artists

Fabian Dudek

Saxophonist – NICA artist since 2022

Music for the moment: compositions as starting point for pure ecstasy.

When people write about Fabian Dudek’s playing, prominent names are mentioned. His style reminds some of the rough wildness of a Peter Brötzmann, others think of John Coltrane. No mistaken associations, but the born Hessian names the trumpeter Ambrose Akinmusire and the funk jazz legend Maceo Parker as his role models. Fabian Dudek, born in 1995, already has an impressive discography for his young age.

The saxophonist, flutist and composer was a member of the Bundesjazzorchester and still plays in the quartet of pianist Simon Below. In addition, he leads a quartet under his own name and La Campagne, a sextet with German and French musicians, some of whom have a classical background. In 2021 Dudek was featured on the album of pop singer Wolfgang Pérez.

Stylistic openness is important to the artist, who grew up in the Rhine-Main area. “Like music, musicians should not be bound to one genre”, says Fabian Dudek, who would like to expand his international collaborations in the future.

While still a pupil at high school, Fabian Dudek became a young student at the Mainz University of Music, and later studied jazz in Cologne. In 2017, he received the Osnabrück Young Jazz Award as a soloist. In 2019, his debut album »Creating Meaning« was released, which the Kölner Stadtanzeiger called a “masterpiece”. In 2022 he released his second quartet album »Isolated Flowers«. Journal Frankfurt wrote that the musician would also “convince as an imaginative composer and sound almost lyrical at times.”

The young musician’s playing is expressive, edgy and challenging, his compositions close to free jazz. Fabian Dudek himself is unconcerned with such classifications: “What ultimately counts is being in the moment. The compositional framework is built only to use it as a starting point, towards complete ecstasy”.

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