Christoph Möckel

Jazz saxophonist Christoph Möckel (*1986 in Schwerin) comes from a family of musicians and was surrounded by theatre and music from a very early age. He visited a grammar school that was dedicated to music, where he was able to gain experience at concerts throughout Europe, and in the US, and he was a prizewinner at the German national competitions “Jugend Jazzt” and “Jugend Musiziert”.

In 2011, he completed his studies of Jazz Saxophone with distinction at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln and has been an active and sought-after musician on the German jazz scene ever since: concerts e.g. at the Jazzahead Bremen, the festival Athens Jazz, Jazzfest Bonn, WDR Jazzfest, SR Jazzfestival Saarbrücken, the International Jazz Week Burghausen and at the Autumn Leaves Jazz Festival Luxembourg.

He also performs in productions at Schauspiel Köln, the Mecklenburg State Theatre Schwerin, and Schauspiel Dusseldorf.

In big band projects such as the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra or the Subway Jazz Orchestra, he has worked e.g. with David Binney, Darcy James Argue, Donny McCaslin, Michael Abene, Seamus Blake, Julian Arguelles, Nils Wogram, Hayden Chisholm, Marshall Gilkes, Niels Klein, and Florian Ross. He also played with famous pop stars such as Lena Meyer-Landruth and Stefan Raab, e.g. at the Eurovision Song Contest.

In 2012, he was selected as the only German member of the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) European Jazz Orchestra for a 3-week European tour.

His musical talent has been documented in various formations in more than 20 CD recordings (e.g. for TRAUMTON RECORDS, DOUBLEMOON RECORDS /JAZZTHING NEXT GENERATION, ENJA RECORDS), for which he has received the Echo Jazz and the annual German Record Critics’ Prize.  He regularly performs in radio and television productions for NDR, WDR, BR, SR, ARD and ARTE.

His debut CD "Dreamlike" under his own name was produced in 2014 in cooperation with DEUTSCHLANDFUNK and released on the Cologne label KLAENG RECORDS. The EP "Speed" recorded with his current trio was released in 2021.

Christoph Möckel has been lecturer for Saxophone, Ensemble and Improvisation at the Rostock University of Music and Drama since 2020.


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