was born in Hamburg in 1963 and studied at the University of  Music and Dance in Cologne. He has developed his instrumental skills to include almost the entire spectrum of woodwind  instruments, including flutes. He works intensively on tonal  extensions and modifications of his instruments in solo projects  and small formations, using unorthodox playing techniques and  microtonal concepts, some of which he has developed himself.  As a bandleader and composer, he traverses the broad context  of contemporary improvised music. There is no clear distinction  between composition and improvisation in his work.

While still a student, Gratkowski worked with trombonist and  composer Klaus König, as part of Georg Graewe’s GrubenKlangOrchester and in the WDR Big Band. In 1995 he formed  the Frank Gratkowski Trio with Dieter Manderscheid on bass  and Gerry Hemingway on drums. They were joined in 2000 by  Dutch trombonist Wolter Wierbos. Since 2001 he has been part  of a trio with Achim Kaufmann on piano and Wilbert de Joode  on bass. With his first solo program, he was an award-winner at  the Musik Kreativ competition. As a soloist, he has released three  CDs from the series Artikulationen (1991, 2000, 2023). In 2008  the experimental saxophone quartet Fo[u]r Alto was formed. He  is a cofounder of the Multiple Joy[ce] Orchestra, for which he also  composes. In the past few years, he has increasingly cooperated  with musicians of the younger generation, currently for example in the quartet The Resonators and with his new quartet In  Cahoots (with Philip Zoubek on piano and synthesizer, Robert  Landfermann on bass, and Dominik Mahnig on drums, as well as  with Ingrid Laubrock on saxophones for a quintet cast).

Gratkowski has played as a soloist, bandleader or sideman at  the most important German and numerous international festivals. He has notably performed with a trio at the Donaueschinger Festival, was commissioned to create a composition for  the ensemble Zeitkratzer in 2014, was improviser in residence  at the Austrian new music festival Klangspuren in 2021, and  worked as a soloist with the orchestra of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). At the November Music festival in Den Bosch and  the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, he performed  with the ensemble Apartment House, for which he wrote a commissioned composition. After his work Mature Hybrid Talking for  and with Ensemble Modern in 2022, he worked with Ensemble  Musikfabrik in 2023.

Under his own name, Frank Gratkowski has released around  50 CDs, while as a sideman he has been involved in an unknown  number of additional productions. In 2005 he received the prestigious SWR Jazz Prize.

Frank Gratkowski lives in Berlin. He has taught at conservatories in Arnhem, Hanover, Berlin and currently Cologne, and has  extensive international experience as a university lecturer and  workshop leader.