Klaus Koenig (pianist)

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Klaus Koenig (born October 13, 1936 in Braunschweig ) is a German modern jazz musician (pianist) and sound engineer who lives in Switzerland .

Live and act

Koenig grew up in the Weser Uplands. He received classical piano lessons from the age of six. After graduating from high school, he completed his studies as a sound engineer at the Detmold University of Music . Two wind players from a military band belonging to the British occupation forces invited Koenig to be pianists in their jazz quintet. This is how Koenig came to jazz.

From April 1962 he worked as a sound engineer at the Radio Studio Zurich . In fifteen years he created over 300 commented jazz programs for radio.

Koenig also played jazz in Zurich. In 1963 he won first prize at the Amateur Jazz Festival in Zurich together with Irène Schweizer . In 1964, Klaus Koenig founded the Jazz Live Trio with Peter Frei and Peter Schmidlin for the Jazz Live series of jazz concerts on Radio Studio Zurich. Until 1983, the trio accompanied soloists such as the American jazz musicians Johnny Griffin , Dexter Gordon , Clark Terry , Slide Hampton , Booker Ervin , Lee Konitz , Benny Bailey , Jiggs Whigham , Art Farmer , Phil Woods , Clifford Jordan and Leo in over 100 live broadcasts Wright ; They also played with many European musicians such as Albert Mangelsdorff , Dusko Goykovich and Enrico Rava . In addition, the trio performed in concerts with well-known soloists. The trio was also a member of Franco Ambrosetti's quartet , performed classical and jazz programs with Annette Weisbrod and jazz & poetry programs with Gert Westphal . Between 1973 and 1978 Koenig expanded his trio with the wind players Hans Kennel , Andy Scherrer and Paul Haag to the sextet Magog , with whom he took part in the festivals in Montreux , Willisau , Ljubljana and Paris. Magog stood for the attempt to close the gap between the then diverging elements hard bop, free jazz and rock jazz. At the end of the 1970s he founded a quartet with Roman Schwaller , and then performed exclusively his own compositions in the Gogam quintet from 1982 to 1984 . The Voirol-Koenig-Extra-Ensemble existed from 1987 to 1989 . Since 1989 Koenig has also appeared as a solo pianist. During these years the trio played frequently with Sal Nistico until his death in 1991. In 1995 Koenig founded Magog Zwei .

Due to focal dystonia in both hands, he had to interrupt his musical activity in 1998. He wrote works on music theory: "On the temperature problem of keyboard instruments in early music" and "Voicings" (a voicing lesson for jazz pianists).

After a 15 year break due to illness, Klaus Koenig has performed with the newly founded Jazz Live Trio and the quintet Seven Things since 2012, despite his dystonia . For this he had re-established the trio with bassist Patrick Sommer and drummer Andi Wettstein and the quintet with saxophonist Christoph Merki and trumpeter Daniel Schenker .

Discographic notes

  • Magog Live in Montreux 1973 (new release) ( TCB 1232, entry at Discogs )
  • Klaus Koenig Seven Things Piazza Rotonda (TCB 2013, entry at Discogs )
  • Magog (new release) (TCB 1302, entry at Discogs )
  • Klaus Koenig Seven Things Piazza Rotonda (TCB 33102, entry at Discogs )
  • Jazz Live Trio Nausikaa (TCB 32502, entry at Discogs )
  • Klaus Koenig Seven Things Seven Things I Always Wanted To Say (TCB 35402)
  • Jazz Live Trio Night Toughts (TCB 35202, entry at Discogs )
  • Jazz Live Trio Music For The Gentle Man (TCB 37228)

Swiss Radio Days Jazz Live Concert Series

  • Gert Westphal + Jazz Live Trio: Jazz & Lyrik (Heinrich Heine / Gottfried Benn) (TCB 01262, entry at Discogs )
  • Sal Nistico & Tony Scott + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02212, entry at Discogs )
  • Albert Mangelsdorff & Francois Jeanneau + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02222)
  • Gianni Basso & Guy Lafitte + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02242)
  • Benny Bailey & Idrees Sulieman + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02252)
  • Karin Krog & Enrico Rava & Miriam Klein + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02262)
  • Phil Woods & Daniels Daniels & Stuff Smith & Leo Wright + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02272)
  • Kenny Wheeler & Alan Skidmore + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02282)
  • Sahib Shihab & Art Farmer & Cliff Jordan + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02290)
  • Johnny Griffin & Hal Singer & Leszek Zadlo & Ferdinand Povel + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02302)
  • Slide Hampton & Carl Berger & Glenn Ferris + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 02312)
  • Franco Ambrosetti & Hans Kennel / Thomas Grünwald & Andy Scherrer / Roman Schwaller & Daniel Bourquin + Jazz Live Trio (TCB 12322)

Swiss Radio Jazz Live Concert Series

  • Vol 1 Americans in Europe (TCB 8710)
  • Vol 2 Euro-American Fusions (TCB 8720)
  • Vol 3 European Trends (TCB 8730)

More shots

  • Magog Live in Montreux 1973 (first release) (Evasion EB 100 210)
  • Magog (ECM / Japo 60011)
  • Gog's Dreams Solo Piano (TCB 8740)
  • Lunet - Gianni Basso European Quartet (Splasc (h) Records)
  • Galatea - Jazz Live Trio (Dire)
  • Organic - The Victor Burghardt & Mike Barone Orchestra (Ex Libris)
  • Pedro Y Antonia - Hugo Heredia + Jazz Live Trio (Ariston)
  • Franco Ambrosetti and the Jazz Live Situation (Dire)
  • Musica Helvetica Program No. 59 (Magog) (MH)
  • Confrontation - Jazz Live Trio with texts by Rose Ausländer , Eva Zeller , Ernst Meister , Dirk Heinrichs (Hoppe & Werry ASS)
  • Jazz Chorale 3 - Jazz Live Trio + Kantorei Düsseldorf-Oberkassel (Hoppe & Werry)

Lexigraphic entry

  • Bruno Spoerri (Ed.): Biographical Lexicon of Swiss Jazz. CD supplement to: Bruno Spoerri (Ed.): Jazz in Switzerland. History and stories. Chronos-Verlag, Zurich 2005, ISBN 3-0340-0739-6 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Klaus Koenig: Piano Voicings. Notes and Examples. (PDF; 973 kB) In: klauskoenig.ch. 2008, accessed October 3, 2018 .
  2. ↑ a b Florian Bissig: The comeback. In: nzz.ch. August 13, 2014, accessed October 3, 2018 .
  3. ↑ 50 years of the Jazz Live Trio. In: nzz.ch. April 16, 2014, accessed October 3, 2018 .
  4. ↑ Klaus Koenig: For tempering keyboard instruments in early music. Attempt an introduction. (PDF; 214 kB) In: amg-zuerich.ch. October 10, 2016, accessed October 3, 2018 .
personal data
SURNAME Koenig, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz musician and sound engineer
DATE OF BIRTH October 13, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Braunschweig