Kurt Edelhagen

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Kurt Edelhagen in Scheveningen , 1958

Kurt Ludwig Edelhagen (born June 5, 1920 in Börnig (now Herne ), † February 8, 1982 in Cologne ) was one of the leading German big band leaders of the 1950s and 1960s.

life and work

Edelhagen studied piano and clarinet at the Folkwang School in Essen from 1937 , also attended the conducting class there and graduated with honors in 1941. Plans to continue conducting training in Vienna in order to become director of a symphony orchestra could not be realized due to the war. Edelhagen was drafted and came as a clarinetist in a music corps of the Wehrmacht , which was deployed in France. In France he met professional jazz musicians for the first time , who had already secretly listened to and played jazz with classmates as a Folkwang student .

After the end of the war, he founded a combo in Herne in the summer of 1945 , which he soon expanded into a big band with the help of his long-time drummer Bobby Schmidt . The band initially only played in British soldiers' clubs and performed for the first time on March 25, 1946 in the Herner Schauburg in front of a German audience. In May the orchestra moved to the American zone of occupation , was signed to soldiers 'clubs in Bad Kissingen and Heidelberg, played in Munich's Haus der Kunst (then American officers' mess ) in 1947 , and then in the Heidelberg Stardust Club. Already at that time Edelhagen had "through intensive rehearsal work [...] created an ensemble that stood out from the majority of the club bands that were quite numerous at the time and attracted the attention of the experts." One of them, the AFN disc jockey and later program director Johnny Vrotsos, was enthusiastic about the young Edelhagen band and got them an engagement in Frankfurt am Main at the European headquarters of the US armed forces. In IG casino of the IG Farben Building joined the Edelhagen Orchestra since May 1948 every night, the Americans enthusiastically as "best band of the European Command" praised. At the AFN Edelhagen took on first radio recordings in 1948. In 1948/49 the band could be heard regularly on AFN Munich and Frankfurt, on BFN Hamburg or on BBC London, also on German stations such as Radio Munich (here in the legendary series " Midnight in Munich "), Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Frankfurt .

When Joe Wick had to dissolve his orchestra after a guest performance in Frankfurt in December 1948 , Edelhagen was able to win over the best Wick musicians for his orchestra: the trumpeters Fred Bunge and Hanne Wilfert , the saxophonists Bubi Aderhold and Paul Biste , the trombonists Otto Bredl and Erich Well . In the years to come, they made a significant contribution to the sound profile of the orchestra, which impressed the audience with its expressive sound and, above all, its precise interplay. The American patterns, however, remained unmistakable. In addition to the orchestras of Ellington and Dizzy Gillespie , Edelhagen's great role model at the end of the 1940s was Stan Kenton's great orchestral style and his uncompromising, innovative handling of the big band. “Stan Kenton”, says Joachim Ernst Berendt, “was the last word in big band jazz back then. And Kurt Edelhagen appeared to us from the start as the German answer to the American challenge from Kenton - just as there was a good relationship between the two band leaders when Kenton came to Germany. ”So some Edelhagen arranged and wrote - Musicians for the orchestra pieces that - partly spurred on by bebop - continuously reveal a strong Kenton influence: Edelhagen's pianist and main arranger Erich Becht with his compositions Unison Bop or Percussion in Bop , Paul Biste with Infection or Too Late , the trumpeter Fred Bunge, as a soloist star of the orchestra, with his progressive study. Edelhagen had thus started early to build up his own jazz repertoire as an alternative to the American models. Kenton's idea of ​​" progressive jazz " also fitted into Edelhagen's musical concept, which as early as 1949 underlined "that jazz must definitely be classified in the category of 'new music'". Until the 1950s, Edelhagen therefore had the reputation of being a “German Stan Kenton”.

The involvement in the Frankfurt IG Casino and the orchestra's dance club era in Allied soldiers' clubs ended shortly after the Federal Republic of Germany was founded. On July 1, 1949, Edelhagen's band, which now also included the saxophonists Franz von Klenck and Paul Martin , was hired as a jazz and entertainment orchestra for Bavarian Radio at Radio Nürnberg. A few jazz records for Austrophon were recorded there until 1951; at the same time, recordings of dance music were made, which were distributed via the Philips label.

