Axel Zwingenberger

Axel Zwingenberger at the funeral of blues legend champion Jack Dupree in Hanover , 1992.

Axel Zwingenberger (born May 7, 1955 in Hamburg ) is a German boogie-woogie and blues pianist and composer.

Live and act

Zwingenberger, the son of a doctor, received piano lessons from the age of 6 , but only came into contact with boogie-woogie at the age of 17. Until then he (quote) “didn't know that you could play the piano like that” . From this point on, this style was the focus of his musical work.

Axel and Torsten Zwingenberger , 2011.

After graduating from the Johanneum School of Academics in Hamburg (1974), Zwingenberger received his first recording contract in 1975. Over the years he has performed with a number of well-known American jazz musicians ( Big Joe Turner , Lionel Hampton , Champion Jack Dupree , Mama Yancey, Jay McShann and many more). This collaboration usually also led to recordings. The series of recorded sessions includes around 30 records or CDs. He has also worked on albums by Bill Wyman 's Rhythm Kings (Just For A Thrill) and Ludwig Hirsch (In Meiner Sprache) . He likes to perform regularly with his brother, the jazz and blues drummer Torsten Zwingenberger .

Axel Zwingenberger enriches the boogie woogie with his own compositions and also the publication of music .

In the spring of 2009 - mediated by the pianist Ben Waters - Zwingenberger renewed his musical collaboration with Charlie Watts . Since then Zwingenberger, Waters, Watts and the double bass player Dave Green have played together in the band " The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie ". The band name is derived from the first names Axel, Ben, Charlie and Dave.

Boogie Woogie and the steam locomotive

On his concert tour in the early 1990s in the area of ​​the former GDR , he noticed many of the steam locomotives still in existence there, and the acoustic proximity of steam engine technology to the pounding rhythm of boogie woogie. He revived his old hobby of photography and specialized in flash night shots of moving steam trains in the style of the photos by O. Winston Link . Zwingenberger documented his love for steam locomotives in a photo book ( Vom Zauber der Trains , ISBN 3-926398-02-7 ) with these photographs he took himself, supplemented by CDs with railway boogie woogies and original steam locomotive sounds. Zwingenberger founded the "Stiftung Kultur on rails" to the survival and operation of historic listed rail vehicles such as with friends 18,201 to promote. He likes to present railway music in his concerts.

Press reviews

Martin Kunzler writes in Jazz-Lexikon, Volume 2: From La Barbera to Zwingenberger : "With enormous drive and feeling for building up atmosphere, the pianist Axel Zwingenberger represents the summit of the European boogie woogie renaissance."

Peter Stöbich says in the 3/03 keyboard world: "Axel Zwingenberger plays the Boogie Woogie as authentically as his legendary teachers ... For many younger pianists, the man from Hamburg has become an idol and mentor himself."

Awards

For the album Let's Boogie Woogie All Night Long , Zwingenberger and Big Joe Turner received the German Record Award in the “Traditional Jazz” category. In 2007 Zwingenberger was inducted into the Boogie Woogie Hall Of Fame in the USA .

Furthermore, the cover of the weekend journal of the Hamburger Abendblatt of September 23, 2000 was designed with photographs from his book Vom Zauber der Zug and was awarded the European Newspaper Award 2000 in the photography category. He also received the Nord Award 2007 together with Gottfried Böttger and Torfrock .

Discographic notes

Solo albums

• 1977 Boogie Woogie Breakdown
• 1977 Boogie Woogie Session '76 - with Hans-Georg Möller and Martin Pyrker
• 1979 Let's Boogie Woogie All Night Long - with Big Joe Turner
• 1980 Power House Boogie
• 1981 Boogie Woogie Jubilee - with Big Joe Turner , Roy Milton, Cleanhead Vinson , Margie Evans
• 1982 The Boogie Woogie Album with Lionel Hampton and his orchestra
• 1985 Boogie Woogie live
• 1988 Boogie Woogie Bros. - with Torsten Zwingenberger
• 1990 Blue Pianos - with Jay McShann
• 1990 Boogie Woogie Classics
• 1990 Boogie In The Barrelhouse
• 1995 Boogie Back To New York City live, New York City, April 1995
• 1996 Swing The Boogie - live with Jay McShann
• 1999 Brothers in Boogie - with Torsten Zwingenberger
• 1999 The Boogiemeisters - with Vince Weber
• 2001 Let's Boogie Woogie All Night Long - with Big Joe Turner CD reissue
• 2001 The magic of trains
• 2004 Groovology - with Gottfried Böttger
• 2007 Saxy Boogie Woogie - with Big Jay McNeely
• 2009 Lady Sings the Boogie Woogie - with Lila Ammons
• 2010 The Magic of Boogie Woogie - in a trio with Charlie Watts & Dave Green
• 2012 The Joy of Boogie Woogie - live with Keito Saito
• 2015 Live in Vienna - with Hans-Georg Möller, Martin Pyrker, Torsten Zwingenberger, Vince Weber (box with 2 CDs - "Live from the Konzerthaus - May 1976" and "Studio Sessions - October 1976" and a DVD "Boogie Woogie on ORF Spotlight - March 1977 ")

