Maika Küster

Maika Küster (* around 1993 in Dinslaken ) is a German jazz and improvisation musician ( vocals , piano , composition ).

Küster, who grew up in an artist's household in Dinslaken, began to learn the flute at the age of nine . She first played in orchestras before switching to the school jazz band. Küster completed a preparatory course in Cologne in 2012. It was there that the quartet Der weise Panda was formed , which received the Sparda Jazz Award in 2015 and released the album Ma in 2016 . In 2018 the group won the Prix du Public at the Tremplin Jazz d'Avignon competition. In 2020 she released the second album of the same name with the formation that has now expanded to a quintet. Küster studied jazz at the Folkwang University of the Arts . During my studies other projects emerged, such as the band (We had something with) Björn and the duo Mockingbird . She also appears in the singer collective Sungsound . She also worked as a theater musician and also performed with The Dorf .

Discographic notes

• The wise panda ( Double Moon Records 2016, with Simon Seeberger, Yannik Tiemann , Jo Beyer )
• Björn: Oh What Pretty Thing (Time Zone 2017, with Maria Trautmann , Yannik Tiermann, Manuel Loos)
• The wise panda ( Jazzhaus Records 2020, with Felix Hauptmann , Talia Erdal, Yannik Tiemann, Jo Beyer)
• The Dorf / Phill Niblock : Baobab / Echoes (surrounding area 2020)

Web links

• portrait
• The wise panda
• Maika Küster at Discogs (English)

Individual evidence

1. ^ Jazz in the name of the wise panda
2. ↑ meeting (jazz-fun.de)
3. ↑ meeting (jazz newspaper)