Karl Ratzer
was born in Vienna in 1950 in precarious circumstances as the child of two concentration camp survivors. He learned to play the guitar autodidactically. From the age of 13 he was on stage with legendary bands such as The Slaves (1964-1966), The Charles Ryders Corporation (1967-1968), C-Department (1969-1971) and Gipsy Love (1971-1972). Important apprenticeship years in which Ratzer rose to become one of the best-known rock guitarists in the German-speaking world.

From 1972 to 1980 he lived in the USA, where he worked with several important jazz musicians such as Jeremy Steig, Joe Chambers, Dan Wall, Eddie Gomez and Chet Baker. Back in Vienna, from the early 1980s onwards, several more collaborations followed with high-ranking jazz musicians such as Fritz Pauer, Hans Koller, Art Farmer, Lee Konitz, Clark Terry and Chaka Khan.

Since 2010, Karl Ratzer has appeared in quintet, trio or duo formations, mainly with the musicians Ed Neumeister (trombone), Johannes Enders (tenor saxophone), Peter Herbert (bass) and Howard Curtis (drums). The recordings created in this way have received good reviews in the specialist press and have been nominated for an Amadeus Award, among others. Since 2016, there has also been the Ratzer / Herbert / eXtracello project, which has attracted particular attention because the ensemble works exclusively with string instruments. Here, jazz meets classical music, while the audience is offered a wide range of original compositions, pieces from the Baroque, jazz standards and South American songs.