Written interview with drummer and composer Jeff Herr – Five Moons
Jazz Blues European Union: – Thank you for taking the time to have this interview with Jazz Blues EU. Tell us about your music. When did you start performing?
Jeff Herr: – I’m a drummer and composer from Luxembourg. My music is rooted in jazz, but I’ve always been interested in what happens when you take jazz outside of its usual boundaries. Groove, electronics, improvisation, and strong melodies are all important elements in what I do.
I started playing drums at a young age and began performing professionally in the early 2000s. Over the years, playing became more than just being a drummer in a band. I became increasingly interested in composing, arranging, and creating my own musical environment.
With the Jeff Herr Corporation, I’ve been able to bring all these things together.
What do you consider to be your hometown and how does that affect your music?
Luxembourg is my hometown and definitely my musical home.
Being from such a small country is actually quite interesting. You are constantly exposed to different cultures and languages, and the borders are only a few kilometres away. France, Belgium and Germany are right there.
I think this has made me naturally open to different musical influences. I’ve never really thought of music in terms of national scenes. I’ve always felt that music transcends borders, and growing up in Luxembourg made that feeling very natural to me.
What performers have been your inspiration?
There are far too many to name, but if I had to choose one central influence, it would be The Beatles. They are really at the centre of my musical universe.
What fascinates me about them is the incredible quality of the songwriting, but also their willingness to experiment and constantly reinvent themselves. They managed to make sophisticated music that was still incredibly direct and accessible.
As a drummer, I’ve also been influenced by many great jazz players, but my inspirations come from rock, funk, electronic music and contemporary music as well.
What interests me most are musicians with a strong identity. I’m not particularly interested in technical perfection for its own sake. I like musicians who have something to say and whose sound you can recognize after a few seconds.
That’s something I’ve always tried to develop myself: a personal sound rather than simply being a good drummer.
What do you find most challenging about being an independent artist in today’s music industry?
You have to do everything.
You’re the musician, composer, producer, manager, booking agent, social media manager, graphic designer, accountant…The difficult part is finding the time and energy to actually make music.
But there is also a positive side to being independent: you have a lot of freedom. Nobody tells you what your music should sound like. I value that freedom very highly.
What do you base your success on?
For me, success is quite simple: am I still excited about the music I’m making? If I finish an album and still want to listen to it myself, that’s already a good sign.
Of course, audiences, concerts, reviews and streaming numbers matter. We all need an audience. But I don’t want those things to determine what I create.
If the music feels honest and I’ve managed to move forward as an artist, I consider the project successful.
Can you talk about your experiences collaborating with other artists or musicians? How does it influence your creative process?
Collaboration is essential to jazz, and it’s also essential to my own music.
With the Jeff Herr Corporation, Maxime Bender and Pol Belardi bring very different personalities to the music. That’s exactly what I want. I don’t need musicians who simply reproduce what I wrote.
Once the music leaves my hands, it belongs to the band.
Sometimes a musician plays something that completely changes the direction of a piece. I love that. You have to be prepared to let go of your original idea.
What was your latest musical release?
My latest release is Five Moons, the new album by the Jeff Herr Corporation. The album will be released on October 11, 2026, on Double Moon Records.
It features Maxime Bender on saxophones, Pol Belardi on electric and double bass, and myself on drums, electronics and programming.
Do you have any news to share? Could you share the story behind your latest new CD JEFF HERR – Five Moons? What inspired its creation?
Five Moons marks the return of the Jeff Herr Corporation after a longer break.
I had been thinking for some time about what I wanted the band to become. I didn’t want to simply make another acoustic jazz record. At the same time, I didn’t want to make an electronic record with a jazz drummer playing on top of it.
The idea was to make the two worlds inseparable.
The drums, bass, saxophone, synthesizers, programming, and electronics are all part of the same musical language. Sometimes you can’t really tell where the acoustic sound ends and the electronic sound begins.
That was the challenge – and also the fun.
For this record, I also wanted to approach the creative process differently. I started writing instinctively in Ableton, exploring new possibilities and discovering sounds and structures as I went along. I recorded a lot of material before actually writing the music in the traditional sense.
