Jo Beyer

Biography
Jo Beyer (*1991) is a German drummer and composer.
As child he started playing the piano and switched to drums later on, which he studied at Hochschule Osnabruck (Germany) as well as Royal Academy of Music Arhus (Denmark). He primarily works with his own quartet JO and the trio Malstrom which has already released four albums (one with piano player Florian Weber) and played large tours all over the world.
His own band JO, which he founded in 2015 and composes the music for, recently released their second album and plays with all elements of musicals parameter, which combines his unique way of playing drums and expressing his music to arrive at a very communicative and improvised interpretation as well as uncompromised fun with his own catchy compositions. He also works a lot with the extreme dynamic range of playing highly energetic music and does research in creating experimental sounds on the drumset.
The experimental quality of Jo Beyer's music coupled with his signature emotive expression, has led jazz- award juries to recognize him as being disruptive and innovative in the contemporary scene and supported his musical idea with awarding him a bunch of renowned international new comer jazz prizes. Next to intense touring all over the world and holding workshops, also in cooperation with Goethe Institut, in about 15 countries he regulary participates in radio- and television productions. Additionally to his work as bandleader he plays a lot in different bands and projects as sideman and recorded a bunch of CDs.
During international touring Jo Beyer was invited to renown festivals such as Int. Jazzwoche Burghausen (Germany), Elbjazz (Germany), Jazzfest Bonn (Germany), Oslo Jazzfestival (Norway), OCT Jazz Festival Shenzhen (China), B-Jazz Festival (Belgium), Krokus Jazz Festiwal (Poland), World Youth Jazz Festival (Malaysia), Getxo Jazzfestival (Spain), Tremplin d'Jazz Avignon (France) etc.
Current Album

Jo - Party
Jo Beyer – dr, comp
Sven Decker – ts
Roman Babik – p
Andreas Wahl – e & a g, E-Bow
“Uncompromising fun,” is how Beyer sees his latest release in which he tantalises with a combination of soothing, catchy melody and complex, sometimes foolhardy improvisation.
Beyer’s track titles are mostly tangential to the actual music, based on “running gags or the moment when a piece was composed”.
Although Beyer says it is not his conscience intention, he plays with the emotions of his audiences, winding them up with highly-strung sounds and structures, then releasing the tension with soothing melody. With humour, high voltage and endless inventiveness, he teases and entertains, adding new dimensions to modern contemporary jazz.
Discography
- Party, 2019
- Jo, 2017
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