SWR Jazz Prize 2025
Very honored that my recherche de longue durée on experimental procedures in music was ennobled in October last year by the prestiguous SWR Jazz Prize. Established in 1981, the music prize has since been awarded to fantastic colleagues. I am humble to now stand in a canonic row with them.
A big thank you to the jury, my fellow colleagues with whom it is such an inspiration and pleasure to work with, the promoters that keep everything going and for sure all the enthusiastic music lovers out there; without you there would be no need for us to compose and perform music.
A big thank you also to Julia Neupert for organizing the event and to Gregor Dotzauer for his incisive laudatio.
The concerts have been recorded and filmed with a tremendously high quality. My big thanks go Manfred Seiler for the sound and Karl Erhard Thumm for the fantastic images!
The videos can be seen in the ARD Mediathek:
It was a year of anniversaries for Christopher Dell – in September 2025, the vibraphonist celebrated his 60th birthday, he founded his longest-running ensemble, Trio DRA, 25 years ago, and the DLW formation has been working together for 15 years. With both trios, he has developed highly original improvisational concepts – rarely have they been heard so close together as at the presentation of the SWR Jazz Prize to Christopher Dell on 29 October 2025 as part of the Enjoy Jazz festival.
SWR Jazzprize 2025: Christopher Dell DRA video
In the first part of the concert with Trio DRA, three compositions by the award winner were performed: #103, #100 and #102. The line-up: Christopher Dell – vibraphone, Christian Ramond – double bass, Felix Astor – drums.
SWR Jazzprize 2025: Christopher Dell DLW video
In the second part of the concert with Trio DLW, various pieces by the trio were performed: Stufen, Bellingham, Gebrochener Satz, Frankfurter Block, Großform, Configuration II, Element yellow, Großform. The line-up: Christopher Dell – vibraphone, Jonas Westergaard – double bass, Christian Lillinger – drums.
