Cologne-based tenor saxophonist, composer and arranger Paul Heller has been a member of the internationally renowned and two-Grammy Award-winning WDR Big Band Cologne since 2005.
Raised in a musical family, Paul Heller won three first prizes at the "Jugend jazzt NRW" competition as a teenager: in 1983 and 1985 as a drummer and in 1986 on the tenor saxophone. Heller has twice been awarded first prize at the International Composition Competition of Monaco and the Cultural Promotion Prize of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia. 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 albums under his own name, with artists including Al Foster, Ack van Rooyen, Franco Ambrosetti, Adam Nussbaum, and Wolfgang Haffner and has appeared on over 70 CDs as a soloist and sideman.
Paul Heller plays a Mark VI Tenor.
Photo credit: Gerhardt Richter
