Volker Kriegel

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Volker Kriegel (born December 24, 1943 in Darmstadt ; † June 14, 2003 in San Sebastián ) was a German jazz musician , draftsman and writer. He is considered one of the protagonists of jazz rock in Germany and was instrumental in establishing and developing this style in Europe.

Volker Kriegel, November 2002
Volker Kriegel, November 1992

Life and career

education

Volker Kriegel taught himself to play the guitar from the age of 16. The Oscar Peterson Trio with guitarist Herb Ellis was one of his first musical role models . With his first own trio, together with a pianist and a bassist, he performed in clubs in Wiesbaden and Mainz based on this model.

After he had worked as a drawing teacher after graduating from high school, he soon afterwards founded a trio with Lothar Scharf on drums, with which he won awards for best guitarist and best soloist at the 1964 German Amateur Jazz Festival . In 1965 he became a member of Claudio Szenkar's quintet .

In the early 1960s, Kriegel studied sociology and psychology at the Goethe University in Frankfurt . During his studies he was involved in the Frankfurt jazz scene for the first time and played in jam sessions with Albert and Emil Mangelsdorff , Fritz Hartschuh , Gustl Mayer and Rolf Lüttgens . At this time, Kriegel was also working as a draftsman for newspapers.

Career as a musician

After completing his intermediate diploma in 1964, Kriegel broke off his studies, which he later described as “seminar boredom, in between splinters of interest and knowledge”. Significantly influenced by his contacts from the jazz cellar , he decided not to work as a drawing teacher and to become a professional musician and played in a variety of different ensembles in the following years. In 1965 Kriegel played in Klaus Doldinger's quartet . In 1967 Kriegel was a member of the mainstream jazz- oriented Swinging Oil Drops by Emil Mangelsdorff and the Sound Constellation by Gustl Mayer, and in the same year worked on Doldinger's album Doldinger Goes On . From 1968 to 1973 he was a member of the Dave Pike Set , whose growing success marked Kriegel's transition to a professional musician in the late 1960s. Already with the Dave Pike Set he turned away from jazz understood as serious music and stylistically oriented himself towards popular sounds and rhythms from bossa nova and beat . At the time of the Dave Pike Set, Kriegel said: “Backward jazz romanticism and a tearful attitude are no help. Because the talk of ideologues that jazz is automatically worth more than entertainment has just pushed us all into a corner. "

As early as 1968 he appeared with his own band as the Volker Kriegel Quartet ( Claudio Szenkar (vib), Eberhard Leibling (b), Peter Baumeister (dr)) and as the Tony Scott & Volker Kriegel Trio at the 11th German Jazz Festival in Frankfurt, making his Fame continued to grow and he was quickly considered "Germany's number one jazz guitarist".

In 1972 he released the groundbreaking double album Inside: Missing Link and became a protagonist of German jazz rock. 7000 copies were sold in the first year, which was a good result for a German jazz production - especially with the small label MPS. Over the years it grew to around 20,000. In 1973, after leaving the Dave Pike Set , he founded the band Spectrum with Eberhard Weber (b), Rainer Brüninghaus (keyb) and Joe Nay (dr) , with whom he released the album Mild Maniac in 1974 on the German record label MPS .

Kriegel was also involved as a musician in cabaret productions during the early 1970s and worked as a sideman on recordings by other musicians, including the blues and jazz rock violinist Don Sugarcane Harris . From 1973 to 1974 Kriegel played again with Klaus Doldinger, who meanwhile also made jazz rock with his band Passport . There he took part in 1974 on the live album Doldinger Jubilee Concert and appeared in the same year with the band as Jubilee Passport at the German Jazz Festival. At Passport he played with the drummer Curt Cress , on whose album Curt Cress Clan - CCC he also participated in 1975.

The United Jazz and Rock Ensemble 2002, Kriegel in the middle (in white)

After Spectrum broke up due to differences with Weber, Kriegel was the founder of the Mild Maniac Orchestra in 1975 (with Evert Fraterman (dr), Thomas Bettermann (keyb), Hans Peter Ströer (b)), with which he was active until the 1980s . In contrast to previous ensembles, he did not work with pure jazz musicians in this formation: Fratermann came from soul music, Bettermann was a classically trained pianist.

Since 1977 he has also played in the United Jazz and Rock Ensemble (UJRE), of which he was one of the founding members and for which he also composed. With this formation he appeared again and again, albeit at longer intervals, for almost 25 years. About the UJRE Kriegel later said: "In retrospect, of course, everyone knew that nothing can go wrong when ten musicians who are among the stars on their instruments get together." In 1977, Kriegel founded the label Mood Records with other musicians , on which mainly the productions of the UJRE, its individual members and other Frankfurt jazz musicians were published.

In the mid-1990s, Kriegel was given the opportunity to publish drawings with the Swiss Haffmans Verlag . This and health problems with his hand led him to end his own band activities and a short time later also to end his participation in the UJRE. Only shortly before his death did he return to the UJRE for the farewell tour at the request of the other musicians, after he had been replaced by Peter O'Mara in the meantime.

With his lead guitar, Kriegel was not limited in style to the electrically amplified jazz guitar, but occasionally also used the acoustic guitar, exceptionally a banjo or the sitar. It is difficult to describe his idiosyncratic playing style, especially in certain very fast, jumping tone sequences that distinguish him from all other guitarists.

