“Delius’s mastery of the tenor is sprawling, but the deep, warm richness of his tone is a constant, recalling the breathy sensuality of Ben Webster, the agile gravity of Sonny Rollins, and the pinched phrasing of Archie Shepp …” – Peter Margasak, Chicago Reader.

Tobias Delius was born on 15 July 1964 in Oxford, England. He began playing saxophone in 1980 in the German Ruhr region. In 1983/84 he lived in Mexico City where he played in the “Cuarteto Mexicano de Jazz” led by pianist Francixco Téllez.

Delius moved to Amsterdam in 1984 and studied for a short while at the Sweelinck Conservatorium. He quickly became involved with Amsterdam improvisers and dropped his studies to immerse himself in the improvised music scene. In 1990 he was awarded the Podiumprijs from the organisation Stichting Jazz in Nederland. He has worked in Europe and overseas with such musicians as Steve Lacy (October Meeting ’91), Louis Moholo’s Viva-la-black (South Africa ’93), Bill Frisell, Mark Feldman and Trio Clusone (Clusone Jazz ’93), Misha Mengelberg (“Pollo de Mare”, Angelica ’96 in Bologna), Steve Beresford (“Signals for Tea”, Vancouver ’98), Jeb Bishop, Kent Kessler, Hamid Drake (Chicago 2001) and Ray Anderson (Rotterdam, ’01).

Tibias is currently based in Berlin where ihe is an active member of the improvised community performing regularly with Axel Dörner, Christian Lillinger, Clayton Thomas, Liz Albee and many others.