Martin Sasse

Born in Hamm, North Rhine-Westphalia, Martin Sasse has since the 1990s built a career anchored in acoustic jazz, between piano trio, accompaniment of soloists and composition. Trained first at Folkwang-Hochschule in Essen and then at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz in Cologne, he passed through the JugendJazzOrchester NRW and the Bundesjazzorchester directed by Peter Herbolzheimer, before teaching in Cologne, Mainz, Düsseldorf and later at the Folkwang Universität der Künste. Sasse’s playing sits within a mainstream and hard bop tradition, with a pronounced sense of swing, melody and collective interaction. His discography under his name includes Here We Come (2000), A Groovy Affair (2003) with Peter Bernstein, Close Encounter (2005) with Vincent Herring, Good Times (2010) with Charlie Mariano, Take the D-Train (2015) with Steve Grossman, followed by Live at Bird’s Eye with Harry Allen (2022) and Longing (2024). Sasse has also played with musicians such as Jimmy Cobb, Philip Catherine, Dusko Goykovich, Scott Hamilton or John Goldsby, in contexts ranging from trio to extended ensembles. Parallel to his stage activity, Sasse artistically directs the King Georg club in Cologne and co-founds the JazzJazz Records label.