Manu Koch

Biography         Born in Switzerland, Manu Koch started playing piano at the age of five and studied classical music for thirteen years. During his teenage years he got introduced to the fusion era of Herbie Hancock, Miles Davis and Weather Report and started experimenting with synthesizers and sequencers. He later took tenor saxophone lessons for two years and enrolled at the Jazz School in Luzern, Switzerland for one semester. In 1993 Manu Koch moved to Boston to attend Berklee College of Music where he studied jazz piano with JoAnne Brackeen, Ray Santisi and Laszlo Gardony and percussion with Jamey Haddad and Ernesto Diaz. The international surrounding and

various world music classes introduced him to many new sounds like Indian, West African and especially Brazilian music. During his college years he started working as a freelance musician in the Boston area where he performed with jazz artists such as drummer Bob Moses and Oscar Stagnaro, Brazilian groups Zabumbatuq, Teresa Inês Group and Sergio Brandão & Manga Rosa, the Caribbean Jazz Band Sun Steel led by steel drum player Ron Reid and the legendary jazz club Wally's house band where he played with Donald Harrison, Reuben Rogers, Adam Deitch, Eric Krasno, Mark Kelly, Sam Kininger, Charles Haynes, Mark Simmons, Chris Loftin and many more. In Boston Manu Koch also started the still ongoing collaboration with Malian griot, singer and kora master Balla Tounkara. His interest in West African and Brazilian music deepened after touring the Cape Verdean islands with the Mendes Brothers in September 1999 and later that year in Brazil where he performed with the bands of bassist Alberto Continentino, singer Teresa Inês and guitarist Jorge Shy. Manu Koch moved to New York in May 2000 where he is still based today. Since then he has been performing in many well known venues in New York and the US (Blue Note Jazz Club, The Fillmore, Zinc Bar, Cafe Wha, B.B. Kings, S.O.B.'s, Knitting Factory...) and around the world (Japan, Hong Kong, Canada, Europe) with artists and projects such as Angelique Kidjo, Benny Rietveld, Lionel Loueke, Fantcha, Kinos Hronos, Martino Atangana & African Blue Note, Malika Zarra, Duduka Da Fonseca, Maucha Adnet, Vanderlei Pereira, Aquiles Baez, Sergio Brandão, Bobby Allende, Ruben Rodriguez, Leo Traversa, Vic Juris, Miguel Zenon, Seamus Blake, David Binney, Avishai Cohen, Eli Degibri, John Benitez, Marlon Saunders, Chiara Civello, Barbara Mendes, Armando Gola, Quizamba, Kaïssa, Vinny Valentino, Ric Fierabracci, Hendrik Meurkens, Jiro Yoshida and many more.