The German improvised music pioneer and composer, Alexander von Schlippenbach, has been invited to 3 Days of Music Dedicated to Peter Brötzmann, between 8th to 10th February at Café Oto.
Schlippenbach was born in Berlin on 7th April 1938. In the 50s, he became interested in jazz by listening to records by Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Thelonious Monk and Bud Powell broadcast on the radio show Voice of America, hosted by the American jazz producer Willis Conover. He studied at the Staatliche Hochschule for Musik in Cologne with composer Bernd Alois Zimmermann, where he also met the jazz trumpeter Manfred Schoof. Later both students played in several of Zimmermann’s works. In 1963, he joined to Gunther Hampel Quintet with Manfred Schoof, trumpet; Buschi Niebergall, bass; Pierre Courbois, drums and Hampel on vibes and flute, in 1965, they recorded “Heartplants”, a record considered by the jazz historian and festival organiser, Joachim-Ernst Berendt, as the “the hour of birth of a new European Jazz”. Between 1964 and 1967, Schlippenbach played in Manfred Schoof’s quintet with Gerd Dudek, on tenor sax; Buschi Niebergall, and Jaki Lebezeit on drums.
In 1966, Berendt commissioned Schlippenbach to compose something original for the Berlin Jazz Days Festival, which resulted in the creation of the Globe Unity Orchestra which has been reuniting the most outstanding jazz improvisers such as Peter Brötzmann, Albert Mangelsdorff, Evan Parker, Anthony Braxton, Hank Bennink, Derek Bailey, among many others for almost 60 years.
Since then, Schlippenbach has been the leader of remarkable improvisation groups such as Schlippenbach Trio with the British saxophonist Evan Parker and the German drummer Paul Lovens, which sometimes is augmented into a quartet, including bass players such as Alan Silva, Peter Kowald and Reggie Workman. He also is the leader of the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, which has commissioned works by Carla Bley, Willem Breuker, Misha Mengelberg and Kenny Wheeler. He plays with his wife, the Japanese piano player Aki Takase, piano duets. Also, he has a project with his son, Vincent aka DJ Illvibe called LOK. 03, which made a soundtrack for Walter Ruttmann’s documentary “Symphony of the Big City” from 1927, among other pieces which includes the drummer Paul Lovens.
I invite you to listen to Alexander von Schlippenbach’s Magik Circles interview, made on 22nd January 2024, broadcast by Resonance FM at Clear Spot on 7th February 2024 at 20.00 hours.
Interview tracklist:
- Manfred Schoof Sextet “Cadenza”, 1967, Wergo.
- Dizzy Gillespie and his Orchestra “Ol Man Rebop”, 1946, RCA Victor.
- Oscar Peterson Trio “You Look Good to Me”, 1965, Live Inn Archive, YouTube.
- Bern Alois Zimmermann ”Requiem for a Young Poet” (Ricercare), 1967-69, recorded in 1995, Sony Classical.
- Alexander von Schlippenbach, Globe Unity Orchestra, “Globe Unity”, Berlin 1966, YouTube.
- Alexander von Schlippenbach, Globe Unity Orchestra – 40 Years, “Bavarian Calypso”, 2006, Intakt.
- Alexander von Schlippenbach/Evan Parker/Paul Lovens, 5th MÓZG FESTIVAL, Teatr Polski, Bydgoszcz (Poland), 2010, YouTube.
- Peter Brötzmann Octet 1968, “Machine Gun” (Second Take), 1968, FMP.
- Aki Takase und Alexander von Schlippenbach, BlackBox: Cuba in Münster, 1922, YouTube.
- Aki Takase, Alexander von Schlippenbach, DJ Illvibe and Paul Lovens, LOK 03+1, “Signals” (Robot Attack), Austria, 2016, Trost records.
For more information please visit:
https://www.cafeoto.co.uk/events/3-days-of-music-dedicated-to-peter-brotzmann/
Magik Circles 