Daniel Woodtli
born in Bern on 19.01.1974, took up the trumpet at the age of ten. After a mainly classical-oriented training and qualifying as a primary school teacher, in 2001 he completed a course of study in the Jazz Department at the Bern University of the Arts under Bert Joris and Bill Williams. He also undertook further courses with Nicolas Payton, Terell Stafford, Claus Stötter, Malte Burba, Bobby Shew, Ingrid Jensen, Claudio Roditi and Bill Dobbins.

In his youth, Daniel Woodtli accumulated experiences in chamber music brass ensembles, symphony orchestras, the National Youth Brass Band, at soloist competitions, in funk bands, dance orchestras and musical productions, but soon discovered his passion for jazz. The springboard for this was almost certainly his first place in the Chrysler Jazz Competition 2000 at the Montreux Jazz Festival with his own sextet shortly before his graduation.

This was followed by a period dominated mainly by big band activities: even during his studies, he was able to experience great performances as a member of the Swiss Jazz School Big Band at the Montreux and Bern jazz festivals and at the invitation of the IAJE in New York with guest soloists of the calibre of Clark Terry, Bob Mintzer and Phil Woods. In 2001, he was recruited to the Benny Golson All Star Big Band, where he played shoulder-to-shoulder in the section with Randy Brecker and Wayne Bergeron. He also played as a member of the Martin Streule Jazz Orchestra, David Regan Orchestra and the Swiss Army Big Band. It was there he met bandleader Pepe Lienhard who recruited him for numerous stand-in jobs in his band. At the peak of this phase, Daniel Woodtli was involved as co-founder and later part of the musical direction of the Swiss Jazz Orchestra with hundreds of splendid appearances.

In 2001, he founded the Daniel Woodtli Trio and was a member of the Kaspar Ewalds Exorbitanten Kabinett from day 1. A new opportunity beckoned in summer 2005: following a studio recording session, he had the good fortune to be invited to join the dialect band Patent Ochsner. In 2012 he founded together with the Austrian Musicians Isa Kurz and Philipp Moll the folkloristic formation Jütz.

Woodtli has been teaching at the Konservatorium Bern music academy since 2001. In addition to his existing creative focuses, Daniel Woodtli works as a versatile soloist, sideman, studio musician, composer and arranger in projects such as Wabash, Take This and Deep Submarine; increasingly also in contemporary new music such as Der Schachspieler.