Music journalist, author and sound artist Michael Rüsenberg invites jazz greats to an interesting exchange at "Speak Like A Child." The title of the series goes back to the title track of the legendary Herbie Hancock album from 1968 and is a reference to the musical primary color of the Stadtgarten. Now the popular interview series is also available as a podcast, to be heard here on this website, Spotify and iTunes.

Dirk Raulf, born in 1960, came to Cologne from Lippstadt in Westphalia in the early 1980s. He is currently connected with his hometown by the year-long project heimat-kunden.de.

Raulf was a member of the Cologne Saxophone Mafia (1988-1994), belonged to the style-forming quartet Tome XX (1987-1998) and founded the world's first and only bass saxophone quartet Deep Schrott in 2008. He runs the label "Poise" and is one of the most versatile representatives of the Stadtgarten scene. His panorama is only partially covered by his activities as a saxophonist. He has written radio plays, after 1993 not only composed more than 100 theater and film scores, but also partially participated in them live on stage. In 2018, his first play as an author premiered in Cologne ("Margarethe oder Der blutende Wald"), a work that structurally explicitly incorporates his experiences in improvised music.

To call Raulf an "individualist" in all his activities is tantamount to an understatement. He considers himself "marginal" in the genres he serves. "Music has remained foreign art to me to a certain extent". His life's dream, he says, is actually writing.

The conversation with Dirk Raulf took place on March 6, 2020 in the Stadtgarten Lounge, before the concert "Past & Present - The Music of Dirk Rauf".

text: Michael Rüsenberg