Sebastian Gille
was born February 1st, 1983 in Quedlin- burg and grew up in Hoym (both in Sachsen-Anhalt, Germany). He comes from a musical family; his father plays accordion, his mother piano, and his older brother piano. Gille remembers that during his childhood, “On special occasions when family and friends got together, singing and dancing were an important ritual.” At the age of 14 Sebas- tian Gille began to play saxophone, and discovered the music of Miles Davis and Wayne Shorter.

At 19 he won the “Yamaha Sax Contest”, and began to study with alto saxophone giant Phil Woods. A little later he be- came a member of the German National Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Peter Herbolzheimer. In 2004 the 21- year-old moved to Hamburg to study at the Conservatory for Music and Theater and took lessons with, among others, Branford Marsalis, Christoph Lauer, and John Ruocco. Success followed success. The young Gille received a series of awards and stipends including the prize for best soloist from the Oskar Vera Ritter Endowment (2005), a full scholarship from the German national Academic Foundation (2007-2009), the Dr. E. Langner Jazz Prize (2007), as well as the Jazz Advancement Prize from the Schleswig-Holstein Culture Forum (2007). In 2009 Gilles formed his own quartet with with Pablo Held (p), Robert Landfermann (b) und Jonas Burgwinkel (drs). The quartet’s debut album Anthem appears on Pirouet Records (2011). Concerning the exceptional circumstances of the quartet, Sebastian Gille has this to say; „The atmosphere in a band is very important; friendship plays a very important role in my life, and it is also an essential part of my music. The idea of friendship includes such values as openness, trust, and truthfulness. All these values are also important for the further development of the music within the band. The bond of friendship is something special in music, and it is worth looking for.”

In 2010 Sebastian Gille started his own concert series and brought in such colleagues as Claus Stötter, Daniel Schrö- teler, Frank Delle, Jonas Burgwinkel, Matthias Pichler, Niels Klein, Pablo Held, Rainer Böhm, Robert Landfermann and Ziv Ravitz. In his still young carrier, Sebastian Gille has worked with such well-known international and national players as Abdullah Ibrahim, Al Jarreau, Bob Brookmeyer, Henning Sieverts, Hubert Nuss, Jim Black, Maria Schneider, Nils Landgren, Nils Wogram, Norma Winstone, Rainer Winterschladen, Steve Gray and Steve Swallow. Gilles is also a frequent guest soloist with the NDR (North German Radio) Big Band, participating in projects from, among others, Colin Tons (John Lennon—In My Own Write), Hans Koller (Scenic Routes), Joao Bosco (Senhoras Do Amazonas) and Joe Sample (Children of the Sun).