Hans Koch

born 1948, lives in Biel, Switzerland. Hans Koch has quit his carreer as a recognised classical clarinetist to become one of the most innovative improvising reed-players in Europe.

He has been working with everyone from Cecil Taylor to Fred Frith since the eighties. As a composer he has shaped the sound of Koch-Schütz-Studer since the beginning as well as working for radio-plays and film.Since the nineties he has been working with electronics as an extension of the saxes/clarinets as well as with sampling/sequencing. As a reed-player he is always working on his very own vocabulary and sound, which makes him a very unique voice on the actual scene.

Hans Koch on Percaso Productions

Voerkel Sextett live ©+p 1990

Jürg Grau: trumpet & flügelhorn, Nathanael Su: alto sax, Hans Koch: tenor sax & bass clarinet, Urs Voerkel: piano, Jürg Wildberger: bass, Irene Schweizer: drums

Composed by Urs Voerkel. Recorded live June 12 1990 by Urs Voerkel at Werkstatt für Improvisierte Musik (W.I.M.), Zürich. Edited by Christoph Gallio. Produced by Christoph Gallio & Urs Voerkel. Cover Art: Christoph Gallio & Dieter Lüdin

other selected Hans Koch recording’s