Jazz Palace Community is live!
After years of development, it’s finally here—we’re live!
To register for the Jazz Palace community, you currently need an invitation code. You can find these on our Jazz Palace flyers in jazz clubs in Hamburg, Berlin, Cologne, Dresden, and Kassel—or you can be invited by friends who are already members. If you don’t yet have an invitation code, you can still join our waiting list and you’ll receive access shortly.
Traditional, contemporary, or even abstract—jazz unites countless sounds and people from all over the world. The development of Jazz Palace is a love letter to the diversity of improvised music and the people who make it.
When I was seven, my father gave me my first laptop. Since then, I’ve been fascinated by working with computers. My parents are both trained musicians, but my father has always been a tinkerer and craftsperson as well.
Perhaps it was exactly this combination that motivated me to unite music and technology in my work. In 2015—ten years ago—I set out to create an online platform for the jazz scene. At the time, I had absolutely no idea how complex and demanding it would be.
Looking back over this long journey, I’m grateful to have learned from real professionals and to still collaborate with so many inspiring people today. And without my idea for the “Jazz Palace” online platform, I wouldn’t be where I am now. This is the path that led me to become a web developer. After all these years, a dream is now coming true, and I’m thrilled to celebrate the launch of our community with all of you!
Today, Jazz Palace is our response to the challenges jazz faces. With our community, we’ve created a digital meeting point for fans and musicians of fusion, swing, avant-garde, and all other jazz styles. The special thing about it is that people from all sorts of backgrounds come together here to support free music.
Jazz Palace is not a professional association, advocacy group, or club—we are an online platform that promotes visibility and engagement through digital networking. We think internationally while focusing on real-life encounters at concerts, both on stage and behind the scenes. To make this possible, we leverage digital technology for practical functions and position ourselves as a bridge between artists, organizers, and fans. We aim to promote new concerts and reach as many people as possible with our event announcements.
Music enthusiasts can connect directly with other fans and musicians, and artists can expand their professional network by creating a professional profile.
One thing is clear to us: jazz is global. From Japan to South Africa, Scandinavia, and the USA—jazz knows no borders. This year, we are first focusing on the entire German-speaking region and will soon open the community to jazz lovers across Europe.
We’ve always thought big, and we’re aware of the challenge! But we are convinced that Jazz Palace can help foster new talent, support established artists, involve fans in shaping the scene, and keep the future of jazz vibrant.
As a web developer and founder of the platform, I spend most of my time at my desk. From the outside, it might not look particularly exciting. It’s probably not easy to describe the adventure that unfolds between the lines of code. Ten years ago, I had absolutely no idea what happens when you click a button on the internet.
What has accompanied me throughout this long journey is music! Hardly a day goes by without me exploring new music or listening to the tracks of my favorite artists. Some of these you might know—others are perhaps hidden gems.
These are the albums I’ve listened to most:
- Trio Jérôme Beaulieu – Chercher l’équilibre – 2013
- Bill Laurance – Swift – 2015, Aftersun – 2016
- Snarky Puppy – Culcha Vulcha – 2016
- Nubiyan Twist – Jungle Run – 2018
- Robert Glasper – Black Radio III – 2022
- Yussef Dayes – Black Classical Music – 2023
- Gramatik – Coffee Shop Selection – 2009
To this day, I’m supported by my family and friends, and I’m incredibly grateful for that!
Our team is also growing: thanks to the contributions of Jonathan Zielke and Elina Hanselmann, we’ve gained significant momentum in recent months. Additionally, we’ve partnered with several key players in the German jazz scene. One of the first to share our vision was Jacek Brun—the founder and editor of the online magazine Jazz-Fun.de.
This year, we’ve also begun cooperating with the following organizations:
Thank you for your commitment to jazz! I’m really excited to shake up the jazz scene with all of you.