Axel Zwingenberger And The Friends Of Boogie Woogie

• 1984 Vol. 1 Sippie Wallace - with Sippie Wallace
• 1985 Vol. 2 From Hamburg To Hollywood - with Big Joe Turner, Joe Newman , Lloyd Glenn , Torsten Zwingenberger
• 1987 Vol. 3 An Evening With Sippie Wallace - with Sippie Wallace
• 2001 Vol. 4 The Blues Of Mama Yancey - with Estelle Mama Yancey
• 1988 Vol. 5 Champ's Housewarming - with Champion Jack Dupree and the Mojo Blues Band
• 1988 Vol. 6 On Stage With Champion Jack Dupree - with Champion Jack Dupree and Torsten Zwingenberger
• 1990 Vol. 7 Champion Jack Dupree Sings Blues Classics
• 1992 Vol. 8 Heat It Up! - with Red Holloway and the Mojo Blues Band
• 2007 Vol. 9 Red Hot Boogie Woogie Party - with Red Holloway and the Mojo Blues Band
• 2000 Vol. 10 Kansas City Boogie Jam - with Big Joe Duskin , Sammy Price and Jay McShann

literature

• Joachim-Ernst Behrendt : Das Jazzbuch , Fischer, first 1981, further editions.
• Gerard Bieldermann: Axel Zwingenberger Discography , Eurojazz Discos NL.
• Ian Carr / Digby Fairweather / Brian Priestley u. a .: Rough Guide to Jazz , ISBN 1-84353-256-5 .
• Richard Cook , Brian Morton : The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings , Penguin, first 1992, 8th edition 2006, ISBN 978-0-14-102327-4 .
• Leonard G. Feather / Ira Gitler : The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz , Oxford University Press, USA, 2007, ISBN 978-019532000-8 .
• Jazz Podium article in the editions 11.1980, 04.2003 and 05.2005.
• Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 2: M – Z (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16513). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek bei Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16513-9 .
• Colin Larkin (Ed.): The Guinness Who's Who of Jazz , Guinness Books UK, 1992 ff, ISBN 0-85112-580-8 .
• Christopher I. Page: Boogie Woogie Stomp - Albert Ammons & His Music . Northeast Ohio Jazz Society, Cleveland Oh. 1997, ISBN 978-1-885066-32-9 .
• Peter Silvester: The Story Of Boogie Woogie - A Left Hand Like God , Quartet Books UK, 1988, reprint 2009, Scarecrow Press, ISBN 978-0-8108-6924-0 .

Web links

• Axel Zwingenberger website with biography, discography, tour dates and online shop
• Interview with Axel Zwingenberger at BR-Alpha ( Memento from May 23, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 39 kB)
• Interview with Axel Zwingenberger at Boogie Woogie Press (in English)
• Entry in the jazz index
• Works by and about Axel Zwingenberger in the catalog of the German National Library
• Axel Zwingenberger in the Internet Movie Database (English)

Footnotes

1. ↑ Boogie Woogie Be With Me z. B. was u. a. recorded by Maciej Markiewicz from Poland, Michael van den Valentyn from Germany, Christoph Steinbach from Austria, Lasse E. Jensen from Denmark
2. ↑ Boogie Woogie Piano solo - transcription of all twelve pieces on the CD Boogie Woogie live , ISBN 3-926398-01-9 .
3. ↑ www.kultur-auf-schienen.de
4. ↑ Axel Zwingenberger: Under the Spell of the Boogie Woogie Keyboard World ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.