Jazz Award of the City of Cologne – Fabian Dudek

Horst and Gretl Will, both great jazz fans, started awarding the scholarship through their foundation in 1998 – embedded in the awarding of a total of five support scholarships by the City of Cologne. This year’s winner of the Horst and Gretl Will scholarship is the jazz saxophonist and composer Fabian Dudek.

From the statement of the jury of the Horst and Gretl Will Scholarship on their decision for the prize-winner Fabian Dudek “Fabian Dudek is a musician who does not need a lot of attempts. He knows very well what he wants and he pursues his sound ideas, his compositional and instrumental strategies without detours. The music of his bands comes along without introductions or transitions; from the very first moment, one has the accurate impression that in this improvisational context everyone knows what is wanted and what has to be done. Dudek’s music likes to come right out of the gate, and not infrequently it conveys a sense of urgency. The wealth of ideas that make themselves heard is enormous. Yet there is a precision that not only delights in the variety and complexity of the sound figures, but also sorts out with intense clarity what would be ornamentation or a diversion and is therefore unnecessary. This convincing, captivating mixture of a wealth of ideas and clarity of intentions and directions, of instrumental virtuosity and ambiguously idiosyncratic sound design makes it obvious to the jury that the Horst and Gretl Will Scholarship should be awarded to Fabian Dudek”.

Fabian Dudek will present a set of his latest compositions entitled “Day by Day” as a world premiere as part of his prize-winner concert. His music is a reflection of current times and circumstances. The concepts used in it, which are based on structures in terms of musical forms, offer an artistic individual foundation that cannot be found anywhere else. These idiosyncratic structures stimulate thought and reflection. Moreover, it is never the intention to flood the audience with information, but on the contrary – to open up a new world for them that allows them to leave the real world for a moment and to be able to question it afterwards.