Hannes Zerbe (born 17 December 1941) is a German jazz composer and pianistZerbe was born in Litzmannstadt. After studying electrical engineering, he studied piano and musical composition at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" and the Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber. He has been a professional musician since 1969.From 1985 to 1987, he was a master student for composition with Paul-Heinz Dittrich at the Akademie der Künste der DDR. Zerbe has organised and led international workshops and tours in the fields of jazz and improvised music since the late 1970s.
zerbe was a member of the group FEZ (with Conny Bauer, Christoph Niemann and Peter Gröning) and the quintet Osiris (by Joe Sachse with Manfred Hering , Wolfram Dix and Christoph Winckel ). In 1979, he founded his large-scale "Hannes Zerbe Blech Band" with which compositions by Hanns Eisler were also performed. From 1980, he also played in a duo with the tuba player Dietrich Unkrodt, and from 1995 in a duo with the clarinettist Jürgen Kupke . Furthermore, Zerbe was involved in text-music projects with actors, directors and singers (for example Lauren Newton), including Bert Brecht, Ingeborg Bachmann, Kurt Schwitters and Heiner Müller.