Ralf Böcker

Ralf Böcker a reedman from Hamburg Germany was a very successful leader of several bands playing major festivals for decades in Europe. Ralf recently settled in the Bay Area, San Francisco and is rapidly becoming active in the local jazz scene. He is a devotee of Sidney Bechet a legendary figure in classic jazz. Backing Ralf is a band of San Francisco area all-stars professional musicians known for their devotion to jazz some of who teach at area colleges and universities.

Ralf Böcker, from Germany (https://rabe-music.com/), Hamburg, also known as the composer and author Damian Maria Rabe, learned his craft on the street, touring Europe at the age of 16 as a street musician. 

After various band activities in the Ruhr area, he founded his own groups: such as the Delta Mood Jazz Band, Hot House, Ma Piroschka, Cannonball J., Hardbop Deluxe, and Big Jazz.

After he constructed his own recording studio, he produced jazz, klezmer, funk and audio book CDs. Ralf Böcker initiated, planned and moderated the radio show "JazzHausRadio" in Göttingen, Kiel and Hamburg, which still broadcasts successfully today. Ralf Böcker also works as a theater musician, e.g. B. at the Deutsches Theater Göttingen or at the Domfestspiele Bad Hersfeld.

After founding the event and booking agency "magenta-music," Ralf Böcker was u. a. Organizer of the 1st Göttingen Klezmer Festival in 1998 under the patronage of Rita Süssmuth (president of the Bundestag at the time). In Hamburg, Ralf Böcker organized the "International Klezmer Festival Hamburg" in 2009 and 2010. Magenta-music was appointed to the Hamburg State Music Council in 2010. In 2009, Ralf Böcker established a jazz series at the Schillertheater Geesthacht, in which great musicians such as Ladi Geisler and Günter Fuhlisch performed. In 2010 he initiated another music series in the Cotton Club in Hamburg, supported by the city of Hamburg. Every two months, concert evenings with Hamburg jazz stars and young talents take place in the Cotton Club under the name JazzPuls & Friends.

Today, Ralf Böcker teaches saxophone, clarinet and flute, composes many genres, as well as is a band leader and freelancer for bands throughout Germany, USA, now San Francisco.

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