An award-winning German jazz trumpeter, composer, filmmaker, producer, and conceptualist based in New York City since 2002 Goetze specializes in bringing ancient folkloric cultures together with contemporary jazz soundscapes. He creates poetic musical, film, and live performance narratives that support peace and cooperation in this turbulent era.

How did you get into creating?

By birth.

Where are you from?

Cologne, Germany. Now Staten Islander.

How did growing up in your neighborhood/city affect you?

The great electronic music scene, while also experiencing Miles Davis, Gil Evans, Ornette Coleman, and Don Cherry live in concert as a teenager.

What did you do to advance your skills/knowledge?

Experimented as a young child on piano, composing little tunes starting at age nine. Visited theory classes at the music conservatory as a teenager, eventually graduating with two degrees and a master's in Jazz Performance. But the true lessons were touring with a master kora player from Senegal for 14 years. I was lucky to work myself up learning with some of the best people in the industry in music and film. Artists who are on the top often are extremely generous with advice and help. Find the one you love truly and connect fearlessly. Avoid working up, start from the top.

What does your current setup look like?

Small home studio with a piano, but I love to practice trumpet in nature around the many beaches on Staten Island. The morning hours and energy allow me to focus on the most annoying basics I can not yet do or have to improve daily.

Who inspires you?

Improvement on my instrument, in improvising, in rhythmic complexity and generally gaining deeper insight into music, spiritual, technical, and sound inspires me. The accomplishment of creating a new composition is the true pay of my work, it is a connection to a higher spirit.

What is your goal when you create?

To heal and inspire, create peace and dialogue. Through my work, I hope to open people's eyes to emancipate themselves beyond who they are and where they come from. To achieve a pure human experience and transcending experience for the audience and the artists involved.

Why do you create?

Creating is essential for me to survive, like breathing: without impossible to live.

How has choosing your creative path affected your life?

Gives me purpose in life. Traveled the world, visiting major cities, and museums, met extraordinary people, participated in a Sun Dance ceremony, and connected to audiences all over Europe, the Americas, and Asia, who gave me the energy to continue. Performing is a communal and shared experience.

Did you have to overcome any obstacles along the way?

Too many to count and never-ending. It is painful to be honest, reset, and be open to new horizons and challenges to learn and grow. True mastery is the ability to always stay a beginner.

What's your go-to song right now and why is it important to you?

A song or work I recently composed or am practicing. It gives me focus on music rather than technique. There is so much music, which opens hearts and is performed with a certain energy, creating an open flow of pure love. It is all a flow.

What is your dream as an artist and what steps are you taking to reach your dream?

Besides uplifting an audience and creating new work, my dream is to empower other artists to reach their potential. Streaming has irrupted the industry and held me back from becoming financially independent and the ability to financially promote other artists. Not rich but a tremendous wealth carried on by the act of love no money or power in the world can buy to control. Live by the wind.

What would you tell someone else with a dream?

Do what you love, follow your heart and the money will follow.

Tell us about your most recent release

FlamenKora

Released on June 9th, 2023 on Motéma Music

Drawing Sketches of Spain in an African Way with the Spirit of Jazz

Through the sensitive and expert intertwining of improvisational trumpet and flamenco guitar, with traditional Mandinka Kora and vocals from Senegal, FlamenKora creates timeless and enchanting multicultural music; a welcome salve in these troubled times.

Volker Goetze's evocative trumpet lines dance gracefully with the soulful vocals and Kora of his newest duo partner, the esteemed traditional Mande music master – Ali Boulo Santo Cissoko. Rising flamenco guitar maestro Alejandro Moreno adds authentic Spanish flair with driving rhythms and subtle imaginative colors. As the founder and producer of the group, Goetze brings special wisdom to FlamenKora; which he gained not only from decades of devotion to West African Mande music but also from a deep mastery of jazz composition and arrangement, and a recent deep-dive into Flamenco and Maqam melodic and rhythmic traditions.

"Flamenkora exudes a remarkable sense of cultural diversity as three accomplished musicians seamlessly communicate in their respective native languages, showcasing an uncanny ability to listen and respond to one another, resulting in an exquisite musical beauty." - JAZZIZ

"This is beautiful, reflective, soulful music..." - London Jazz News

Check it out

http://open.spotify.com/album/7e3S1oidRnP9BYPU5WSCWF?si=UcNhb6B5SdCPEDU-NW0qQQ

Connect

Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/volker.goetze/

Twitter: http://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1ZaR40lXDGkFO-yJsL_hqw

Facebook.com: http://www.facebook.com/volker.nyc

Website: http://www.volkergoetze.com

Photography credit: Youri Lenquette