Martin Zenker
Martin Zenker (* 25. June 1970 in Munich ) is a German bassist of the Modern Jazz . He was professor for jazz bass at Kyung Hee University in Seoul / South Korea and is the founder and director of the jazz course at the State Conservatory for Music and Dance, Ulan Bator , Mongolia .
Live and act
Martin Zenker grew up in Kirchseeon near Munich and studied double bass at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich from 1987 to 1992 . During this time he was a member of the Bavarian Youth Jazz Orchestra under the direction of Dusko Goykovich and began performing as a double bass player at home and abroad. From 1993 study stays in the USA were added.
Martin Zenker has been working as a freelance jazz musician since 1992 . He is engaged worldwide as a sideman and is a band leader in various formations. Martin Zenker played with Jimmy Cobb , Billy Hart , Ed Thigpen , James Moody , Lee Konitz , Mark Murphy , Eartha Kitt , Valery Ponomarev , Conte Candoli , Al Porcino , Herb Geller , Steve Grossman , Jesse Davis , Jim Snidero , Jeremy Pelt , among others , Johannes Enders , Rick Hollander , Martin Krusche and many others.
His projects as a band leader are Seven Minds, UGETSU, Perfect Five, Bass n Bass and New Territory with saxophonist Tim Armacost , vibraphonist Chris Varga and drummer Rick Hollander. The repertoire of this band consists of original compositions by Zenker. The arrangements for the band Bass n Bass, with two double basses, accompanied by piano and drums, are written by Zenker himself. For the project "Mongolian Song of the singer Enji Erkhembayar he took over the musical direction and the production and most of the arrangements come from Zenker.
Since 2008 Martin Zenker has been performing more and more in Asia and has numerous projects with musicians from South Korea and Mongolia.
In 2014 he took over the management and organization of the jazz ensemble as part of the production The Soldiers by Bernd Alois Zimmermann at the Bavarian National Theater in Munich under the direction of Kyrill Petrenko .
In the same year the double bass player became both artistic director of the EBE Jazz Festival in Ebersberg and program director of the Jazz Korea Festival on behalf of the Korean Cultural Center in Berlin .
He was a guest musician at festivals in Sydney , Shanghai, Beijing, Cape Town, Savannah, Washington, Delaware, Baltimore, Novokuznetsk , Edinburgh , Glasgow, Jarasum (South Korea), Taipei , Daegu and the Jazz Yatra India . Zenker was bass player in residence at the Honolulu Jazz Festival from 2002 to 2004 .
Zenker has been teaching at home and abroad since 1994. He was an external lecturer at the Richard-Strauss Conservatory in Munich and from 2008 to 2012 was a professor for jazz bass at the Postmodern Music Department at Kyeong Hee University. He also teaches jazz history and didactics there. In 2009 Zenker worked on textbooks with double bass études and a theory lesson on the subject of bass lines.
From 2012 to 2013 he was a lecturer at the Hamburg Conservatory .
In 2014 Martin Zenker came to Mongolia as part of an excellence project of the Goethe Institute and founded the "Goethe Music Laboratory Ulan Bator", from which the jazz course at the State Conservatory for Music and Dance in Ulan Bator developed in 2016. Martin Zenker is the head of this course.
He is still employed there today and in 2016 was the first foreigner to receive the second highest award from the Mongolian Ministry of Culture (Seulin Tergunee Aedjiltang Order) for his artistic merits.
He was also honored by the Mongolian Composers' Association for his big band arrangements of works by the Mongolian composer S. Gonchigsumla for the GMUB Big Band founded by Zenker.
He is also a lecturer at the Cape Town Music Academy and the University of Cape Town in South Africa and in 2018 he took over the bass professorship at the Munich University of Music and Drama .
Others
Martin Zenker completed his training as an intercultural coach between 2017 and 2019 and has taken part in the International Gobi Desert Marathon several times .
Discography (selection)
- 1996 Seven Minds Bonk
- 1996 UGETSU Live in Athens
- 1997 UGETSU There Is Something on the Way
- 1998 UGETSU Live in Shanghai
- 1999 UGETSU Capetown Blues
- 2001 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE The Messenger feat. Jimmy Cobb
- 2002 Conte Candoli Quartet Live at Birdland (Nagel - Heyer)
- 2003 Claus Raible Trio feat. Ed Thigpen Live at Birdland
- 2004 UNIVERSAL LANGUAGE Beyond the Obvious
- 2005 Al Porcino Big Band feat. Herb Geller
- 2006 Johannes Ender's Quartet The Long Bridge with Billy Hart and Roberto di Gioia
- 2007 New Territory New Territory
- 2008 Billy Hart Trio Live at the Damberd (ENJA Records)
- 2008 Chan Jaeyol Blues for Anna (Universal Records)
- 2010 Ben Ball Quartet Type None (Universal Records)
- 2012 Jin Pureum Quartet Live in Europe
- 2013 Martin Zenker Quartet For The Years To Come (double album)
- 2014 Martin Jacobsen Quartet Live in Tokyo
- 2014 Damon Brown / Michael Lutzeier Quintet The Bridge
- 2015 Enji Mongolian Song feat J. Enders and B. Hart (ENJA Records)
- 2016 Jesse Davis Quartet Soul Searchin ́ - Live in Seoul
- 2017 The Jazz Train (producer in Ulan Bator)
- 2017 Pasha Skornjakov Quartet Early Season
Web links
- http://martinzenker.com/
- Works by and about Martin Zenker in the catalog of the German National Library
- Martin Zenker (b). In: JAZZ at XING
Individual evidence
- ↑ Goethe-Institut supports music laboratory - new jazz scene in Mongolia. Accessed June 4, 2019 (German).
- ↑ Anja Blum Ebersberg: Excellent stage worker . In: sueddeutsche.de . November 15, 2016, ISSN 0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed June 4, 2019]).
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Zenker, Martin |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German modern jazz bassist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | June 25, 1970 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Munich |