Martin Reuter

Martin Reuter was born in Luxembourg and spent his first 2 years living in Algeria. 

At age 6, he started Solfège in Luxembourg. Two years later, he played Euphonium (small tuba) in a 60-piece orchestra. When a family friend gave him a drumming book, he taught himself to play drums and shortly after, bass and synthesizer. As a teenager, he played in Pop, Rock, Blues and Crossover bands. 

After moving to New York at 18, he enrolled at Drummer's Collective and lived in Harlem, playing African music. The same year, he recorded his first solo album ( on which he played drums, bass, guitar, synth and percussion ), which went to number 4 of the Luxembourg Charts and got him invited to the biggest Jazzfestivals from Europe to Asia.

Martin experiments in his music and involves different styles (fusion jazz, rock, psychedelic electronica) and influences (Joe Zawinul, Miles Davis). "I push myself to come up with interesting harmonies and to combine them with original grooves" 

Martin's music has the capacity to reach and move people from all walks of life. His live performances involve an intensity that connects to the audience and draws them in.

Martin Reuter is an independent Jazz/Funk artist known for deep grooves and dreamy, psychedelic, ambient soundscapes. The composer and multi-instrumentalist has lived a life dedicated to perfecting his craft. Reuter was exposed to the world of music from as early as age 8 in his hometown of Clervaux, Luxembourg. He played the euphonium in a 60-piece orchestra in his small hometown surrounded by dairy farms and a Medieval castle. He was highly regarded and won multiple awards in the classical world. However, his passion always lay with contemporary music amongst the traditional countryside. He began to teach himself less-formal instruments including the drums, electric bass guitar, synthesizer and electric guitar. 

Reuter soon took his passion to new heights. By age 12, he was already exceeding expectations to the point where he was teaching in his local drum corps. At the young age of 14, he was enrolled at the conservatory in Luxembourg City. Here, he studied classical music to further hone his compositional skills. While not his cup of tea anymore, Reuter was following his heart through his ears. He became an avid fan of jazz-fusion artists such as Joe Zawinul of Weather Report through the records he’d listen to with friends. He began to sneak out of conservatory to play Rock and Blues at Elephant Blanc, the most popular bar in the city at that time. By age 18, he decided the traditional conservatory style of Western Europe was no longer what he was interested in learning. He needed to innovate. 

Reuter did this in 1995. At age 19, he left his home country and travelled across the Atlantic to the United States by himself. In the summer of the same year, he was accepted into the Drummers Collective in New York City, a trade school of high prestige in the contemporary music world. It was here where he absorbed the exciting music scene of the cosmopolitan nightlife. He would sneak into local bars and clubs to meet his musical heroes such as Dennis Chambers and Mike Stern, watching them play firsthand. He would then get kicked out of these clubs for being underage. 

This cycle would repeat until Reuter returned home for the summer of ‘96 to record his first solo album under the name JEMP. This self-titled album was met with critical acclaim in his home country, reaching #4 on the Luxembourg national charts. From here Reuter was invited to big Festivals (North Sea, Jakarta,...)

Reuter would eventually return to the city in 1997, becoming deeply rooted in the West African music community in Harlem. This is where he would stay, further honing and changing his sound until scoring a residency in 2015 at Lime Leaf, a Thai restaurant on W 72nd Street. From there, he moved on to perform at the temple of electric jazz, the 55Bar. He has been highly regarded in the Jazz community, being praised by artists and producers such as Bob Belden, Mike Stern, Chris Minh Doky, and Radu Ben Judah, who said “A musician like (Reuter) comes around maybe once every 50 years.”