The Jena-born Ulrich Gumpert is one of the best jazz-pianists and organ-players of former East Germany. He has been a great renovator of German jazz since the sixties with his quartet, then from the seventies with his SOK fusion jazz formation. During the past decades he became a true key-figure of German jazz with his numerous formations. In the eighties his interest focussed on solo projects, so he pulled back from the Hammond to piano, from fusion jazz to contemporary music experiments. One of his greates prpjects is the interpretation of the pieces by Erik Satie for solo piano. Gumpert is still extremely active, in 2005 he won the Deutsche Jazz Preis, and besides his experiments he has made music for a huge number of films.