Kurt Edelhagen (right) at the Donaueschinger Musiktage , 1954

Edelhagen and his orchestra switched to Südwestfunk Baden-Baden on January 1, 1952 . In addition to the production of dance and light music, the focus here was also jazz music. In order to be able to meet the high requirements for modern big band jazz, Edelhagen often exchanged musicians, so that the enormous fluctuation (151 musicians in seven years) was even criticized in some of the press. The orchestra's appearance at the Salon du Jazz in Paris in 1954 caused an international sensation. Edelhagen took with his band in March 1954, the weekly series Jazztime Baden-Baden by Joachim-Ernst Berendt part that made the orchestra far beyond the southwest of Germany known. Here he played with numerous stars of the international jazz scene, such as Lionel Hampton , Mary Lou Williams and Chet Baker , on the occasion of the 1000th jazz broadcast of the SWF in 1956 with the Modern Jazz Quartet and Miles Davis . While looking for a singer for his big band, Edelhagen discovered Caterina Valente in Baden-Baden in 1953 , with whom he performed at the 3rd Salon du Jazz in Paris, the leading European jazz festival at the time , at the beginning of June 1954 . German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt a. M., where Edelhagen was a guest several times with his orchestra. Edelhagen's appearance at the Donaueschinger Musiktage in October 1954 attracted great attention in contemporary music life . Here he conducted Igor Stravinski's Ebony Concerto , which Stravinsky had composed in 1945 for Woody Herman's band , and performed with his orchestra at the world premiere of Rolf Liebermann's Concerto for Jazzband and Symphony Orchestra , a novel combination of jazz and symphonic music based on the twelve-tone technique . The world premiere, which was enthusiastically received by the audience, especially the interaction of the Edelhagen band with the Südwestfunk symphony orchestra under the direction of Hans Rosbaud , was a sensation at the Donaueschinger Musiktage. Numerous critics attested Edelhagen to have made jazz "socially acceptable" in Germany and to have successfully promoted the growing acceptance of jazz music among listeners of classical or new music . On the eve of the Musiktage he played with his orchestra in front of an invited audience and presented Heinz Kiessling's Scales , “the first strictly twelve-tone, swinging work for jazz big band” with a “spectacular” response, as Joachim-Ernst Berendt emphasizes. In 1955, Bill Russo's ballet music The World of Alcina was premiered by the Edelhagen Orchestra.

On April 1, 1957, he went to WDR in Cologne, where he - a novelty in European jazz - put together an international big band that had no dance music obligations but could concentrate on jazz. New arrangements by Francy Boland , Jimmy Deuchar or Ernie Wilkins resulted in a new sound. In the years to come, Edelhagen continued to add concert music, ambitious compositions from Third Stream and occasionally free jazz to his repertoire, such as compositions by Pavel Blatný (played in 1966 at the Berlin Jazz Days ), by Carla Bley ( Oni puladi , 1970) or Manfred Schoof (several recordings in 1971 and 1972).

Edelhagen stayed in Cologne until his contract was terminated by the WDR in 1972. There he established the jazz class of the Cologne University of Music in 1958 , the first of its kind in Europe. He was a lecturer here for five years.

In 1972 Edelhagen played one of the longest medleys in music history with his big band : The Invasion of Nations for the Olympic Games in Munich . In 1973 he received the Federal Cross of Merit, First Class, for the idea, implementation and overall direction of the accompanying music for the Olympics, as did his arrangers Dieter Reith , Jerry van Rooyen and Peter Herbolzheimer . The long-playing record that was released, entitled Olympia Parade , was number one on the German album charts for two months from November 15, 1972 to January 14, 1973 .

Musicians such as Charly Antolini , Benny Bailey , Fred Bunge , Bob Carter , Stuff Combe , Francis Coppieters , Jimmy Deuchar , Carl Drewo , Gerd Dudek , Maffy Falay , Horst Fischer , Johnny Fischer , Wilton Gaynair , Dusko Goykovich , Tubby played in Edelhagen's Big Band Hayes , Derek Humble , Tony Inzalaco , Christian Kellens , Shake Keane , Rick Kiefer , Heinz Kretzschmar , Günter Lenz , Palle Mikkelborg , Ferdinand Povel , Rob Pronk , Bora Roković , Dieter Reith , Rolf Schneebiegl , Ronnie Stephenson , Joe Sydow , Peter Trunk , Werner Twardy , Heinz "Mecky" Schäning, Heiner Wiberny and Jiggs Whigham . In addition to Heinz Kiessling, Heinz Gietz , Werner Twardy, Francy Boland, Claus Ogerman and Bora Roković, the arrangers also included numerous American musicians such as Bill Russo, Bill Holman and Quincy Jones , who arranged the record Kurt Edelhagen plays Jim Webb in 1971 . In the 1970s, Edelhagen employed Herbolzheimer and Rooyen as composers and arrangers for his jazz repertoire, as well as Michael Gibbs , Kenny Napper , Fritz Pauer , Hans Salomon and John Warren .

