ike many others, Stefan learned to play the recorder in primary-school. His teacher, Irma Köppel, was a challenging but kind woman. Many of her pupils were frightened of her. But it wasn`t the jelly babies Mrs Köppel gave her pupils as a reward for good behaviour which motivated Stefan. For him it was precision! He would often get up at the crack of dawn to practise – much to the delight of his still sleeping siblings!

Stefan still hasn`t lost this obsession. But he later changed to a new instrument - the alto saxophone.

The same teacher introduced Stefan to the art of improvisation. Step by step he discovered the pentatonic scales. Once he had mastered those, Stefan was the lead saxophone player and soloist in the saxophone-ensemble of the music school in Goldach, led by Guido Schwalt.

During his time studying at the teachers` college in Rorschach, Stefan played in Malcolm Green`s Big Band. Thanks to his ability to play the pentatonic scales he could play most solo-parts. With a small group of jazz-lovers from teachers-training he set up the „Classic Mood Quintett“.

During his gap-year Stefan decided he wanted to study music. As a result of this decision, his last year of teachers-training became much harder for him. He increased his time practising his saxophone and also began to studying jazz theory intensively.

On finishing teachers-training, Stefan started at the Jazzschool in St. Gallen. He studied with Carlo Schöb, and at last learned more than just to play pentatonic scales. By this time Stefan played in several formations: a funk-band „Poodlekickin“, with Jan Geiger at the drums - there Stefan played the funky saxparts, then he played the lead in a fusion-band „Blizz Rhythmia“ and in 2004 he also joined the„Giacopuzzi Project“ who were short of a saxophone-player. He was also developing a duo with Fabian Mueller and it was becoming a solid formation.

JALAZZ "Between Spaces" (Altrisuoni AS232, 2007)
JALAZZ "tvoj tieň" (Altrisuoni AS277, 2008)