Autumn 2025
Hans Lüdemann - Aly Keita - Christian Thomé
TRIO IVOIRE
„Ressurection“ - 25 years AfroEuroJazz
pre-safe link
Concert Tour in September
New album in October
New program 

Hans Lüdemann - piano, virtual piano/electronics
Aly Keita - Balaphon
Christian Thomé - drums, percussion
TRIO IVOIRE has been around for 25 years! Who would have predicted this when pianist Hans Lüdemann first met balafon virtuoso Aly Keita in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire, during a solo tour of West Africa with the Goethe-Institut in 1999? They hit it off right away, and shortly afterwards the two founded TRIO IVOIRE in Cologne with British drummer Steve Argüelles as the third member of the trio – Christian Thomé joined the trio in 2013. Not only is the trio's instrumentation of piano, balafon, drums, and electronics unique, but so is the music, which draws its tension from the contrasts and vast distances between the musicians' personal roots. Both are probably reasons why TRIO IVOIRE has such lasting power and why the collaboration has remained exciting to this day. To celebrate this, the trio is presenting a completely new program on their new album “Resurrection,” which will be released in fall 2025 on INTUITION. The official release date of the album has been postponed to October, but the musicians will already have the new album with them on their concert tour in September. The next tour is planned for spring.
Concert tour in September:
Sept 1, 2025 D – Berlin, Zigzag
Sept 3, 2025 D – München, Unterfahrt
Sept 4, 2025 A – Wien, Porgy & Bess
Sept 5, 2025 D – Dresden, Tonne
Realese 10.10.2025 at INTUITION

Theo Plath - Hans Lüdemann „Tiefblau“
Theo Plath, bassoon - Hans Lüdemann, piano
When a classical bassoonist and a jazz pianist play together as a duo, can it work? It helps if the bassoonist has a special interest in the intersections between classical music, new music, and jazz—and if the jazz pianist is classically trained and also an accomplished composer. Both of these things apply to the duo of Theo Plath and Hans Lüdemann. Their program “Tiefblau” (Deep Blue) delves into the musical borderlands between classical music and jazz, composition and improvisation. Hans Lüdemann composed the title piece especially for Theo Plath, and it will be premiered at the duo's concert premiere at LOFT Köln on November 9. The program also includes pieces by Roger Hanschel, Manfred Schoof, Daniel Schnyder, and Jürg Baur. Theo Plath is principal bassoonist of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, professor at the Frankfurt Musikhochschule, and a sought-after and very active chamber musician.
Into the depths, out into the blue!
KONZERTE:
November 9, 2025 D - Köln, LOFT
November 16, 2025 D - Düsseldorf, Palais Wittgenstein

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February 2025

„Collisione Mondiale“ - Songs from inner and outer space - Hans Lüdemann & Atlantic 7
Nick Dunston, Mark Feldman, Aly Keita Tamara Lukasheva, Christian Thomé, Bobby Zankel

This new project brings together the musicians of the Trio Ivoire with three American musicians - Mark Feldman, Bobby Zankel and Nick Dunston - and singer Tamara Lukasheva for a concert premiere on March 1. It is the culmination of a two week project at Swarthmore College involving students and faculty and including workshops and rehearsals with the College Jazz Ensemble.

concert live stream - March 1, 8 pm EST (2 am MET/MEZ) (live from Lang Concert Hall, Swarthmore College, PA - USA)
concert live stream

Hans Lüdemann & TransEuropeExpress-Ensemble
„on the edges 4“
& Burcu Karadag (Ney-flute)

with Regis Huby, Alexandra Grimal, Angelika Niescier, Yves Robert, Dejan Terzic, Clara Däubler, Ronny Graupe

The TransEuropeExpress-Ensemble has continued its project series „on the edges 4“ with a new project featuring Ney flutist Burcu Karadag from Istanbul. The ensemble spent one week at the BMC Budapest for rehearsal, recording and a concert premiere at the Opus Jazz Club on January 25, 2025. Hans Lüdemann and Burcu Karadag had developed the musical ideas during his recent artist residencies in Istanbul and created a program of original compositions. The unique sound of the Ney flute and the references to Oriental music and impressions creates a musical space that is capturing and very different from the former editions of the series. The album will be released by BMC records in 2026. Bassist Sebastien Boisseau and alto player Silke Eberhard from the original T.E.E. lineup were not able to be part of this edition and found excellent replacements by Clara Däubler and Angelika Niescier. They will be back for „on the edges 5“ - the last project of the series to be realized in 2026.

Hans Lüdemann & Reiner Winterschladen „Porgy’s Dream“ The duo album of trumpet and piano revisiting and expanding Gershwin and Gil Evans/Miles Davis classics, that was released in 2024, found a lot of positive resonance in the media. It was included in the European Jazz Charts, nominated for the „Deutscher Schallplattenpreis“ and picked as one of the albums of the year by „Fono Forum“.

„The pianist Hans Lüdemann and the trumpeter Reiner Winterschladen are drawing us into a world of dreamy, intimate sounds after just a few seconds - perhaps also because it is immediately noticeable that they have found the right and unique tone for their highly concentrated dialogue. …. Gershwin would certainly be happy on his cloud if he could hear what the two Germans have drawn out of his classics.“ (Jazz Thing 6/24, Ssirus W. Pakzad)

Hans Lüdemann - Aly Keita - Christian Thomé TRIO IVOIRE new album „Resurrection“ (release in fall of 2025)

The TRIO IVOIRE will release it’s 7th album this year that is entitled „Resurrection“. The release is planned on the INTUITION label for this fall and presented on a concert tour. After the 2020 jubilee album „Enchanted Forest“ that was expanding the trio with a vocal trio and additional instruments, the trio is back to its pure form and presenting a completely new musical program. It is a mix of compositions by each musician and pieces created collectively. The trio is continuing to explore the universe of polyrythms and new muscial territories beyond Africa and Europe, but also proving how melodic and expressive a trio of percussive instruments can be.

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