Rainer Glas

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Rainer Glas (born June 19, 1954 in Erlangen ) is a German jazz bassist , graphic artist and painter (jazz paintings). He is an instrumentalist and band leader in the jazz and world music scene and has also been a lecturer since the early 1980s.

Live and act

Glas received guitar lessons at the age of fourteen. 1970 he worked as a bass guitarist autodidact with the Blues . In 1973 he switched to the double bass and was introduced to free jazz by Dieter Bihlmaier at the Erlangen Jazz Forum in 1974 . He has been active as a bass player and band leader in the jazz and world music scene since the mid-1970s. In 1980, together with Traugott Jäschke, he was awarded the City of Erlangen's Culture Prize (Jazzduo Nebbich ). In the same year he was a prizewinner at the German Phono Academy with his Jazz Workshop Ensemble . With the Jazz Workshop Orchestra he also performed with Albert Mangelsdorff , Gunter Hampel , Jeanne Lee and Manfred Schoof in the early 1980s . He also played with Götz Tangerding , Allan Praskin , Charly Antolini , Paquito D'Rivera , Marion Brown , Harald Rüschenbaum , Michael Sagmeister and other musicians.

With Chris Beier he founded the Overtone Trio in 1984 and recorded several albums with Leszek Zadlo, for example the CD “Breath” (ENJA) and the CD: “Space”, 1994. Together with Martin Schrack , Pete York , Sandy Lomax and the Schloss Werneck Chamber Orchestra , he toured Germany with a George Gershwin and a Duke Ellington program. He has headed the Jazz Age Ensemble since 1996 , is also active as a graphic designer, painter and cultural manager and runs the record label WOR . His world music jazz project Universal received attention in recent years , where he worked with Torsten Goods , Ack van Rooyen , Dusko Goykovich, Tony Lakatos , Leszek Zadlo, Andrej Lobanov, Jörg Widmoser , Bernhard Pichl , Jan Miserre, Carola Gray , Biboul Darouiche , Peter O'Mara , Claus Reichstaller and Johannes Faber worked. In addition, there was also close collaboration with oriental musicians such as the Lebanese canoe soloist Gilbert Yammine , the Iranian percussionist Hadi Alizadeh and the Moroccan oud player Abdelillah Hajim in the group "Sounds of the Orient".

Glas is the author of the books "Chords & Scales" and "Basslines" and has been teaching at jazz workshops at home and abroad since 1979. Since 1981 he has been leading the Erlangen Jazz Workshops. As the first chairman of the jazz promotion associations IG JAZZ Erlangen eV and Jazz-Er eV, he has organized over 700 concerts in Erlangen since 1980.

In 2012 he received the culture award of the district of Erlangen-Höchstadt for his life's work. In 2015 he was awarded the cultural letter of honor from the city of Erlangen

Selection discography

  • Jazz duo Nebbich (1979) - winner of the City of Erlangen's cultural sponsorship award
  • Jazz Workshop Ensemble (1980) - Prize winner of the German Phono Academy
  • Jan Rigo & friends / in time (1981)
  • Jazz Workshop Ensemble / Wavescapes (1983)
  • Overtone Trio / All the Things We Are (1984)
  • Overtone Trio & Leszek Zadlo / As Time Went By (1985)
  • Overtone Orchestra / Ragas & Sagas (1985)
  • Nasrudin's Orchestra (1985)
  • Bukowsy (1985) with Chris Beier, Norbert Nagel and Wolfgang Haffner
  • Thomas Fink Trio & Beate Krause / A Waltz for Bill (1985)
  • Ed Sperber Kaleidoscope (1985)
  • Gardens / WP Schnetz, C. Beier, R. Glas (1987)
  • Leszek Zadlo Ensemble / Tour de France (1987)
  • Leszek Zadlo Ensemble / Breath (1989)
  • Live 1990 / with Dick Heckstall-Smith , John Etheridge , Joe Nay (1990)
  • Thomas Fink Trio feat. Sandy Lomax & Allan Praskin / You don't know what love is (1991)
  • Dick Heckstall-Smith-John Etheridge Group / Obsession Fees (1992)
  • Thomas Fink Trio feat. Sandy Lomax & Vincent Herring / Big Brown Eyes (1993)
  • Space / Glas-Beier-Zadlo (1994)
  • The Jazz Age Trio + Sandy Lomax / Songs from the Jazz Age (1996)
  • All you need is swing (1996)
  • The Jazz Age Quintet (special guest Pete York ) & Chamber Orchestra Schloß Werneck / Happy Birthday, Mr. Gershwin! (1998)
  • The Jazz Age Sextet (with Sandy Patton , Pete Yorck) & Chamber Orchestra Schloß Werneck / Happy Birthday, Duke! (1999)
  • The Jazz Age Ensemble & Guests (2006, with Torsten Goods )
  • Argile / Filefola (2006) a. a. with Torsten Goods
  • Rainer Glas / Space for the Bass (2008; compilation)
  • Rainer Glas Universal Ensemble (2007)
  • Rainer Glas Universal Ensemble - The Rainbow Suite (live 2010)
  • Rainer Glas Universal Ensemble feat. Gilbert Yammine - Sounds of the Orient (live 2013)
  • Thomas Fink & Friends - The Birthday Concert (live 2015) with Torsten Goods u. a.

Web links


personal data
SURNAME Glass, Rainer
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz bassist, graphic artist and painter (jazz paintings)
DATE OF BIRTH June 19, 1954
PLACE OF BIRTH gain