Kurt Bong

Kurt Bong (born June 11, 1937 in Stolberg (Rhineland) ) is a German jazz musician (drummer, orchestra conductor). The specialty of the sought-after studio musician and internationally acclaimed companion are "a slightly springy cymbal stroke and heating fills". Between 1989 and 2000 he led the hr big band .

Live and act

Bong first learned violin, clarinet and piano, and drums from the age of 15. During his training as a train driver in 1957 he played with Jack van Poll , with whom he, as well as Ingfried Hoffmann , stood out at the Düsseldorf jazz festival. 1959 and 1960 followed there appearances with the Feetwarmers and the trio of Klaus Doldinger , with whom he undertook his first American tour. He also giggied with Hans Koller , Francy Boland , Albert Mangelsdorff and Wild Bill Davison . In 1961 he became a professional musician and played during his studies a. a. with Ack van Rooyen , Benny Bailey , Fritz Schulz-Reichel , Herb Geller and the SFB Big Band as well as Werner Eisbrenner's orchestra . During his music studies at the Cologne University of Music , he played with Erwin Lehn's orchestra in 1962/1963 . In addition, records were made with Dieter Reith and Wolfgang Dauner ; He also worked on Attila Zoller's soundtrack to Herbert Vesely's feature film Das Bread of the Early Years . From 1964 to 1969 he worked as a drummer in the ZDF big bands , first under Kurt Henkels in Hamburg, from 1966 under Max Greger in Munich. He also formed the rhythm section with George Mraz in the Munich jazz club domicile , where he could be heard with Booker Ervin , Stan Getz , Dusko Goykovich , Jan Hammer and Jon Hendricks . With Don Menza's tentet , he made guest appearances at several international festivals in 1967/68, such as the Montreux Jazz Festival ; he toured Ireland with Joe Haider .

In 1969 Bong went to Willy Berking and his dance and entertainment orchestra of the Hessischer Rundfunk . After the clarinetist Heinz Schönberger , Bong became head of the formation in 1989 and turned the long-serving ensemble into a primarily and first jazz-playing band, the hr-Bigband . The orchestra was now working more and more with great soloists, including in public concerts. B. Chick Corea , Arturo Sandoval , Johnny Griffin , Clare Fischer , Clark Terry , Ernie Watts , Harry Sweets Edison , Rolf Kühn , Louie Bellson and Jimmy Woode . At the end of December 2000, Bong retired. Since then he has lived with his partner in Oberstaufen in the Oberallgäu district , but also performs with Paul Kuhn and Clark Terry.

In the early 1970s he also appeared with the group From around Klaus Göbel and Gustl Mayer . He continued to play with Emil Mangelsdorff , Peter Herbolzheimer , Volker Kriegel , Jimmy Smith and Toots Thielemans , but was also employed as a studio musician by Stephan Sulke . Bong can be heard on records with Klaus Doldinger, Max Greger, Hugo Strasser , Hank Jones , Helmut Brandt and Manfred Krug . He also led his own groups, including a. in the 1980s the rock jazz formation Bong , who toured Hungary in 1983 with Billy Cobham as a guest. Bong also taught at the Frankfurt University of Music .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} Martin Kunzler : Jazz Lexicon. Volume 1: A – L (= rororo-Sachbuch. Vol. 16512). 2nd Edition. Rowohlt, Reinbek near Hamburg 2004, ISBN 3-499-16512-0 .

literature

• "The train driver who was a drummer", in: Wolfgang Sandner, Jazz in Frankfurt. 1990, pp. 123–127 (with discography)

Web links

• Web presence
• Works by and about Kurt Bong in the catalog of the German National Library