Susan Weinert

Susan Weinert (2002)

Susan Weinert (born June 24, 1965 in Neunkirchen (Saar) ; † March 2, 2020 there ) was a German jazz guitarist , composer and producer .

Life

Susan Weinert went to school in her hometown, Neunkirchen in Saarland, and then trained as a dental assistant. After learning to play the guitar as a child and adolescent, however, a professional career as a jazz musician emerged as early as the 1980s. Susan Weinert took lessons from jazz musicians David Liebman , Richie Beirach and guitarists John Abercrombie and Mike Stern . In addition to the musical influence of her teachers, she was influenced by guitarists such as Pat Metheny , Scott Henderson and Allan Holdsworth , but also by traditional jazz musicians such as Charlie Parker , Miles Davis , Wes Montgomery and Sonny Rollins .

She died in early March 2020 at the age of 54 from complications from a long history of cancer.

Act

Susan Weinert has been invited as a guitarist in the band Steps Ahead by Mike Mainieri and to band projects of bassist Jimmy Earl and keyboardist Michael Ruff.

In 1985 she founded the Susan Weinert Band with her husband Martin Weinert as bassist and the Cologne drummer Hardy Fischötter . In the initial phase, mostly foreign compositions were played, but in 1990 Susan Weinert began to write her own compositions. With the release of their first CD Mysterious Stories in 1992, the band only played pieces by Susan Weinert. The music of the Susan Weinert Band moved in the tension field of jazz , rock and funk and left improvisational freedom for each individual musician. The sound of the first CD was influenced by the use of a synthesizer controlled by the electric guitar . On the second CD Crunch Time from 1994, the trio was reinforced by keyboardist Oliver Heuss, whose playing, however, was almost exclusively accompanying. Overall, the pace was a bit harder and rockier compared to the first release. In contrast, the sound of the third release, The Bottom Line (1996), was significantly calmer and warmer, which was mainly due to Rachel Z's piano playing . The following CD Point Of View from 1999 provided a somewhat more jazzy sound, which showed a tendency towards the use of acoustic instruments. The only exception was the band leader's electric guitar. Since Susan Weinert wanted to experiment with a slightly larger line-up, the use of a wind section consisting of saxophone and trumpet was originally planned. After she got to know the singer Michael Schiefel , however, the trumpet part was replaced by his human voice. The two French Pierre Bertrand and Jean-Yves Jung took over the saxophone and piano parts .

After changing the record company from VeraBra Records or from the label Intuition, which belongs to the Schott Music Group, to Skip Records , the Susan Weinert Band's first live CD and the first acoustic duo recording (Synergy) with her husband Martin Weinert on the double bass were made in 2002 released. She played an acoustic guitar with nylon strings, which the German instrument maker Albert & Müller had individually made for her.

In 2004 Susan Weinert and her husband founded their own music label Tough Tone Records , on which the mini CD Coming Out and the CD Running Out Of Time were released. On the latter CD, the Saarland singer Francesco Cottone joined the trio, who for the first time provided Susan Weinert's music with English lyrics. His voice was also used in 2006 on the next acoustic release, Dancing On The Water . In 2007, Tomorrow's Dream was an acoustic recording made up of a duo. In 2010 an acoustic album followed with Thought & Memories in a trio line-up together with percussionist David Kuckhermann. Through the meeting with the philosopher and psychotherapist Dr. Mathias Jung came up with the idea for the 2012 CD "Die Liebe - eine Himmelsmacht". 18 love poems were set to music on this CD. This was followed in 2015 by the release of the CD Fjord with various musicians from Germany, Poland and Norway such as B. the singer Torun Eriksen , the pianist Leszek Możdżer , the pianist Julia Hülsmann , the saxophonist Andrzej Olejniczak and others

Susan Weinert was active with both the band and the current duo project. She had concert and festival appearances in Germany and Europe. She made a smaller concert tour with her band in the USA. Invitations from the German Goethe Institute ensured her appearances in Africa and Asia.

In 2018 Susan Weinert and her Susan Weinert Rainbow Trio were on the road with the young pianist Sebastian Voltz to present their 13th CD release under the title Beyond The Rainbow . The live recordings were made on the occasion of a concert in July 2018 as part of the studio concert series in the Bauer Studios in Ludwigsburg. Gérard de Haro mixed the album in the La Buissonne studio near Avignon in southern France. At the same time, Susan Weinert appeared in special projects at festivals, such as B. with the Polish musicians Leszek Możdżer and Adam Bałdych and the German pianist Julia Hülsmann .

Weinert also gave workshops for young musicians.

Discographic notes

• 1992 - Mysterious Stories
• 1994 - Crunch Time
• 1996 - The Bottom Line
• 1999 - Point Of View
• 2002 - Triple Talk / Live
• 2002 - Synergy
• 2004 - Coming out
• 2004 - Running Out Of Time (with Francesco Cottone)
• 2006 - Dancing On The Water (with Francesco Cottone)
• 2007 - Tomorrow's Dream
• 2010 - Thoughts & Memories
• 2013 - Love - a heavenly power
• 2015 - fjord
• 2018 - Beyond The Rainbow
• 2019 - The tree in front of my window

Web links

• Own web presence
• Susan Weinert at Discogs (English)
• Susan Weinert at Allmusic (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Johannes Kloth: Jazz guitarist Susan Weinert has died. Saarländischer Rundfunk, March 5, 2020, accessed on March 5, 2020 . 
2. ↑ Andrea Dittgen: Obituary: Neunkircher jazz singer Susan Weinert (54) died. The Rhine Palatinate, accessed on March 7, 2020 . 
3. ↑ Jazz guitarist Susan Weinert died at the age of 54 on gitarrebass.de on March 5, 2020