Paul Heller
Biography Paul Heller
Paul Heller
The Cologne tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger Paul Heller (*21 April 1971, Jülich) has been a member of the internationally renowned WDR Big Band Cologne, which has won two Grammys, since 2005.
Growing up in a musical family, Paul Heller won three first prizes at “Jugend jazzt NRW” as a teenager: in 1983 and '85 as a drummer, and in 1986 with the tenor saxophone. Heller was twice awarded first prize at the “International Composition Competition of Monaco” and the “Culture Promotion Prize of the State of North Rhine Westphalia”.
The list of musicians with whom Paul Heller has worked in his career reads like a "Who's Who" of jazz: Heller has played in quartet, quintet and sextet formations with Johnny Griffin, Dusko Goykovich, Jimmy Cobb, Jasper van't Hof, Volker Kriegel, Eddie Gomez, Vinnie Colaiuta, Biréli Lagène, Bill Evans, Al Foster, Adam Nussbaum, Franco Ambrosetti, Steve Swallow and with his wife, the multi-award-winning Dutch jazz singer Fay Claassen (including the "Golden Record" and the "German Record Critics' Prize").
Since 2013, in addition to his work at Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Heller has been the artistic and musical director of the successful jazz concert series "Next Level Jazz" in Cologne's "Stadtgarten".
Paul Heller has now produced ten CDs under his own name with Al Foster, Ack van Rooyen, Franco Ambrosetti, Adam Nussbaum and Wolfgang Haffner, among others, and has appeared on over 70 CDs as a soloist and sideman.
Since 1994 he has led the joint "Ack van Rooyen-Paul Heller Quintet" with Ack van Rooyen.
Paul Heller has been a permanent member of the WDR Big Band since 2005, has led the joint Paul Heller-Ack van Rooyen Quintet with Ack van Rooyen for 15 years, and is also one of the most sought-after musicians of the younger generation as a sideman.
