Klaus Lenz

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Klaus-Lenz-Band and Manfred Krug 1971

Klaus Lenz (born March 22, 1940 in Berlin ) is a German jazz musician , band leader and composer, mainly in the modern jazz style . He lived in the GDR until 1977 and is considered the nestor of the GDR jazz scene. Many well-known performers such as Manfred Krug , Günther Fischer , Reinhard Lakomy , Henning Protzmann ( Karat ) , Günter "Baby" Sommer and Ulrich Gumpert learned the musical craft from him and recorded successful albums with him. Klaus Lenz played with constantly changing line-ups, a testament to his constant search for new musical forms of expression. With every formation he achieved a high standard. In addition to his engagement as a jazz musician, he composed in the pop area, he arranged for well-known orchestras and wrote film and theater music, including for the DEFA films Wedding Night in the Rain (1967), Käuzchenkuhle (1968), Not with me, Madam! (1969), Sleeping Beauty (1970), Hey, You! (1970) and Stülpner legend (1972/1973).

Live and act

Klaus Lenz played the trumpet as a child . From 1956 to 1958 he attended the music school in Berlin and then the conservatory . His musical career began in 1958 with the Eberhard Weise orchestra from Görlitz . In 1960 he moved to the Max Reichelt dance and show orchestra .

A year later, Lenz founded his first band , the Quintet 61 , in which he did not use a piano. In this band played next to him Udo Reichel ( drums ), Hermann Anders and Peter Baptist ( trombone ), Heinz Schröter ( tenor saxophone ) and Gerd Lübke ( bass ). In 1962, when pianist Armin Baptist joined the band, it was expanded to form the Klaus Lenz sextet . Horst Krüger took over the bass and a little later Günter "Baby" Sommer switched to the drums. In 1965 Lenz founded a new sextet, which consisted of a changing line-up until 1969. His members included Günther Fischer (tenor and alto saxophone ) Henning Protzmann (bass), Reinhard Lakomy and Ulrich “Uli” Gumpert (piano).

From 1963 to 1968, Lenz brought together the best jazz musicians of the GDR , for a short time in each case, in his Klaus Lenz big bands, which are still famous today . Klaus Lenz knew the qualities of the Manfred Ludwig Sextet from his time in the Eberhard Weise orchestra and formed his 1963 big band around this band. The various formations of his big band included Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky (alto and tenor saxophone), Klaus Smesny (alto saxophone), Heinz Schröter (tenor saxophone), Jens Glevke (tenor saxophone), Manfred Catcher Schulze ( baritone saxophone ), Heinz Becker (trumpet), Udo Reichelt (drums), Hermann Anders (trombone), Günter Gocht (trumpet), Werner Bimbo Gasch (drums), Siegfried Ziegert (bass), Joachim Kühn (piano), Bojidar Hristoff (trumpet), Herbert Rössner (trumpet), Karl- Heinz Fabian (trombone), Ali Schilling (trombone), Hubert Katzenbeier (trombone), Peter Baptist (trombone), Ullrich Türkowsky (bass), Armin Baptist (piano), Horst Krüger (bass), Günter Baby Sommer (drums), Wolfgang “Büchse” Winkler (drums), Ernst Hajek (trumpet), Hans Lippold (trombone), Iri Antonov (alto saxophone), Micha Sokoloff (tenor saxophone) and as singer Manfred Krug . Lenz himself wrote most of the arrangements, and rehearsals took place in Görlitz. In January 1963 the band had their first concert. The first tour was so successful that Lenz presented a second edition of his big band in January 1964. The band was now more mature and homogeneous and made guest appearances in 13 cities in the GDR. Evidence of this unique formation in the history of GDR jazz are the long-playing records Manfred Krug and the Modern Jazz Big Band 65 and Modern Jazz Big Band 65 produced by Amiga .

In 1969 he founded the Klaus Lenz Orchestra , which was disbanded a year later. The band SOK and the Klaus-Lenz-Band emerged from him . With this formation he recorded the LP Klaus Lenz for Fenz .

By merging the Klaus Lenz Band with the Modern Soul Band , which was founded in 1968 by Gerhard “Hugo” Laartz , Lenz launched another successful band project in 1972. The Klaus-Lenz-Modern-Soul-Big-Band was born . With this formation he successfully toured in 1973 and 1974 and produced another LP on the GDR label Amiga. To this band belonged: Klaus Lenz (band leader, trumpet), Mario Peters (piano), Jarek Smietana (guitar), Jörg Dobbersch (bass), Dietrich Petzold (violin), Dieter Erhard (drums), Axel Glenn Müller (alto and Tenor saxophone, flute), Helmut Forsthoff (tenor saxophone, flute), Axel Gothe (baritone saxophone, flute), Claus-Dieter Knispel (trumpet, flugelhorn), Jochen Gleichmann (trumpet), Signor Rothbart (trumpet), Hermann Anders (trombone, arrangements, Composition), Sieghard Schubert (trombone), Joachim Graswurm (trumpet, flugelhorn) as guest, Conny Bauer (trombone), Gerhard Laartz (valve trombone), Rainer Gäbler (alto saxophone), Caspar Hansmann (tenor saxophone), Eberhard Klunker (guitar), Eugen Hahn (bass guitar), Karl-Jürgen Rath (drums), Uschi Brüning (vocals) and Klaus Nowodworski (vocals).

