Pluto gained his first experience as a banjo player and guitarist from 1967 to 1970 in student bands in Münster. Then he was co-leader of the well-known Dixieland formation Raintown Six, which was presented, among other things, in the midday magazine of the WDR. After their dissolution, he was a member of the Pilspicker Jazz Band from Dortmund, which is still popular today, from 1976 to 1981 and visited the twin cities of Leeds in England and Amiens in France with them.
For the next few years he worked freelancing with groups from Osnabrück, Münster, Dortmund and Düsseldorf, promoted the early career of singer Silvia Droste in a quintet and played with Roy Williams and John Barnes from the Alex Welsh Band for the first time. With Jörg Achim Keller, today director of the NDR big band, he organized several unforgettable concerts in the Count Basie style between 1988 and 1992.
From 1990 to 2010 he was a permanent member of the Joys of Jazz formation, with whom he toured the Netherlands, England and Hungary.
Since November 2000 he has been teaching banjo and guitar at the International Classic Jazz Workshop in Ascona / Switzerland. Other instruments are taught by Frank Roberscheuten (conductor and clarinet), Chris Hopkins (piano), Menno Daams (trumpet, arrangement), Matthias Seuffert (saxophone), Daniel Barde (trombone) and others.
He worked with Peter Fleischhauer's King of Swing Orchestra (featuring Engelbert Wrobel) from 2001 to 2006 and recorded a live CD in September 2002.
He has appeared regularly with Dan Barrett (trombone) since 2006 (recorded on YouTube).
His quartet formation Pluto's Dixie Delight has existed for over 20 years, the beginnings of the swing formation in Count Basie style Pluto's Favorite Five go back over 30 years.
Pluto Kemper plays a Vega tenor banjo in the original tuning (C G D A) and prefers a swinging style of play. His guitar is an Epiphone Emperor Regent from 1952, on which the Freddie Green style is particularly well expressed.