Martin Classen

Martin Classen (born August 7, 1957 in Paderborn ) is a German jazz musician ( tenor and soprano saxophone ) and composer. In 2002 he installed the first certified jazz training for school musicians in Germany at the Gerhard Mercator University in Duisburg . As a professor, he heads the jazz course at the Bremen University of the Arts .

Live and act

Classen first studied clarinet at the Detmold Music Academy and then studied saxophone with Ferdinand Povel at the Hilversum Conservatory ; Kenny Napper and Jerry van Rooyen taught him arranging and composition there.

He toured internationally with his own quartet and quintet, in western and southern Europe as well as in China and the USA. He released albums under his own name ( Stop & Go and Cereal , with Jeff Hamilton , John Goldsby and Sebastian Altekamp ). The CDs Mavi and Prendere o lasciare were created with Luciano Biondini . He also worked with musicians such as Albert Mangelsdorff , Richie Beirach , Billy Hart , Tony Scott , Clark Terry , Lee Konitz , Klaus Ignatzek , Gustavo Bergalli and Tine Schneider . He also played as a soloist with the John Clayton Big Band , the Metropole Orchestra , the Dutch section of the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Würzburg Jazz Orchestra.

Classen wrote commissioned compositions for WDR and was responsible for the sound installation Blow Up at the 1992 documenta in Kassel. He can also be heard on records with Dick Verbeeck / Michel de Bruin, Georg Rox , Lis Harting, Mezzanotte , Florian Poser and the Midland Big Band.

From 1990 to 1998 he led the saxophone class (jazz) at the Hanover Music Academy , from 1998 to 2000 he was head of the jazz laboratory at the University of Duisburg . Since October 2000 he has been professor of music at the University of the Arts in Bremen. He is also a permanent lecturer of the Landes Jugend Big Band Niedersachsen and works for the LAG Musik Niedersachsen at Jugend musiziert .

Lexical entries

• Jürgen Wölfer : Jazz in Germany. The encyclopedia. All musicians and record companies from 1920 until today. Hannibal, Höfen 2008, ISBN 978-3-85445-274-4 .

Web links

• Entry HfK Bremen