In 1975, the Klaus Lenz Big Band was another excellent big band. In addition to Lenz, Müller, Forsthoff, Knispel, Rothbart, Erhard and Dobersch, this band included: Kaspar Hansmann (flute, bass), Max Pflugbeil (trumpet), Bernd Swoboda (trombone), Manfred Nytsch (trombone), Wolfgang Fiedler ( E- Piano , organ ), Jürgen Heinrich (guitar) and Christian Schmidt as singers. With this formation, Lenz continued the successful collaboration with Manfred Krug and later with Uschi Brüning. The LP Aufbruch , released in 1976, was also his last record produced in the GDR, as he moved to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1977 . Only after the reunification in the GDR did a concert recording of this formation from 1977 appear, which was published in 2001 by Buschfunk . This concert brought together all known modern jazz vocalists from the GDR on one stage. Also present were Regine Dobberschütz , Klaus Nowodworski, Angelika Mann , Uschi Brüning, Holger bending , Stephan Trepte and Hansi terminal .

In 1978 Klaus Lenz produced the LP Fusion as his first album in the Federal Republic of Germany with the Klaus Lenz Jazz & Rock Machine . Participants were Zbigniew Namysłowski (alto and soprano saxophone), Friedemann Graef (tenor saxophone), Bernhard Mergner (trumpet), Eddy Hayes (flugelhorn), Paul Gebauer (trombone), Thomas Wiedermann (trombone), Johannes Rohloff ( Fender piano , piano , Mini-Moog), Ralph Blaha (guitar), Hans Hartmann (bass) and Detlev Kessler (drums). On a second LP Sleepless Nights (1980), among others, Norbert Stein played .

Around 1980 Klaus Lenz turned away from music because he could no longer live from the music he wanted to make and worked as a restorer in the Rhineland. In 2010 there was a new edition of his big band. Musicians from his old bands such as Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Konny Körner, Uschi Brüning and Hansi Klemm also took part in the concerts in five East German cities, as did Jens Winther and Hugo Read .

Klaus Lenz was married for several years to Regine Seiffert , one of the most famous models in the GDR.

Discography

Singles

  • 1963: Quintet 61 (Amiga)
  • 1966: Klaus Lenz Sextet: Look here / Peace song (Amiga)
  • 1966: Klaus Lenz Sextet: Hava Nagila (Amiga, only B-side)
  • 1967: Klaus Lenz Sextet: Forgive me because I regret it / Gypsy ballad (Amiga)
  • 1967: Klaus Lenz Sextet: When you are sad / Every day with you (Amiga)

LPs

  • 1965: Modern Jazz Big Band 65 (Amiga)
  • 1965: Manfred Krug and the Modern Jazz Big Band 65 (Amiga)
  • 1970: Klaus Lenz for Fenz (Amiga)
  • 1974: Klaus Lenz-Modern Soul Big Band (Amiga)
  • 1974: Klaus Lenz Big Band (Muza)
  • 1975: Klaus Lenz Big Band (Amiga)
  • 1976: Departure (Amiga)
  • 1977: Lullaby (Vinyl Records)
  • 1978: Fusion (GeeBeeDee)
  • 1980: Sleepless Nights (GeeBeeDee)

CDs

  • 2001: Klaus Lenz Modern Soul Big Band 1977 (Buschfunk)
  • 2010: Hi De Ho (Tour Highlights 2010) sixteen

Filmography

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Drago Bock: Jazz legend Klaus Lenz is planning a comeback tour ( Memento of the original from September 9, 2010 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. , Leipziger Volkszeitung , March 5, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / nachrichten.lvz-online.de
  2. ↑ Michael Falgowski: Return of a Missing Person , Mitteldeutsche Zeitung , March 19, 2010, accessed on November 10, 2017
  3. ↑ Reiner Kobe: Klaus Lenz: Nostalgic edition of his big band. Interview. Jazz Podium 7/8 2010, p. 11
  4. ↑ My mother sewed bell-bottoms for me , Die Zeit .
personal data
SURNAME Lenz, Klaus
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz musician, band leader and composer
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1940
PLACE OF BIRTH Berlin