“I want to concentrate fully on the music now.
For me, this is a new stage in my life,” says Matthias Butzlaff.
His last day as Head of Corporate Communications at Metzler, Germany's oldest continuously family-owned bank, was a few days ago.
He has no plans to accept new mandates in communications.
Because since his youth he had secretly wanted to devote himself entirely to music.
He's finally going to do that.
Butzlaff, 60 years old, is now taking lessons on various instruments.
He practices five to six days a week.
In addition, there would be appearances with the three jazz bands in which he was involved.
In Frankfurt there are "MainSwing-Quartett" and "TrioLogie", in Franconia "The wrong Fifties".
He can usually be found playing the saxophone, for example at company parties or weddings.
Butzlaff also performs in the Frankfurt jazz club Mampf.
With "TrioLogie" he plays modern jazz from the time up to the 1960s.
A well-known representative is Miles Davis.
A decision that costs him money
Career changes for people in the financial industry are always a topic of conversation.
Some choose to operate restaurants.
Others become comedians or bakers.
Sometimes it's about fulfilling a long-cherished dream, sometimes it's about reducing stress.
In any case, music is not new territory for Butzlaff.
"For example, when I was 18, I took part in Jugend musiziert with the clarinet and won a few prizes," he reports.
Instead of embarking on an artistic career, he decided back then to study law and later go into financial communications.
Before joining Metzler, he was spokesman for the Deutsche Bank subsidiary DWS.
However, he did not completely give up the art of music in those years, but also made a little music during his time at Metzler and DWS.
"You can't make a living from what I'm doing now.
But I've made financial provisions so that I don't have to live on it," says Butzlaff.
“Surely I would make more money if I had kept my job.
But that's not what I'm about."