Newsletter

With the reign of social media, a fair amount of people contact me with questions- here are the most frequently asked ones:

Where are you from/ Where did you grow up?

I grew up in the suburbs of Cologne, Germany.

When did you move to New York and where did/do you live and practice?

I moved around 1995, when I was about 19, after realising Germany wasn't for me, musically.

I first lived with Matt Penman in Park Slope, Brooklyn, then Dumbo, Brooklyn by myself, then the East Vlllage, Manhattan with my wife and now Harlem across Central Park with her and our son who was born in 2014.

I have been lucky to be able practice the drums in spare bedrooms in my apartments, all my life here in NYC, as is somewhat common.

Did you go to music school?

After quitting high school in 1992, I went to the music conservatory in Cologne for about 2 years, I didn't learn all that much there. I didn't go to school in the US, I had a few private lessons in NYC.

How was it moving to New York that young?

It was a little rough, I didn't have much work and had visa trouble. It took me quite a while to get a real gig, about two years. I was lucky enough to have enough work in Europe to keep me going. Eventually I got settled with an O-1 visa, then a green card and citizenship in 2010. I retrospect, it was fairly eeasy to get legal here, in comparison with some og my friends that immigrated to Switzerland for example.

How long has your quartet been playing ?

I started the band with Mark Turner and Matt Penmn in 2009 and we've been playing consistently since then, with Brad Shepik at first, then with Lage Lund and later Mike Moreno. We released an album called "Somewhere, Meeting Nobody" in 2011 on Pirouet records in Germany. It was my first album with original songs. I later branched out and did a record with Brian Charette on organ, and a Qunitet album without a chordal instrument. Now with Mark having moved to LA, I play more with a new Quartet with Alexandra Ridout on trumpet and Kevin Sun on tenor, Hamish Smith plays bass, a much younger band.

How do you write your songs?

Usually, on the piano, after some wine. My piano skills are very rudimentary, so it takes a lot of time and imagination; I try to avoid using computers. Often, I write during or after studying/transcribing. Sometimes a general idea of a song some to me - could be a melody, a rhythm or a general form or character while I am on the subway, at the dentist or waiting in line at whole foods and I try to record that idea quickly, writing it down or singing it into my phone.

Who books your band and how much do you play and rehearse?

I do all the booking myself ( jochensucks [ at ] gmail.com) and I hate doing it but somebody has to. I had an agent for while, he would get like 2-3 well paid gigs per tour and I still had to do most of the work and fill up the rest . We play roughly 2 two-week tours in Europe or Asia a year, do the odd Goethe Institute tour in weird places as well as gigs in New York. Initially we rehearsed twice for the first album, now we do it during sound check for new songs since everybody is familiar with the older songs.I keep a rotating cast of potential band members that know the buk of the songs so we don't have to rehearse. Covid changed the toruing thing quite a bit and it's harder now.

You program a lot of fairly crazy electronic music under the alias "Wolff Parkinson White"- how did you start and does your jazz music and your programming influence each other?

I always have been fascinated by "Venetian Snares", who programs a lot in confusing odd meters, some amazing stuff, but maybe not the most interesting melodically/harmonically. I felt like I can bring those aspects to the table, so I started programming in 2005. The jazz part does influence the electronic part a fair bit, but not really the other way around. I listen to a lot of different electronic music. A lot of it is from the last 15-20 years

Do you have plans to move back to Europe ?

Fuck no.

What kind of equipment do you use and what airlines do you fly?

Drum-wise I still use my late 60's Ludwig kit I bought in 1995, bebop sizes, I now play a somewhat deep 6.5" 1930's WFL snare drum after a long time with a 5" 1960s Slingerland Radio King. Haven't really looked at other drums since I got these. Cymbal wise, I have been using old K Zildjian, old A Zildjian, some Craig Lauritsen and Spizzichino cymbals, all 24" and 22" for a long time. I use 15"old K Zildjian and 16" old A Zildjian hihats. I have a 26" 30th anniversary Agop i played occasionally. I have a very light Frank Gegerle MK III 24". I also have a couple of Jesse Simpson's great cymbals. I recently (2025) started using Silvio Morger's cymbals, I have a set with 22.5" and 21" and one 24"/22". Silvio lives in Cologne incidentally. For sticks, I play mostly Vater maple bebop 550 or "super jazz models", I use Otis' "Bomber" fluffy bass drum beater and coated Remo Ambassador heads.

Programming-wise I am in Ableton live plus anything I can get my my hands on though it's gotten so out of control I am trying to limit my expanding arsenal. I generate a lot of the sounds used in plugin-synths and then use them in a sampler. Most of the songs use 24 notes in an octave and some other unusual tunings.

I use Max Jitter for the visuals. I try very hard to not use Apple products because those guys are cunts.

I fly a lot of Star Alliance.