For three decades now, Bernd Lhotzky has been regarded as Germany's foremost ambassador of classic jazz piano. This is based not only on a spectacular technique acquired from classical conservatory training, but also on his reputation as a bridge builder between the music's past and present. In this rôle he has extended an invitation to rediscover jazz styles from the 1920s to the 1950s through his numerous performances and recordings as a soloist and in a duo, as concert or festival promoter, or as the pianist responsible for creative stimuli in the 'Echoes of Swing' quartet. In the course of his musical development, Lhotzky has consistently broadened his musical horizons, despite his continued deep involvement in early jazz as well as classical music. As a result, his present projects could hardly be more diverse: Rag Bag is a modern collage all about ragtime. The Shakespeare sonnets that he put to music for Birgit Minichmayr combine elements of folk music, lieder, pop music, jazz and chanson. In his tonal illustration of Krabat by Otfried Preussler, the watermill's wheel is propelled by multiple interwoven tiers of twelve-tone progressions.