Juergen (*1970) started playing electric bass at the age of 13. After a couple of years of music lessons he hit the local music scene of his hometown Munich at age 17 and has been playing in numerous groups worldwide ever since.
At age 24 he expanded his instrumental skills, now not only playing electric bass but upright bass as well. Only one year after picking up the upright, Juergen was accepted at the Conservatory of Amsterdam, where he studied music from 1995 to 1999. During that time he got the chance to play with artists such as Kevin Mahogany, Lester Bowie and Monty Waters.
Meeting french bassist Joelle Leandre in 1998 influenced him profoundly. The same year Juergen went to Paris to study with her.
After his time at the Conservatory of Amsterdam Juergen moved to New York City to put the finishing touches on his music academics.
In 2001 he graduated with a masters degree from the Conservatory of Music at SUNY Purchase where he studied with, among others, Scott Colley, Todd Coolman and Jon Faddis.
He then founded his own label Orkaan Music, Inc. in New York in 2001 and later, in 2002, ORkAaN Music+Art Productions, based in his hometown Munich.
At the same time he put together his own group ORkAaN ORkEstRA, consisting only of three musicians at the time, but they „make as much noise as an orchestra“, so the name stuck.
Juergen toured Europe, the USA and Canada.
Performances, among others, include appearances at the legendary CBGB‘s (New York), Knitting Factory (New York), Smoke (New York), Else‘s (Montreal), Studio 303 (Montreal), Theatre Garage (Minneapolis), Waterfront Theatre (Vancouver), Meander (Amsterdam), Naar Boven (Amsterdam) and Unterfahrt (Munich).
In 1993 he played in the opening act for Ray Charles at Rudi-Sedlmeyer-Halle in Munich.
Today Juergen runs his own record label OrkAaN Music+Art Productions, produces various projects including artists from all kinds of musical backgrounds, from Punk-Rock to Jazz to Classical Music to new improvised music.
He‘s head of the group ORkAaN ORkEstRA and composes music for movies, TV and theater.
Jürgen‘s blog:
zen and the art of rockstarliving
www.juergenreiter.com
Discography:
Aafya, New York 2002
THE FLESH, New York 2002
Breakdown on Paradise Blvd., (Junk-musical) Breakdown on Paradise Blvd. 2003
Wintermärchen, ORkAaN FabLeS 2003
NO TRESPASSING, ORkAaN ORkEstRA, New York 2004
Let’s get it on tonight, (HipHop Jazz) Jus Nyce & ORkAaN ORkEstRA, release date June 2006
Can’t Stop Me, (R&B) Jus Nyce & ORkAaN ORkEstRA, release date October 2006
Il Conto Per Favore, (Audio Book), release date June 2006
In Viaggio, (Audio Book), release date 2006
Lo Sconto, (Audio Book), release date 2007
Dead On Arrival, (Alternative Jazz), release date 2009
Films:
Composer/actor in the movie Lunch by Emily Ryan-Lerner, New York 2000
Composer for the short movie Kytes by Anna Treiman, New York 2002
TV:
Music and Soundbites for Europes biggest (ca.13million viewers per show) live TV show „Wetten, dass...?“