Biography

Stefan Werni is a double bassist, electric bassist, sound designer and composer of electroacoustic music.
Since the 1980’s he works with german and international musicians and composers in the fields of Jazz,
Rock, Improvised- and Electronic Music.

Following piano lessons in his childhood he became a self taught electric bassist in 1982 and gained first experiences in rock groups. Inspired by his friend and mentor Ernst Dittke he picked up the double bass and started playing the first Jazz sessions and gigs at Walter Kurowski’s Werkstatt Eisenheim and JazzInitiative Recklinghausen, jamming regularly with musician friends like Joachim Heßler p, Herbie Klinger g,
Heinz Oelmann p, Christian Jendreiko g, Lothar Wantia dr.

Double bass lessons from his father, classical bassist Ludwig Werni, and Jazzstudies at the Musikhochschule Köln complemented his musical education.

His double bass playing features the warm „wood“ sound of gut strings and a strong swing feel.

On the electric bass he uses flatwound strings for a round, full bodied sound and plays with an impeccable groove.  

In 1987 he met bassclarinettist and composer Eckard Koltermann and in 1990 became a member of his band.

Since 1998 Stefan Werni engineered and mixed many audio recordings,
mainly in live situations.
Several of his recordings were published on CD, LP and Videosoundtracks.
He works regularly with photographer and videoartist Dietmar Lorenz:
LORENZ & WERNI Produktion

Collage 12

(Ralf Kaupenjohann acc., Willem Van Manen tb, Theo Jörgensmann cl, Christoph Eidens marimba, Reiner Winterschladen tr, Ludger Schmidt cello, Achim Krämer dr, Simon Nabatov p, Stefan Werni b, Ina Stock oboe, Lauren Newton voc, Eckard Koltermann bcl, sax, comp.)

and was a member of bands like

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Chladni’sche Figuren

(Manfred E. Knapp sax&fl, Udo Herbst g, Claus Gnichwitz dr, Stefan Werni b)

and

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Schwarzer Peter

(Ludger Schmidt cello, Matthias Scheffel p, Stefan Werni b, Lothar Ohlmeier bcl&sax, Hans J. Kanty dr)

for whom he wrote his first original compositions.

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Ever since he worked in many versatile formations like:

Trio Infernal – Die gute Band

Music & Comedy
(Hans J Kanty dr & voice, Christian Jendreiko voc, g, Stefan Werni b)

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Take Nat

The music of Nat ‚King‘ Cole
(Stefan Werni b, Manfred Portugall g, Manfred Billmann voc, p)

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Stephan Mattner Quartett

Modern Jazz (Stephan Mattner sax, Jona Kümper p, Michael Peters-Thöne dr, Stefan Werni b)

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Das letzte Kammerensemble

New improvised music
(Antje Vetter vl, Andreas Wahl g, Christoph Hillmann dr, Stefan Werni b)

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Ernst Dittke Quartett / Quintett

Hardbop (Ernst Dittke sax/fl, Heinz Oelmann p, Herbie Klinger g, Lothar Wantia dr,
Dave Caswell tr, Stefan Werni b)

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Current projects and bands:

Hartmut Kracht Trio feat. Tom Lorenz

Modern adaptions of german ‚Standards‘ by Hollaender, Mackeben etc.

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Billmen

Westcoast Jazz

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Marlene & Stefan

Music for voice & double bass

Improvised Chamber Music
(Vincent Royer viola, Thorsten Töpp classical g, Stefan Werni b)

The music of Sun RA
Schroeder dr, theremin, directions, Bella Nugent voc, Jazzmine Tutu poetry, Carl Ludwig Hübsch tuba, Jan Fitschen g, computer, Konrad Wiemann perc, Stefan Werni el-b, synth, Oliver Kaiser drums, Kape Hirt fagott, Felix Borel viola, Thomas Schoch tp, Philipp Herlyn tp, tb, Dieter Gutfried as, Burkhard Diehr ts, Jonny Maag ts, bcl…

Starting in 2006 he was invited by jazz singer Sabine Kühlich  to be the bassist on several concert tours joining the american jazz vocalist Sheila Jordan, sharing the stage with acclaimed musicians like Bill Elgart dr, Tine Schneider p, Hubert Winter sax, Stefan Michalke p, Klaus Osterloh tr and Olaf Schneider p.

In the same period he performed theater music at Schlosstheater Moers and Schauspielhaus Bochum.

As a bassist Stefan Werni worked with many musicians like Sheila Jordan, Sabine Kühlich, Bill Elgart, Klaus Osterloh, Tony Scott, Charlie Mariano, Alex Conti, Manish Pingle, Theo Jörgensmann, Gerd Dudek, Hilde Vanhove, Deepsankar Bhattacharjee, Ack van Rooyen, Lee Konitz and played concerts at Leipziger Jazztage, Jazzfestival Viersen, Jazzclub Unterfahrt München, Jazzkeller Frankfurt/M, Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta/Georgia or the Jazzfestival Maastricht/NL.

With Ingo Marmulla g and Bernd Gremm dr he is a member of the house rhythm section at JazzInitiative Recklinghausen who frequently accompany first-class soloists in Jazz, Fusion, Rock and Blues. 

In 2002 Stefan Werni and Christian Jendreiko, inspired by the Access Virus Synthesizer invented by their former schoolmate Christoph Kemper, co-founded the project Werni & Jendreiko to explore synthesizers, sounddesign, and sound spatialization in Electronic Music. Working as a live-electronic duo they enjoy collaborations with varied artists like north indian slideguitarist Manish Pingle or poet Frank Schablewski.

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Werni & Jendreiko

Live-electronic spatial music

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In 2015 Werni and Jendreiko co-founded the band Europa Quartett to realize their vision of an uncategorizable music between Jazz, Rock and Elektronic Music in a multifaceted quartet of improvisers. For special occasions they invite musical guests like Pablo Paredes (synth) or Deepsankar Bhattacharjee (sitar).

Europa Quartett

Improvising Rock Music