Stefan von Dobrzynski

Stefan von Dobrzynski (left) performing in a jazz club in Kiel (1963)

Stefan von Dobrzynski (born May 10, 1928 in Berlin ) is a German jazz musician (clarinet, saxophone, flute).

Live and act

Dobrzynski lived with his family in Buenos Aires for a few years and then grew up in Dresden , where he received piano lessons from the age of 9. The flute was added at the age of 12. Shortly before the end of the war he was drafted into the Wehrmacht at the age of 16, although he was spared a frontline assignment. This was followed by clarinet studies in Dresden and then in Berlin, where he was banned from studying when his professor learned that he was playing with jazz groups in Berlin bars.

Dobrzynski started a commercial job in his father's company in Kiel in the early 1950s; For an internship he moved to a friendly company in London , where he joined a Dixieland band , although he was oriented towards modern jazz . When he returned to Kiel, he oriented himself towards Putte Wickman and soon made a name for himself as a leading jazz musician. In 1955 he took part in the German Amateur Jazz Festival in Düsseldorf and was immediately awarded the prize for the best modern soloist; His quartet also won first prize and was invited to other festivals such as the German Jazz Salon in Dortmund . “Maybe only the Hans Koller Combo or Jutta Hipp are that cool in Germany ,” said the same year about him on the Jazz Podium . He then switched to professional life, where he played with the Dutchman Theo van Est (Ted Easton) and Werner Giertz's band (together with Klaus Doldinger and Peter Trunk ). In 1960 he switched to the SFB Bigband . In 1967 he belonged, as well as Helmut Brandt , for by Don Ellis led Berlin Dream Band , which at the Berlin Jazz Festival celebrated a great success. Together with Leo Wright and Carmell Jones , he also played in the SFB Combo . At the end of the 1960s he moved to Max Greger in Munich and then to the WDR dance orchestra under Werner Müller .

Since 1976 he has been working as a freelancer from Kiel and has worked with the NDR Bigband , among others . Since 1977 he has been a member of Wolfgang Schlüter's band Swing Revival (whose record won the German Record Prize in 1985). Then Dobrzynski led his own quintet Swingpower .

During the Kiel Week in 2008, Dobrzynski received the Kiel Culture Prize , which is awarded every two years and endowed with 10,000 euros .

Discographic notes

• Brotherhood of Swing (Delfina 1976 ?, with Wolfgang Schlueter, Michael Naura , Lucas Lindholm , Kurt Giese)
• Swing Revival (Koala Records 1985, with Wolfgang Schlüter, vib, Horst Mühlbradt , p, Lucas Lindholm, b, Charly Antolini , dr)

literature

• Jazz Podium, 4/2008, p. 33

Web links

• Portrait of Swinging Flensburg
• Culture Prize Kiel
• Stefan von Dobrzynski at Discogs (English)