Club Subway
Subway Jazz Orchestra & Sam Amidon – Set 1
Sam Amidon – gtr/voc Julian Bossert – sax Johannes Ludwig – sax Joachim Lenhardt – sax Jens Böckamp – sax Heiko Bidmon – sax Matthias Schwengler – trp Chris Mehler – trp Maik Krahl – trp Lennart Schnitzler – trp Janning Trumann – trb Philipp Schittek – trb Philipp Hayduk – trb Tobi Herzog – btrb Philipp Brämswig – gtr Felix Hauptmann – p Matthias Nowak – b Thomas Sauerborn – dr
TicketsThe Subway Jazz Orchestra & Sam Amidon will perform two separate sets: Concert 1 at 8:00 p.m., Concert 2 at 10:15 p.m. Tickets can be purchased separately for each set and are valid only for the respective concert. The Wednesday day pass is valid for both sets.
In 2013, 18 jazz musicians from Cologne founded the Subway Jazz Orchestra (SJO). This big band, organized as a collective, is based at the former Cologne jazz club Subway on Aachener Straße, where the SJO has been performing regular concerts ever since. The big band’s goal is to consistently bring a new program to the club’s intimate stage.
Additionally, the orchestra frequently collaborates with renowned composers—such as Maria Schneider, Anna Webber, and Nils Wogram. The SJO also commissions compositions from emerging composers, builds networks, and fosters collaborations with event organizers and educational institutions. Sam Amidon has been invited to perform at the SJO concert at Cologne Jazzweek 2026. Although this singer and multi-instrumentalist’s work is rooted in traditional American roots music, he consistently opens it up to other genres and styles of contemporary music to reveal their transcultural elements.
Venue:
Club Subway
From 1970 to 2001, the Subway on Aachener Straße in Cologne's Belgian Quarter was the address for the leading names in straight-ahead mainstream jazz, among them Dizzy Gillespie and Chet Baker.
Following a renovation in the early 2000s, the venue has combined its rich jazz history with a lively contemporary music culture. In 2009, the stage was rediscovered as a jazz club.
The fixture of today's jazz program is the Subway Jazz Orchestra (SJO\CGN), founded in 2013 by eighteen young Cologne jazz musicians. Organized as a collective, the big band holds its residency at the Subway and performs there once a month, usually in two sets over the course of an evening. Guest soloists and kindred ensembles join regularly, and the orchestra can also be heard at the Cologne Philharmonic.