Normally, I write the music first and then record it. This time, the process was almost reversed. The recording and the exploration became part of the composition itself.
How does your latest album fit into your creative path? Is this a goal you wanted to achieve?
Yes, definitely.
The Jeff Herr Corporation started back in 2004, so this project has been part of my musical life for more than twenty years.
But I didn’t want to simply revive an old band. Coming back to the Corporation after several years gave me the opportunity to start again with a completely new lineup and a new musical concept.
One of my main goals was to integrate the technology I’ve been working with into the actual composition. Ableton Live, synthesizers, samples and programming aren’t just tools I use in the background. They are part of the musical vocabulary.
As a drummer, that opens up a completely different way of thinking about rhythm.
How do you approach the process of songwriting, and are there any specific themes or emotions you tend to explore in your music?
It actually often starts with a certain emotion. I also frequently start with a melody, but always within a strong rhythmic context.
For Five Moons, the songwriting process was quite unusual. I wrote instinctively in Ableton, exploring the new possibilities of the technology without necessarily knowing where the music was going. I recorded and experimented first, and only later wrote the actual music based on what I had created.
Normally, that process is reversed: I write the music first and then record it. On this album, the recording itself became part of the writing process.
I’m interested in contrasts: something very tight against something completely free, acoustic instruments against electronics, repetition against improvisation.
And, of course, groove is always somewhere in the middle of it.
As an indie musician, how do you navigate the balance between creative freedom and commercial appeal?
I try not to think about commercial appeal while I’m writing.
If you start asking yourself whether something is “marketable” before you’ve even finished it, you can very quickly lose what made the idea interesting in the first place.
Of course, I want people to listen to the music. I’m not making records for my hard drive.
But I believe the best strategy is to make something personal and distinctive and then find the people who connect with it.
What role does technology and social media play in promoting your music and connecting with your audience?
Technology is both part of the music itself and part of how I communicate it.
Social media is particularly useful for an independent artist because it allows you to connect directly with people without having to rely on traditional media.
But there is also a downside: it’s very easy to spend three hours promoting your music instead of actually making it.
I try to keep that balance under control, which is why I’ve also hired a professional content creator to help manage my social media presence.
Could you describe a memorable live performance experience or tour that has had a lasting impact on you and your music?
There have been many.
One thing I really value is playing in different European countries and realizing that the music can work in very different environments.
Playing at festivals such as Athens Jazz or performing at the Philharmonie Luxembourg are obviously special experiences. But sometimes a small club concert can be even more memorable.
For me, the best concerts are the ones where the band reaches a point where nobody is thinking too much anymore. You just react to each other, and the music takes over.
That’s the reason I still love playing live after all these years.
In an era of streaming platforms, how do you feel about the changing landscape of music consumption and its impact on independent musicians?
Streaming has made it incredibly easy to discover music. That’s a great thing.
The problem is that recorded music has become almost worthless financially for many independent artists.
You can spend months creating an album, and then someone can listen to it for free or for a tiny fraction of what a physical record used to generate.
That’s why I still believe strongly in physical albums and, above all, live concerts.
A record is not just a collection of files. Hopefully, it’s something you can listen to from beginning to end and come back to years later.
Musicians often have a close relationship with their fanbase. How do you engage with your fans and build a dedicated community around your music?
I’m not really interested in creating an artificial “fan community”. I prefer simply talking to people.
After concerts, I often stay around and talk to the audience. Sometimes people have very specific questions about the music, and sometimes they just want to say that they enjoyed the concert.
Those conversations are important to me.
Social media allows us to stay connected between concerts, but the real connection still happens in the room, when we play.
How can fans find you?
The best way is probably to come to a concert.
Otherwise, you can find me at www.jeff-herr.com, as well as on the usual streaming platforms and social media.
And, of course, Five Moons will be released on October 11, 2026, on Double Moon Records.
Lastly, please share some final words with the fans.
Thank you for listening.
Whether you’ve been following my music for twenty years or you’ve just discovered the Jeff Herr Corporation, I really appreciate you being there.
I hope Five Moons gives you something – maybe a groove, maybe a sound, maybe an atmosphere that stays with you.
And hopefully, I’ll see you somewhere on stage.
By Olivia Peevas
