Friedhelm Schönfeld
Friedhelm Schönfeld (born May 13, 1938 in Zehrensdorf , today in Zossen , Teltow-Fläming district ) is a German jazz musician (alto and tenor saxophonist, flutist, clarinetist) and composer.
life and work
Schönfeld studied clarinet, piano and composition in Berlin (GDR) from 1950 to 1958 and was first alto and solo saxophonist with the Rundfunk-Tanzorchester Berlin from 1960 to 1970 . The expansion of his composing and arranging activities took place during this time. Friedhelm Schönfeld formed his own jazz groups for various concerts and production events. The Friedhelm Schönfeld Trio, founded in 1966 together with the double bass player Klaus Koch and the drummer Günter "Baby" Sommer 1966, was an orientation for the development of GDR jazz: At that time, Schönfeld was one of the most famous jazz musicians of the GDR and belonged there - alongside Joachim Kühn , Manfred Schulze and Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky - among the most important pioneers of New Jazz
Schönfeld composed the music for the 13-part pantomime children's series " Clown Ferdinand " created by Hans-Jürgen Stock in 1973/1974 for German TV radio .
He composed the music for many of the jubilee concerts in the Jazz concert series in the Chamber , which was located at the Deutsches Theater in East Berlin . Through his contacts with the authorities, concerts by western jazz groups in the GDR outside Berlin were possible for the first time in the 1970s. From 1976 he worked as a music dramaturge in the theater in the Palace of the Republic . In addition, he organized and held an annual jazz workshop with musicians from East and West until 1979. Schönfeld initiated and supervised other projects, among others at the Berlin Festival and the Academy of Arts.
At the beginning of 1983 he left the GDR and emigrated to Toronto . In Canada he worked with Rob Mc Connell's Canada Pops Orchestra , with Bill Smith's The Alltime Sounds Effects Orchestra and with the group Air raid . In 1985 Friedhelm Schönfeld moved to West Berlin. He took up teaching at the Berlin University of the Arts and worked in various bands and orchestras. He was also the leader of the Berlin Police Big Band. From 2001 to 2006 he held a professorship for saxophone and big band at the Dresden University of Music .
Schönfeld's jazz-musical conception aims at a compositionally structured and thematically bound, but free-tonal style of play, whereby an expressive, "singable" melody is of central importance. His own compositions brought international success in competitions. From 1990 to 2000 he was deputy chairman of the Berlin Composers' Association.
He is the father of the singer and pianist Axinia Schönfeld , with whom he also performs in a duo.
Discographic notes
- Friedhelm Schönfeld / Hubert Katzenbeier Jazz ( Amiga 1973; with Klaus Koch, Günter Sommer)
- Friedhelm Schönfeld (Amiga, 1978; with Aladár Pege , Wolfgang Weber , Dieter Keitel )
- Start . JazzWerkstatt, 2007, with Gerhard Kubach , Janusz Stefański
- Live. Jazz Workshop No. 48 (JazzWerkstatt, 2011, with Rolf von Nordenskjöld , Gerhard Kubach, Ernst Bier )
Filmography
- 1982: urban landscapes
Radio play music
- 1974: Hans-Jürgen Bloch : One hundred marks for a signature - Director: Joachim Staritz (Radio play series: Offenses, No. 4 - Broadcasting of the GDR )
literature
- Ekkehard Jost, European Jazz 1960–1980. Frankfurt a. M., Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag, 1987
- Josh Sellhorn: Schönfeld, Friedhelm . In: Who was who in the GDR? 5th edition. Volume 2. Ch. Links, Berlin 2010, ISBN 978-3-86153-561-4 .
Web links
- Friedhelm Schönfeld Quartet
- Friedhelm Schönfeld at Discogs (English)
- Friedhelm Schönfeld in the Internet Movie Database (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ composers lexicon : SCHÖNFELD, Friedhelm. In: www.kompistenlexikon.de. German Composers' Association, accessed on August 29, 2018 .
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Schönfeld, Friedhelm |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German jazz musician (saxophonist and composer) |
| DATE OF BIRTH | May 13, 1938 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Zehrensdorf , Teltow-Fläming district |