Torsten de Winkel is a German guitarist, composer, and improvisation theorist in jazz and world music. He began playing the charango at age ten while living in La Paz, Bolivia, and later taught himself guitar and jazz improvisation, which he further developed at a jazz course at the Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt under Christof Lauer. De Winkel’s professional career began with a performance at the Deutsches Jazzfestival Frankfurt in 1983, after which Alphonse Mouzon invited him to Los Angeles for recording sessions. His debut album, Mastertouch, was released in 1985. He studied at Berklee College of Music on a full scholarship and later formed the project deWinkelHattler with Hellmut Hattler and Joo Kraus, which evolved into the duo Tab Two. Among their recordings is Humanimal Talk, released in 1988. De Winkel has collaborated with artists such as Pat Metheny, Joe Zawinul, Steve Smith’s Vital Information, and Matt Garrison.