Edelhagen performed at numerous European jazz festivals, undertook many tours (including a highly regarded tour through the USSR and the GDR in 1964, through North Africa in 1965/1966) and accompanied countless entertainers such as Peter Alexander , Alice Babs , Bill Haley , Bibi Johns , Hildegard Knef , Evelyn Künnecke , Paul Kuhn , Gitta Lind , Angelina Monti , Freddy Quinn and Caterina Valente .

Kurt Edelhagen died after a long and serious illness at the age of 61 in Cologne. Edelhagen was buried next to his wife Helga in the new cemetery in Cologne-Weiden . His first marriage was to Helga (born Folkenborn, * 1922, † 1976). The opera and musical singer Marina Edelhagen is his daughter.

Commemoration

After his death, a street in Cologne-Rath-Heumar and a square in his home town of Herne in the Sodingen district in 1992 were named after him.

On the 10th anniversary of Edelhagen's death on February 15, 1992, a concert Hommage à Kurt Edelhagen with the Berlin Big Band took place in the Cologne Philharmonic Hall under the direction of Milo Pavlović , numerous former Edelhagen musicians and Caterina Valente.

With the title Edelhagen Remembered , the Federal Jazz Orchestra dedicated its 500th “anniversary concert” to the band leader in 2016 , played arrangements by the Edelhagen band from the 1960s and 1970s and honored Edelhagen as “an important pioneer of jazz in the young Federal Republic”.

On the occasion of Edelhagen's 100th birthday, several ARD radio stations commemorated the musician with historical music recordings and tributes, including Edelhagen's former local broadcaster SWR and WDR , which also featured a film documentary by Tobias on June 5, 2020 in the west.art Jazzline series Kremer ("Precision with soul - 100 years of Kurt Edelhagen") radiated.

Discography (selection)

Edelhagen produced the first records for the American market, where they appeared in 1949 for the US company Empire. "It was all about jazz arrangements, and Edelhagen's orchestra received the reputation of being Germany's No. 1 big band abroad." Further recordings followed for Austroton , Philips , Brunswick and Polydor . A selection of the 78 records from 1949 to 1954 is documented by Horst H. Lange .

The first German studio recordings took place in Nuremberg (September 24, 1950; Begin the Beguine , Some of These Days , Happy Days Are Here Again, No Can Do and In A Little Spanish Town ), Hamburg (February 4, 1951; Korridor-Swing and Eisbär -Song ), Hamburg (February 7, 1951; Sam's Song and Wilhelmina ), Hamburg (February 23, 1951; Boogie At All and Paul's Boogie ), in Cologne (February 1951; Presto from “Fantasie In Be-Bop” ) and again in Nuremberg (March 11, 1951; Moonlight Serenade, Dinah and I've Got My Love To Keep Me Warm ).

In the 1950s, Edelhagen published records under various aliases, which he mainly used for the musical accompaniment of entertainers and pop singers: Frank Folken (1951 for Philips), Mike Firestone (accompanying orchestra for Caterina Valente 1954 with Polydor), Monaco-Ball- Orchestra, Kai Olsen and his dance orchestra, Heinz Hagen, Johnny Kern (including accompanying orchestra for Udo Jürgens at the Polydor subsidiary Heliodor ).

