Alexander von Schlippenbach

Alexander von Schlippenbach in the club W71 2019

Alexander von Schlippenbach (born April 7, 1938 in Berlin ) is a German jazz pianist , freelance arranger and composer based in Berlin. Schlippenbach is an important representative of the first generation of European free jazz musicians.

Live and act

Schlippenbach 2005 in the Bimhuis , Amsterdam

Schlippenbach received piano lessons from the age of eight; after graduating from high school at Kreuzgasse in Cologne, he studied composition at the Cologne University of Music with Rudolf Petzold and Bernd Alois Zimmermann . During his studies he was a pianist in Gunter Hampel's jazz quintet and from 1965 in Manfred Schoof's ensemble . At the age of 28 he founded the Globe Unity Orchestra (initially for a composition commission from the Berlin Jazz Days ) , which he continues to direct today. In 1968 he organized one of the “anti-festivals” in Cologne, shortly afterwards he was involved in founding the label Free Music Production (FMP), which was initially owned by the musicians .

His trio has existed since 1970 with Paul Lovens and initially Michel Pilz , then Evan Parker (partly as a quartet with Peter Kowald , Alan Silva or Reggie Workman ). Paul Lytton replaced Paul Lovens on drums after Lovens could no longer go on tour from 2018. He toured Europe, Asia, Australia and the United States for the Goethe Institute and did theater work with Sven-Åke Johansson . He produced for WDR , SDR , SWF , Radiotelevisione Italiana , RIAS and Deutschlandradio Berlin. Numerous long-playing records and CDs have been released by MPS , CBS , ECM , Enja , FMP, Disk Union and Intakt .

In 1988 Schlippenbach founded the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra with the aim of performing new works by contemporary jazz composers and producing them on sound carriers. Schlippenbach also worked in duos with Sven-Åke Johansson, with his wife Aki Takase , with Tony Oxley , with Sam Rivers , Sunny Murray and with Manfred Schoof . In 1999, in collaboration with Rudi Mahall and Axel Dörner, he recorded the complete works of Thelonious Monk on NDR . In 2001 he was the program advisor to the Total Music Meeting . In 2011 he founded the Schlippenbach-Walsdorff Quartet with Henrik Walsdorff (with Antonio Borghini and Christian Lillinger ). Occasionally he performs with his son Vincent aka DJ Illvibe .

Schlippenbach received record awards from the Union of German Jazz Musicians (UDJ) (1980/81) and was awarded the Berlin Art Prize in 1976 and the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize in 1994. In 2007 he received the SWR Jazz Prize . In 2017 he was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.

Thomas Loewner: Alexander von Schlippenbach. In: jazz classics. Edited by Peter Niklas Wilson . 2 Vols. Stuttgart: Reclam 2005, Vol. 2, pp. 636–642, ISBN 3-15-030030-4 .

Commons : Alexander von Schlippenbach - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

personal data
SURNAME	Schlippenbach, Alexander von
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	German jazz pianist, freelance arranger and composer
DATE OF BIRTH	April 7, 1938
PLACE OF BIRTH	Berlin