Mild Maniac Orchestra
The Mild Maniac Orchestra was a German jazz-rock band founded in the mid- 1970s and around guitarist Volker Kriegel until the early 1980s . It got its name after Kriegel's LP Mild Maniac , which was released in 1974 , or after a figure of the same name of the musician. Keyboardist Rainer Brüninghaus was a founding member, but he can no longer be heard on the band's releases.
Kriegel has been performing with his band as the Mild Maniac Orchestra since 1975 . Between 1976 and 1980 he released four LPs under the name Volker Kriegel & Mild Maniac Orchestra . In the meantime, as well as after 1980, Kriegel also repeatedly released LPs under his own name. He used the band name Mild Maniac Orchestra for appearances in different line-ups until the mid-1980s.
Permanent band members were on all recordings released as LP:
- Volker Kriegel (guitar)
- Thomas Bettermann (keyboard)
- Hans Peter Ströer (bass)
- Evert Fraterman (drums)
In addition to Volker Kriegel's characteristic guitar playing, the band's music was shaped by the orientation towards improvisational patterns of fusion music and the diverse use of percussion instruments, for which another musician was usually responsible in addition to the drummer. Nippy Noya , Hans Behrendt and Hans Peter Ströer's brother Ernst were active as percussionists .
While Kriegel's earlier recordings were strongly oriented towards jazz standards in terms of improvisations and very rocky in terms of rhythm, the recordings of the Mild Maniac Orchestra are more similar to the modern fusion of Kriegel's American colleague Pat Metheny .
Sound carrier
The following LPs have been released under the name Mild Maniac Orchestra :
- Octember Variations (1976) as a quartet
- Elastic Menu (1977) with Nippy Noya (percussion)
- Long Distance (1979) with Hans Behrendt (percussion)
- Live in Bayern (1981) with Hans Behrendt (percussion)
Awards
- 1982 German Record Award , "Artist of the Year 1982" , category Ensemble Pop national