Cologne based guitarist Martin Schulte (*1979) is one of the most asked-for sidemen of the Rhine-Ruhr jazz scene in Germany. With his guitar riffs, this “brilliant instrumentalist” (Westdeutsche Zeitung), traverses the spaces between modern jazz, pop, rock and funk. Born in Duisburg, Martin Schulte has quickly become an important part of the dynamic Cologne jazz scene as a member of jazz bands Oktoposse, Magnus Mehl Quintett, Duo Doyna, and with his own quartet – the Martin Schulte Quartett. His much appreciated presence comes from his ability to be free with musical style, his deep feel for improvisation and his dexterity in moving between tension, intensity and relaxation. Forming his own musical style gained important impetus not only through his study of jazz guitar at the Hochschule fuer Musik und Tanz in Cologne, but also from lessons by international jazz celebrities such as John Abercrombie, Kurt Rosenwinkel, Hiram Bullock, Wayne Krantz, Peter Bernstein, John Taylor and Ben Monder who says about Martin Schulte: “He impressed me immediately as an extremely talented guitarist.“ 2003 Martin Schulte asked his friends Peter Ehwald (sax), Matthias Nowak (b) and Mirek Pyschny (dr) to join the Martin Schulte Quartet to perform his original pieces inspired by John Scofield and Kurt Rosenwinkel on jazz stages across Germany. Intellectual high-performance jazz isn’t their thing. The four musicians like to show a bit of emotion and humour and know how to relax. And being relaxed means you can make it your goal to enjoy the journey. The first Martin Schulte Quartett CD is ready to hit the market. Martin Schulte’s eight pieces move somewhere between jazz, pop and rock. The elements sometimes flow strong and energetic, and sometimes quiet and intimate. Some pieces are loose and airy like acoustic pop with tunes that stay in your ear. And to really dive into the fun bits of this first CD project, between the arranged stretches, Martin Schulte and his band have left a lot of room to enjoy a good dose of impro.