Dieter Köhnlein

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Dieter Köhnlein (born July 2, 1959 in Ansbach ) is a German modern jazz pianist .

Live and act

Köhnlein received classical piano training from the age of seven. From the age of fifteen he played blues , funk and fusion in various bands, often with American soldiers stationed in his hometown. Between 1979 and 1983 he studied music education at the University of Erlangen-Nürnberg , but initially played with the German-American International Jazz Fusion before he appeared in clubs and festivals with the A Touch of Jazz quartet from 1981 . From 1986 he worked in the Trio Energy Transfer and from 1987 in the duo with Uwe Kropinski , with whom he recorded several albums. Since 1990 he has concentrated on solo performances ("Solo" 1991, "Three Faces (At Least)" 1995, "Tracks" 2005). He also worked in a trio with Rudi Engel and Ray Kaczynski , which is occasionally expanded into a quartet with Volker Schlott ("Live" 2000), but also in a duo with Kropinski, Schlott or Rudi Mahall . He has performed at international festivals in Krakow and Barcelona , Jazz East-West , the Leverkusen Jazz Days and the European Union Jazz Festival in Mexico City . In 1998 he worked with the painter Gregor Hiltner. On behalf of the Foreign Office , Köhnlein completed an extensive solo tour through countries in Central America such as Guatemala, Honduras and Panama in 2000 . The following year he gave guest performances in Algiers and Tunis for the Goethe Institute . In the following years, Köhnlein toured Spain, India, Hungary, China and Turkey.

A Touch of Jazz , with Köhnlein as a pianist, received 2nd prize at the international competition in Karlovy Vary in 1986 . In 1995 he was awarded the “Star of the Year” by the Nuremberg evening newspaper and in 1997 the City of Nuremberg's Culture Promotion Prize. According to Münchner Merkur , he has “developed into one of the most exciting pianists in Germany with his graceful and simple ballads, humorous and weird compositions and groundbreaking improvisations.” In 2012 he received a Wolfram von Eschenbach sponsorship award .

Discography (selection)

  • By the Way (1989, with Uwe Kropinski )
  • Piano Solo (1991)
  • Change of Mind (1992, with Volker Schlott)
  • In and around C (1994, with Uwe Kropinski )
  • sweet bAllAd sweet (1997, with Volker Schlott; Culture Prize of the City of Nuremberg)
  • Stringed Together (2003, with Uwe Kropinski)
  • Tracks (2005, solo)
  • Heinz and Dieter , 2011/12 (solo)
  • Haste Makes Waste (2012, with Rudi Engel, Matthias Rosenbauer ; Kulturförderpreis Middle Franconia)
  • Scratching the Silence (2015, with Uwe Kropinski)

Lexigraphic entry

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ District awarded Wolfram von Eschenbach Prize , Nürnberger Zeitung of October 27, 2012
personal data
SURNAME Köhnlein, Dieter
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz musician
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd July 1959
PLACE OF BIRTH Ansbach