Litty vs. Stephan is an improvising music duo based in Berlin. Joachim Litty, altosaxophone/bassclarinet and Peter Stephan, piano/electronics play jazz, avantgarde and orginals. In our programs we feature compositions by Karl Berger, Ornette Coleman, Carla Bley, Keith Jarrett, Sun Ra and Paul Hindemith.

Peter and Joachim met in 1983 at the Creative Music Studio in Woodstock, New York. We were inspired by the visiting musicians and the freedom of expression we found there. In our MusicMindLab we give workshops to share these ideas. Karl Bergers approach »Music Mind« is a constant reminder to develop your individual voice: »The more personal you are the more universal you are.«. We translated Karl‘s Book »Music Mind« into German, it is available on request.

Here are some pieces you can listen to at Soundcloud.

We play free improvisations, originals and music by Karl Berger, Ornette Coleman, Keith Jarrett, Carla Bley, Sun Ra, and Paul Hindemith. Sometimes we explore oddmeters like 11/8 or 17/8. In addition to our acoustic setup we also use electronics like loopers, drum boxes, electric keyboards and Ableton/Push.

Peter Stephan
Peter plays piano and electronics. From 1980 to 1983 he studied at the Creative Music Studio (CMS) in Woodstock, New York, USA. In the 1980s Peter was part of the Berlin music scene and founding member of punk-jazz group ZATOPEK and noise bands MINT and MINT ADDICTS, with releases on Polydor, Constrictor, Überschall, and Vielklang.
As a keyboard player, he became familiar with synthesizers early on and combined design and sound in multimedia productions. Peter studied design at the Berlin University of the Arts (1984–89) and has been a professor at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne (1997–2026). His piano heroes are Thelonious Monk and Sun Ra.
Peter produced several features about the Creative Music Studio for German radio station NDR Info,
listen on Soundcloud CMS in the 1980ties, and a CMS workshop in 2013.
Backcatalog on Discogs, selected tunes on Soundcloud,

Joachim Litty
Joachim plays altosaxophone and bassclarinet…

upcoming

June 7, 5 pm Munich, Strandkultur

June 4, 8 pm, Exploratorium Berlin

 

past dates

2026
26. January, Salon Rote Insel, Berlin

2025
24. May, Bälow, open air private event

2024
20.-22. June, Workshop Kukuna, Wuppertal
20. June »Ort«, Peter Kowald‘s performance space in Wuppertal