" (Die Zeit). He tours extensively with his own band, and also performs as a guest with Ute Lemper, the Cuban singer Omara Portuondo, the quartet of Sting's collaborator Dominic Miller, or embarks on a European tour with Lee Ritenour, Dave and Don Grusin, Will Kennedy, and Wolfgang Schmid as the "Hang All Stars." Nils Wülker also leads the highly acclaimed "Jazz Baltica Ensemble" (2011) with new arrangements of his own compositions, creates remixes for Hugh Masekela, Gregory Porter, and Laura Lopez Castro, and produces albums for the singer Cécile Verny and the harmonica player Tollak, as well as a track for Samy Deluxe.

In 2013, he received the ECHO Jazz award as "Instrumentalist of the Year" in the brass instruments category, and in 2014, Nils Wülker accepted the German Jazz Award in Gold from the BVMI for his album "Safely Falling." His eighth album, "UP," was released in February 2015 by Warner Music. For this album, Nils Wülker collaborated with Jill Scott and Mocky in L.A., Craig Armstrong in Glasgow, Peter Vettese in London, and Max Mutzke, among others. With "UP," Nils Wülker won the Hamburg Music Prize HANS as "Musician of the Year," received another German Jazz Award in Gold, and was nominated for the ECHO Jazz award.

His hip-hop-inspired album "ON," produced in collaboration with The Krauts (producers of Marteria and Peter Fox) and Ralf Mayer, was released in 2017 and received the German Jazz Award in Gold in 2018. Also in 2018, Nils Wülker released his tenth album, "Decade Live," his first "perfectly executed" (Süddeutsche Zeitung) live album. In 2019, he received his fourth German Jazz Award in Gold for his 2012 album "Just Here, Just Now," and embarked on an extensive tour as a duo with his long-time guitarist Arne Jansen under the title "Closer." In 2020, Nils Wülker released his eleventh album, the electronically inspired GO, which the Süddeutsche Zeitung described as "groundbreaking" and "an album full of light." Radio France and the BBC, among others, dedicated programs to GO, and JazzFM UK played the music in rotation for seven weeks. In October 2020, Nils Wülker performed a program of his own compositions, arranged for orchestra, with the NDR Radio Philharmonic, a collaboration he continued in 2021 with the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra in Stockholm.

In April 2022, Nils Wülker released his orchestral album CONTINUUM, featuring new original compositions with the BR Munich Radio Orchestra, praised by the Süddeutsche Zeitung as "world-class jazz" and "aesthetics in their purest form." In July 2022, the concert premiere of Nils Wülker and the Munich Radio Orchestra took place at the Circus Krone in Munich, recorded by ARD alpha and BR Klassik. Also in 2022, the Monheimer Kulturwerke engaged Nils Wülker as "Artist in Residence" for four different concerts. This was followed by orchestral concerts with the NDR Radio Philharmonic, the Wuppertal Symphony Orchestra, the Saarland State Orchestra, and the Babelsberg Film Orchestra.

In February 2023, Nils Wülker, together with his long-time guitarist and friend Arne Jansen, released their first duo album, "Closer." Like his previous albums, "Closer" was released by Warner Music, and led to invitations to programs such as the ARD morning show and features on programs like ARD's "Titel, Thesen, Temperamente." Unusually for an instrumental jazz album, "Closer" entered the official German charts at number 15. The album released in 2024 also achieved similar success.