Andreas Willers started out as a blues- and avantgarde guitarist, first outing 1981 on the FMP label (‘Hier & Als Auch’, solo guitar), studied el.guitar and composition in Los Angeles (MI/GIT, with Joe Diorio), Hamburg (HfM, w. Harry Pepl) and Banff/Canada (w. John Abercrombie),

worked with
Tom Arthurs, Steve Argüelles, Conny, Johannes & Matthias Bauer, Franz Bauer, Florian Bergmann, Jim Black, Samuel Blaser, Paul Bley, Kent Carter, Audrey Chen, Günter Christmann, Alvin Curran, Tobias Delius, Axel Dörner, Wilbert De Joode, Michel Doneda, Mark Dresser, Marc Ducret, Silke Eberhard, Dirk Engelhardt, Mark Feldman, Rudi Fischerlehner, Alexander Frangenheim, Alain Grange, Lou Grassi, Frank Gratkowski, Phillip Greenlief, Michael Griener, Christof Griese, Trilok Gurtu, Roger Hanschel, Ratzo Harris, Gabriele Hasler, Phil Haynes, Thomas Heberer, Thomas Heidepriem, Gerry Hemingway, Devin Hoff, Tristan Honsinger, Carl L. Hübsch, Jörg Huke, Hui-Chun Lin, Dieter Ilg, Paul Imm, Thomy Jordi, Anders Jormin, Theo Jörgensmann, Kai Kanthak, Achim Kaufmann, Martin Klingeberg, Willi Kellers, Meinrad Kneer, Frank Köllges, Uwe Kropinski, Klaus Kürvers, Klaus Kugel, Ingrid Laubrock, Urs Leimgruber, Dave Liebman, Martin Lillich, Christian Lillinger, Hans Lüdemann, H.D. Lorenz, Dieter Manderscheid, Rita Marcotulli, Christian Marien, Lisa Mezzacappa, Matthias Müller, David Murray, Glen Moore, Nikolaus Neuser, Rudi Neuwirth, Lauren Newton, Horst Nonnenmacher, Lothar Ohlmeier, E.L. Petrowski, Dominique Pifarély, Elvira Plenar, Oliver Potratz, Bobby Previte, Claudio Puntin, Tom Rainey, Enrico Rava, Dirk Raulf, Hugo Read, Yves Robert, Herb Robertson, Michael Rodach, Jan Roder, Simon Rose, Olaf Rupp, Julie Sassoon, Volker Schlott, Andreas Schmidt, Niko Schäuble, Frank Paul Schubert, Matthias Schubert, Frank Schulte, Louis Sclavis, Elliot Sharp, Arkady Shilkloper, Marvin Smitty Smith, Ches Smith, Fabrizio Spera, Oli Steidle, Bob Stewart, John Tchicai, Kazuhisa Uchihashi, Gebhard Ullmann, Peter Van Huffel, Petras Vysniauskas, Henrik Walsdorff, Ute Wassermann, Kathie Webster, Tim Wells, Fritz Witteck, Hannes Zerbe a.m.m.

toured Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Australia/New Zealand and Southeast Asia for the Goethe Institut; festival appearences include Vancouver, Vienna, Salzburg, Melbourne, Madrid, Vigo, Cheltenham, Bern, Jakarta, Istanbul, Wroclaw, Monterrey, Sibiu, Amsterdam, Münster, Moers, Köln, Leverkusen, Vilshoven, Kiel, Viersen, Berlin, tours throughout the USA and Europe in places like The Stone (NY), The Knitting Factory (NY), Onkel Pö‘s (Hamburg), Quasimodo (Berlin), The Vortex (London) amm

has composed for the Jazz Baltica Ensemble, the NDR Bigband, different New Music ensembles, several scholarships and awards, founding member of the musicians cooperative Jazzfront Berlin-Brandenburg, was member of the Initiative Kölner Jazzhaus,

taught electric guitar at the Hochschule für Musik Hanns Eisler, Berlin, from 1991-96 and
wrote workshop articles for the German Gitarre&Bass magazine on improvisation and performance.

‘Andreas Willers is one of the most imaginative electric guitarists on the planet.‘  Jazzthetik

‘The German guitar player A.W. is certainly one of the most interesting voices in Europe.’
allaboutjazz.com 

,Willers is a real Stupor Mundi guitarist.‘  Rigobert Dittmann / Bad Alchemy

´Andreas Willers….combines different contrasting techniques, worlds of sounds and traditions to an own sound that‘s easy to identify despite it‘s broad range. On the basis of tastefulnes, compositional spirit and a feeling for dramatic range his music is bouncing between dense chordal structures and single note passages, the screaming of his thorough blues roots and the intimate poetry of Jim Hall, …electronic sound wizardry through devices….and the discrete charm of acoustic string artistry.‘  RoRoRo Jazz Lexikon 2002

‘Willers style is well-rounded; especially attractive is his classical guitar work where we can hear his fine touch most clearly. He also posesses an unusually wide intervallic sense, rarely does one hear a guitarist who sounds so much as if hes listened to Eric Dolphy.’  Chris Kelsey / Cadence Mag., USA

‘Bizarre. Baffling. Enticing. Exiting. Ultimately Unique. .. All we can say is this is one of the most ambitious Hendrix projects we have ever come across.’   Voodoo Child Mag., USA

In the article Enja – 30 years on duty for jazz for Jazzthetik magazine Rolf Thomas includes The Ground Music by the Andreas Willers Octet in the ten quintessential Enja albums

‘EXPLOSIVE MIXTURE. When guitarist Andreas Willers gets going, some musical TNT is blowing up – hes that precise in developing and focussing his ideas. And he is able to move completely througt the enormeous stylistic bandwidth at his disposal without stirring up any doubt in his individuality.’   Jazzthing Mag., D

‘…Obviously having fun using (studio & electronics) he does so in a remarkably tasteful fashion often close to modern classical music and then turns around to deliver guitaristics. Homogenous, discerning taste is at hand, winning musicality and a knack for the well-dosed shock.’  A.Schmitz (in the book Jazz Guitarists, Oreos)

‘Willers could easily be the most influential European guitarist would he not always put the strictest intellectual judgement on his own work at all times.’   Reclam Jazz Lexicon

‘A.W. seems always able to astound himself and others musically.’   Frankfurter Rundschau

‘I work with the best and Andreas continues the lineage.’ Paul Bley

‘Some of the most original music I‘ve heard in a long time. Excellent!’ John Abercrombie about ,The Private Ear‘