  • 1954: Rhapsody in Jazz - A Kurt Edelhagen Concert (LP, Brunswick)
  • 1955: Come On and Hear (LP, Polydor)
  • 1956: Glenn Miller Parade (EP, Brunswick)
  • 1956: Kurt Edelhagen and his Orchestra (EP, Polydor)
  • 1957: Kurt Edelhagen Presents (LP, Polydor; recording: July 10-13, 1957, Cologne)
  • 1957: Come on and swing (LP, Polydor; recording: October 16, 1957, Cologne)
  • 1957: Jazz from Germany (LP, DECCA; US pressing)
  • 1958: Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra. (EP, Brunswick; recording: May 24, 1958 at the German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt / Main.)
  • 1959: A Toast to the Bands (LP, Polydor; recording: May 11-15, 1959, Cologne)
  • 1959: Come on and dance (LP, Polydor)
  • 1960: Ballroom in London (LP, Polydor)
  • 1960: Broadway Melodies - Dance Potpourri (LP, Polydor)
  • 1961: Ballroom in Paris (LP, Polydor)
  • 1961: Holiday in Brazil (LP, Polydor 46 334)
  • 1962: Swingin 'Jazz (LP, Strand; apparently US robbery)
  • 1963: Dancing Percussion (LP, Polydor)
  • 1964: Olympic Hits (LP, Polydor)
  • 1964: Kurt Edelhagen and his Concert Orchestra: Concerto (LP, Polydor)
  • 1964: Kurt Edelhagen and his orchestra in Moscow (LP, WDR (Cologne); recording: May 1964 in the Moscow Sports Palace; record not available in stores)
  • 1965: Kurt Edelhagen (LP, Amiga; recording: June 1964, Berlin and Dresden)
  • 1965: Kurt Edelhagen - Wolfgang Sauer (LP, Amiga; live recording on June 16, 1964 in the Friedrichstadt-Palast in East Berlin)
  • 1966: Swing-Time (LP, Polydor)
  • 1966: Kurt Edelhagen And His Orchestra - International (LP, carousel)
  • 1970: Kurt Edelhagen plays Jim Webb (LP, Polydor)
  • 1972: Olympia Parade - original music for the entry of the nations August 26, 1972 (LP, Polydor)
  • 1972: Olympia Parade 2 - original music for the entry of the nations August 26, 1972 (LP, Polydor)
  • 1972: Kurt Edelhagen - Entry of Nations - Olympic Games Munich 1972 (double LP, Polydor)
  • 1972: Big Band Fascination '72 (LP, Polydor 2371 244)
  • 1972: Jazz / Pop (LP, WDR ; record not available in stores)
  • 1976: Big Bands of Europe Vol. I. Kurt Edelhagen (LP, Elite Special; re-release of Austroton records 1949–1950)
  • 1977 (?): The great dance orchestras 1930–1950 - Kurt Edelhagen (double LP, Polydor; recordings 1950–1955, compilation by Horst H. Lange)
  • 1978 (?): Kurt Edelhagen and his Orchestra - Big Band Jazz from Germany (double LP, Golden Era Records; robbery from the USA with recordings for Südwestfunk, 1952–1956)
  • 1978 (?): Kurt Edelhagen and his Orchestra - Concert Jazz (LP, Golden Era Records; robbery from the USA, among others with Concerto for Jazz Band and Symphony Orchestra by Rolf Liebermann )
  • 1982: Kurt Edelhagen - Portrait (double LP; Polydor; recordings from 1953–1975)
  • 1997: The early years 1 pure jazz (CD, Koch International; first releases of recordings for Südwestfunk 1952–1956)
  • 1997: The early years 2 dance and jazz songs (CD, Koch International; first releases of recordings for Südwestfunk 1952–1956 with Caterina Valente , Alice Babs , Gitta Lind and Chet Baker )
  • 2003: Trumpet Blues . 24 original recordings (CD, Jazz Elite Special; re-release of recordings for Austroton 1949–1951)
  • 2006: Moonlight Serenade (CD, Universal Music jazzclub series; 24 recordings from 1950–1954 for Philips, Brunswick and Polydor)
  • 2007: Up up and away (CD, Universal Music; re-release of Kurt Edelhagen plays Jim Webb from 1970)
  • 2010: A Toast to the Bands - Swing-Time (CD, Vocalion; Re-release of the Polydor LPs from 1959 and 1966)
  • 2011: Ballroom in London - Ballroom in Paris (CD, Vocalion; re-release of the Polydor LPs from 1960 and 1961)
  • 2011: Dancing Percussion - Olympic Hits (CD, Vocalion; re-release of the Polydor LPs from 1963 and 1964)
  • 2013: Orchestra Kurt Edelhagen feat. Mary Lou Williams and Caterina Valente (CD, Jazzhaus , studio and live recordings from 1954)

