Thomas Siffling
Instruments: trumpet and fluegelhorn

Biography: Born in 1972 Thomas studied jazz trumpet at Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Heidelberg-Mannheim. He did his post graduate studies at Staatliche Hochschule für Musik Stuttgart. He is a member of The Jugend-Jazzorchestra Baden-Wuerttemberg and Bundesjugend Jazzorchestra. In 1999 Thomas was awarded the Förderpreis der Stadt Mannheim für junge Künstler and The Thomas Siffling Jazz Quartet won first prize in a jazz contest sponsored by DaimlerChrysler. Thomas has been the leader of the SAP Big Band since 2000. In 2005 he won first prize in the Jazz Preis Baden - Wuerttemberg after his second prize in 2002. In 2006 he became one of its judges. He received a scholarship from The Kunststiftung Baden - Württemberg in 2007. Thomas joined JazzXChange 2004 and is its musical director.

Thomas has toured extensively in Europe including Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Holland, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and the Ukraine. He has also toured in Asia, South America and Canada. He has played and recorded with Joachim Kuehn, Soehne Mannheims, Pit Baumgartner and Phishbacher.

Thomas has worked on films such as Mein perfektes Leben (2005) and assisted with the Unterwegstheater Heidelberg and the Nationaltheater Mannheim on ballet and modern dance. This resulted in a DVD Production with the Kevin O Day Ballet of the Nationaltheater Mannheim and Siffling/Gunia/C-Rock. The film Transmission has been released in 2009.

Thomas’ astonishing creativity has made him a figurehead of the German jazz scene. Walking the border line between various genres he masterfully introduces electronic elements to his music.

Albums: Soft Wind (Thomas Siffling Quartet , 1999), Stories (Thomas Siffling Group, 2001), Change (Thomas Siffling Trio, 2004), Human Impressions (Thomas Siffling & the Public Sound Office, 2005); Kitchen Music (Thomas Siffling Trio, 2007), Cruisen (Thomas Siffling Trio, 2009), Days of Twang (DePhazz, 2007), Tales of trust (Pit Baumgartner, 2008), Well You needn’t (JazzXChange, 2006), Point of View (Re:Jazz), Babylon System (Soehne Mannheims), Album 03 (Rainer Tempel BigBand), Zen Rodeo (Mardi Gras BB) and Blue Ideas (Fritz Muenzer Tentett).

Favourite Albums: TuTu, Kind of Blue and Sketches of Spain (Miles Davis), Khmer (Nils Petter Molvaer), and Freak in (Dave Douglas)

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