The Austrian-born drummer received his musical education at the Conservatory of Vienna and performed with renowned Austrian musicians including Charly Ratzer, Harry Stoijka, Leo Wright, Wolfgang Puschnig, Linda Sharrock, Jimmy Woody, Lee Harper, among many others.
At the age of 21, he recorded an album titled Straight Ahead with the Austrian band Zenit, which was released as the first recording of the label Spray Records. Many years later, the album went viral and became a huge success, especially among retro listeners. This unexpected resurgence led to Straight Ahead being reissued on CD and vinyl by Edition Hawara.
He was awarded a scholarship from the world-renowned New School of Music, which propelled him into further studies. During his time in New York, he collaborated with musicians such as Larry Goldings, Brad Mehldau, Mark Whitfield, Peter Bernstein, Scott Colley, Chris Potter, Slide Hampton, Frank Wess, Shabhib Shihab, Rick Margitza, Ben Monder, and Donny McCaslin, among others.
Later, he pursued his Master’s degree at City College of New York under the direction of Ron Carter.
Alongside his activities in the Jazz/R&B scene, he also participated as a sideman with the “Institutional Church of God in Christ,” a group well known throughout the US. This involvement led to performances with Contemporary Gospel artists like James Hall, Melvin Crispell, and Butch Heyward.
He was later invited to join Cirque du Soleil on a European tour, which included performances across the continent. In 2013, he launched a show where he was not only the creator of the arrangements and compositions for Cirque du Soleil artists, among others, but was also responsible for programming the music.
His first album was released in the early 2000s, featuring Hiram Bullock, followed by another album in the late 2000s. He then released an album with Donny McCaslin before his most recent project, Small Kingdom, a collaboration with South African artists, which came out in 2022. Additionally, he leads Winterfisch, a unique instrumental project where he composes the music and writes the arrangements.
With extensive experience performing across the United States, he has played a significant role in introducing jazz at various universities. More recently, he has begun conducting master classes on contemporary drumming in various styles at universities throughout the U.S.
He currently works as a freelance musician, continually collaborating with artists such as Rez Abbasi, Alita Moses, Jeff McErlain, Hector Martignon, Ben Monder, David Gilmore, Ricky Ford, Lauren Henderson, and many others.