literature

  • Gerd Salaberger: A champion for jazz. Conversations with Kurt Edelhagen. In: Frankfurter Rundschau. Frankfurt a. M. No. 161, July 14, 1949, p. 8
  • [Anon .:] As precise as the Prussians. Edelhagen . In: Der Spiegel. Hamburg. No. 43, October 22, 1952. P. 27–30 (Spiegel cover story: Eisgekühlter Hot. Until the lips bleed: Jazz Kapellmeister Edelhagen.) ( Digitized version )
  • [Anon .:] From quartet to glamorous big band. 10-year band leader anniversary of Kurt Edelhagen . In: Jazz Podium . Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna. No. 12, December 1955, p. 4
  • Riemann Music Lexicon . 12. completely reworked. Ed. In three volumes. by Wilibald Gurlitt. Person part A – K. Mainz: Schott, 1959. p. 447
  • Wolfgang Dohl: Kurt Edelhagen . In: Jazz Podium. Stuttgart, Munich, Vienna. No. 2, February 1961
  • Werner Höfer: Jazz and a few tears. Kurt Edelhagen and his concerts between Moscow and Dresden . In: The time. Hamburg. June 26, 1964 (interview with Edelhagen)
  • Werner Dittmer: A decade at WDR: Kurt Edelhagen. In: Jazz Podium. Stuttgart. No. 6, June 1967, p. 163
  • Wolfgang Dohl: 25 years of the Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra . In: Jazz Podium. Stuttgart. No. 11, November 1970, pp. 392-392
  • Wolfgang Dohl: Edelhagen and Erwin Lehn . In: Jazz Podium. Stuttgart. No. 7, July 1972, pp. 235-236
  • Joachim Ernst Berendt: In memoriam Kurt Edelhagen . In: Jazz Podium. Stuttgart. No. 4, April 1982, pp. 12-13
  • Armando Bausch: Kurt Edelhagen . In: Ders .: Jazz in Europe . Echternach, Lux .: éditions phi, 1985. pp. 74-81. (Contains an interview with Edelhagen, apparently from the late 1970s).
  • Bernd Hoffmann : Edelhagen, Kurt. In: Music in the past and present. General encyclopedia of music. 2nd, revised edition, ed. by Ludwig Finscher. Person part [vol.] 6. p. 78
  • Wolfgang Dohl: Trumpet Blues. The Kurt Edelhagen Orchestra . In: Jazz Podium. Stuttgart. No. 7/8, July / August 2003, p. 14
  • Volker Jakob: Swinging Germany. The jazz musician Kurt Edelhagen . In: Westfalenspiegel 3/2009, p. 55

Web links

Commons : Kurt Edelhagen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b The grave of Kurt Edelhagen , knerger.de
  2. ↑ Stephanie Reekers: The regional development of the districts and communities of Westphalia 1817-1967. Aschendorff, Münster Westfalen 1977, ISBN 3-402-05875-8 , p. 248.
  3. ^ City of Herne: The time from 1970 to 1989 , accessed on May 22, 2018
  4. ↑ See: Joachim Ernst Berendt: In memoriam Kurt Edelhagen. In: Jazz Podium, No. 4, April 1982, p. 12.
  5. ↑ Norbert Kozicki: Europe's No. 1 band leader a Herner . In: Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, No. 132, June 8, 1991.
  6. ↑ From quartet to glamorous big band. In: Jazz-Podium, No. 12, December 1955, p. 4.
  7. ↑ a b Gerd Salaberger: A champion for jazz. In: Frankfurter Rundschau, July 14, 1949.
  8. ↑ Joachim Ernst Berendt: A window made of jazz. Essays, portraits, reflections. Revised u. exp. Edition Frankfurt a. M .: Fischer Taschenbuch Verlag 1978, pp. 177–178.
  9. ↑ These recordings (from the years 1949/50) can be heard on the CD Trumpet Blues (2003).
  10. ↑ a b As precise as the Prussians Der Spiegel, Hamburg. No. 43, October 22, 1952, p. 29.
  11. ↑ a b c Reiner Kobe: Big Bands in North Rhine-Westphalia: Edelhagen, Clarke-Boland and JugendJazzOrchester. In: Robert von Zahn (ed.): Jazz in North Rhine-Westphalia since 1946. Emons-Verlag, Cologne 1999, pp. 158–173
  12. ↑ To be heard again with this original line-up on the audio CD: Music in Germany 1950–2000. Concerts 1950–1960. RCA Read Seal / BMG Blassis, 2004.
  13. ^ Joachim-Ernst Berendt: Jazz in Donaueschingen 1954–1994. Attempt to look back. In: Josef Häusler: Mirror of the new music: Donaueschingen. Chronicle, trends, reviews of works. Kassel, Bärenreiter [u. a.], 1996, p. 408.
  14. ↑ Biography: Kurt Edelhagen , hdg.de
  15. ↑ Announcement of the concert Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 2, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (accessed July 2, 2016). @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / gvents.de
  16. ↑ SWR 2, 2. u. June 6, 2020 (Julia Neupert and Karsten Mützelfeld), WRD 3, 1., 2. and June 5, 2020 (Thomas Mau, Bernd Hoffmann)
  17. ^ Horst H. Lange : Jazz in Germany. Berlin: Colloquium Verl., 1966. p. 128.
  18. ↑ Horst H. Lange, The German "78s". Discography of hot dance and jazz music 1903–1958 , Berlin, 1987, pp. 297–300
personal data
SURNAME Edelhagen, Kurt
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Edelhagen, Kurt Ludwig (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German big band leader of the 1950s
DATE OF BIRTH June 5, 1920
PLACE OF BIRTH Börnig , Herne
DATE OF DEATH February 8, 1982
Place of death Cologne