jj began playing the guitar at the age of 10. the berlin wall had just fallen. he privately studied composition with elliott sharp, harmony and serial music with professor julio herrlein, jazzguitar with michael gechter and music synthesis with mike daliot. one of 100 electric guitarists in rhys chatham’s “an angel moves too fast to see”, a scholarship holder at berklee college of music in boston and a participant in the ensemble modern’s young composer’s forum. he has performed with bill bickford, mike daliot, mia dyberg, sunny edwards, stefan goldmann, philipp gropper, david helm, hanns höhn, willi kappich, oliver potratz, bertram ritter, benno sattler, eric schaefer, jason schneider, dennis sekretarev, andrei shabashev, matthias vogt and many others.
postscore of live at a virtual village vanguard (2024)
the platform
imm records is a record label and r&d hub exploring new forms of musical expression. most recordings are solo works by jj. collaborations i.e. with bertram ritter complement it. the current platform used is bandcamp also providing physical recordings, but the music is available on all streaming platforms as well. the main focus of jj´s artistic work lies in (advanced) modal improvisation and composition - both seen as poles on a creative continuum. at the same time, however, there is a reception of techniques of contemporary classical and electroacoustic music. since the emergence of the ‘third stream’, the particular challenge has been to integrate these trends in a way that is not eclectic.
a famous philosopher once wrote about a future society, "...where nobody has one exclusive sphere of activity but each can become accomplished in any branch he wishes, society regulates the general production and thus makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticise after dinner, just as I have a mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, herdsman or critic.” imm records follows this line of utopian thinking by providing a platform to take on a wide variety of roles for its founder: as a composer, guitarist, arranger, improvisor, producer, writer, sound designer, studio technician, video producer or social media manager.
negative metaphysik – score (2025)
this platform is also guided by the conviction that such a practice tends to benefit more from a certain fruitful solitude than from hastily following communities and the programmes they devise. some civil distance and institutional autonomy are thus regarded as values to be cultivated outside the realm of music, which can also be effectively conveyed through the form and material of the music itself.it is against this background that artistic collaborations - i.e. with bertram ritter - are initiated.
‘notizen zur musik’ is another channel where philosophical and sociological ideas relating to the music are explored.
this page brings together all the information you would expect to find when visiting an artist’s website: touring schedules, links, scores, media, reviews etc.
jo jena 