Kruse was raised in
Brunsbek in
Schleswig-Holstein. In her childhood and youth, she received eleven years of classical piano lessons and at the age of fourteen, at the suggestion of a teacher, began to learn the bass guitar. She played in the school big band and the
Bargteheider Vorstadtkrokodilen. After she was admitted to the Landesjugend-Jazz-Orchester Schleswig-Holstein at the age of 18, she decided to switch to upright bass. In 1998 Kruse moved to
Berlin, to study at the
Universität der Künste with Sigi Busch,
Jerry Granelli and
David Friedman with the double bass as the main instrument "Jazz / Improvisation". In 2000, she refined her technical playing on double bass during a semester abroad in
Gothenburg with
Anders Jormin. She also took courses with
John Taylor, who encouraged her to write her own compositions for various occupations. Her musical role models on the double bass include
Dave Holland,
Gary Peacock and Anders Jormin. 2009 During her studies Kruse played smaller tours with the
April Light Orchestra and the
Tied & Tickled Trio from
Weilheim and from 1998 to 2000 under
Peter Herbolzheimer in BuJazzO. While at BuJazzO and studying in Berlin, she met pianist
Michael Wollny and drummer Eric Schaefer. They played together since 2002 and founded the trio [em]; This was followed by concert tours, festival appearances and the release of a total of four CDs. In 2009 they were awarded the
BMW Welt Jazz Award, in 2011 the New German Jazz Award. Together with Eric Schaefer and the guitarist
Arne Jansen she played in the
Arne Jansen Trio. From this collaboration, the album
My Tree und
Younger Than That Now was released. She also plays with Arne Jansen,
Niels Klein and Nils Tegen in the quartet
Firomanum, as well as in the Berlin pop / jazz / electronic band
SOAP. Kruse has a special relationship to the Schleswig-Holstein festival
Jazz Baltica. She worked there often at the opening concert and played u. a. with
[em],
Firomanum, saxophonist
Bunky Green, and the
Jazz Baltica Ensemble under the direction of Johannes Enders. There she also met the Swedish trombonist
Nils Landgren who invited her to various projects. So she worked among others in his ensemble
New Eyes on Bach founded in 2007, and accompanied him on his annual
Christmas with My Friends tour. In recent years, she led her own groups, which receive an unusual timbre by the juxtaposition of oboe and soprano saxophone. == Honors ==