joscha oetz

Contrabassist, composer, producer and educator; Born in 1971 in Cologne, Germany, now based in Lima, Peru.A cosmopolitan virtuoso, Oetz is at home in multiple musical universes. He works in Jazz, Classical and Contemporary Classical contexts as well as Hip Hop, Latin Music and beyond. While focusing on pushing the limits of creativity with his own projects, he also is in great demand as a sideman. When he moved to Lima from San Diego, California in 2005 he quickly became the most sought after bassist in the country and has developed into the first German bass player specialist of Afro-Peruvian music. As such, he works with some of the most important exponents of that style including Grammy winner Susana Baca and trumpeter Gabriel Alegria whom he accompanied on US Tours in 2006 and 2007. This latter collaboration also generated a CD with guest artists Bobby Shew and Russ Ferrante.Oetz is at home on stages around the world and has worked with artists such as Michael Brecker, Dave Liebmann, Barre Phillips, Don Byron, George Lewis, Mark Levine, Anthony Davis, Don Rickles, Hayden Chisholm, Jochen Ruckert, Nils Wogram, Hans Fjellestad, Marcos Fernandes, Rajesh Meta, Steve Noble and classical ensembles such as the La Jolla Symphony and SONOR of San Diego, CA.Oetz has published four CDs under his own name so far: The Loonators (2000, zerozero 006) with his German based quartet featuring Niels Klein, Nils Tegen and Christian Thome; Vieles ist Eins (2002, accretions alp 026), solos and duos with Barre Phillips, Andreas Wagner and Greg Stuart; Permanent Flow (2005, accretions alp 037) with his German/North American trio with Andreas Wagner y Greg Stuart; Urbanico (2007, cernicalo producciones) with his Peruvian sextet.Oetz studied Jazz with Dieter Manderscheid and Bill Dobbins at the Cologne Music Academy and in 2000 received a scholarship from the German Academic Exchange service (DAAD) to study contemporary Art Music with Bertram Turetzky and George Lewis at the University of California in San Diego, California. Besides his busy schedule as a performer he also is currently working as a jazz educator at various schools in Lima. He is director of Peru’s leading Jazz Institute Jazz House Peru. He has worked as a professor at Miramar and Cuyamaca Colleges in San Diego and the Offene Jazz Haus Schule in Cologne.