Peter Witte (musician)
Peter Witte , nicknamed "Fiffi" (* February 4, 1930 , † May 21, 2007 in Stuttgart ) was a German jazz bassist.
Life
Witte first learned the violin at his school in Rothenburg ob der Tauber , thereby acquiring the classical basics of music. Since there were very few bass players in Germany after the Second World War, he switched to the double bass . From 1950 he played as a bass player in various combos, among others with Hubert Deuringer and Kurt Rehfeld.
In 1954 he went to Erwin Lehn's Südfunk-Tanzorchester of the then Süddeutscher Rundfunk in Stuttgart, where he stayed until 1991. Together with pianist Horst Jankowski and drummer Hermann Mutschler , he formed the orchestra's rhythm section.
In 1960 he was won by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer as the house bassist for the SABA label he founded. There he made recordings with Hubert Deuringer, but also with foreign stars such as the American accordionist Art Van Damme . Together with the drummer Charly Antolini , who had become Mutschler's successor at Erwin Lehn, he became the standard accompanist of the pianist Eugen Cicero . At the Frankfurt Jazz Festival in 1964, he played the piece Jungle composed by Jankowski with Jankowski and Antolini .
Peter Witte received the nickname "Fiffi" from colleagues from the Erwin Lehn Big Band because of his unclouded loyalty to the band leader. Occasionally he also played with his son, the drummer Andreas Witte .
Discographic notes
- George / Jankowski / Naura: Jazz In Germany 1957–1958
- Charly Antolini: Drum Beat 1964
- Eugen Cicero: Rococo Jazz 1965
- Eugen Cicero: Piano games 1965
- Eugen Cicero: In Town 1965
- Eugen Cicero: Cicero's Chopin 1965
- Eugen Cicero: Swinging Tschaikowsky 1966
- Eugen Cicero: Romantic Swing 1967
- Stuff Smith: Black Violin 1967
- Art van Damme: The Many Moods of Art 1967-1970
- Art van Damme: State of Art 2000
- Dieter Reith: A Happy Afternoon 1967
- Benny Goodman Live at the Tivoli Gardens [1981]
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
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Witte, Peter |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Fiffi |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | German jazz bassist |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 4th February 1930 |
| DATE OF DEATH | May 21, 2007 |
| Place of death | Stuttgart |