The Gibson ES-335 , the instrument most often used by Kriegel

With the piece Mathar , which Kriegel had written and released with the Dave Pike Set in 1969 on the album Noisy Silence - Gentle Noise , he ultimately even had a hit that was well-known beyond the boundaries of jazz fans. The piece with its catchy sitar melody and the concise bass riff was released on various jazz samplers and is still used as a background melody on television or in the German movie 23 - Nothing is as it seems . This development came as a surprise to Kriegel: he composed the relatively simple piece as an ironic swipe at the pathetic portrayal that George Harrison made a pilgrimage to the Indian city ​​of Mathar in the late 1960s and learned to play the sitar through long and meditative work . In 2001 Kriegel said about the sitar: "That sounds good if you just hit the open strings."

The Guitar Center

Together with the guitar maker Peter Coura , Kriegel founded the Guitar Center in March 1975 in a cellar on Schumannstrasse in Frankfurt's Westend . The guitar workshop was supposed to offer local musicians an affordable alternative to the then barely affordable American branded guitars. The business model was unsuccessful, but thanks to its own guitar school the Guitar Center existed until Peter Coura's death in 2014.

Commitment as a draftsman, translator and narrator

After he had largely withdrawn from the music business in the mid-1990s, he devoted himself no less successfully to his second career as a storyteller, translator, cartoonist and illustrator and occasionally worked as a music critic. His book The Rock'n'Roll King became a classic of the genre. The books he has translated from English into German include the Miles Davis biography of his colleague Ian Carr and Charles Dickens ' A Christmas Carol , which he also illustrated in the relevant edition. In 1979 he also created the cartoon The Cardsharp in London . He also wrote manuscripts for radio and television again and again.

Kriegel's career as an author and draftsman took place mainly from the early 1990s at the Swiss Haffmans Verlag . When the latter had to file for bankruptcy in 2001, shortly beforehand he had secretly sold the rights to the works of his authors and most recently published the works on a lease basis. Kriegel saw this as a breach of trust. "The author's rights", says Kriegel, "are sold like a commodity behind the back of the author."

Sickness and death

Kriegel's grave in the Wiesbaden North Cemetery

After repeatedly suffering from cancer since the 1990s (including larynx cancer, which made it difficult for him to speak in the last years of his life), Volker Kriegel died of a heart attack on June 14, 2003 while on vacation in San Sebastián, Spain . Last year he went on the aforementioned farewell tour with the UJRE. He found his final resting place in the north cemetery in Wiesbaden .

Posthumous reception

Kriegel's death caused a lot of echo in the German-language press, but also in the international press, e. B. in the London Guardian , various obituaries appeared. The poet Robert Gernhardt , who suffered from cancer himself and who died in 2006, dedicated his 2004 volume Die K-Gedichte über Krebs to Kriegel . In 2005, the Wilhelm-Busch-Museum in Hanover, with the support of the federal government, a private donation and the support of Kriegel's widow Evelyn Kriegel, acquired Kriegel's drawing estate, which contains around 730 drawings.

Musical instruments

Kriegel preferred semi-acoustic guitars. Until the 1970s, he played guitars from various manufacturers, for example AZ-10 and BL models from Framus , which were created there in collaboration with Attila Zoller and Bill Lawrence (then called Billy Lorento) . His trademark in later years was his red Gibson ES-335 , originally a stereo version, which he had Peter Coura convert to conventional electrical systems. A 1968 sunburst ES-335 - in Kriegel's opinion the best one he had owned - he sold early on. He also owned a Gibson C4 , which was not used on stage due to feedback problems.

In the 1970s, Kriegel used a model from the British manufacturer HH Amplification as an amplifier, later an amplifier from the American brand Standel acquired by Attila Zoller and then an amplifier from the Gibson Lab Series . In the 1990s, when Kriegel was mainly touring with the UJRE, he used Yamaha amplifiers.

Publications

Own recordings

Published under Volker Kriegel , Volker Kriegel & Spectrum or Volker Kriegel & Mild Maniac Orchestra

  • With a Little Help from my Friends (1968, Liberty 83065, republished 2013) (including with Peter Trunk , Günter Lenz , Peter Baumeister , Claudio Szenkar)
  • Spectrum (1971, MPS 15301, republished 2003)
  • Inside: Missing Link (2-LP, 1972, MPS 15362, among others with Albert Mangelsdorff , Alan Skidmore , Heinz Sauer , John Taylor , Eberhard Weber , John Marshall , Peter Baumeister and Cees See )
  • Lift! (1973, MPS 15390) (inter alia with Zbigniew Seifert , Stan Sulzmann , Eberhard Weber , John Marshall)
  • Mild Maniac (1974, MPS 15403) (with Rainer Brüninghaus , Eberhard Weber, Peter Giger , Joe Nay )
  • Topical Harvest (1975, MPS 15471) (with Albert Mangelsdorff, Rainer Brüninghaus, Peter Giger, Joe Nay)
  • Octember Variations (1976, MPS 15495)
  • Elastic Menu (1977, MPS 15517)
  • Houseboat (1978, MPS 15535, with Wolfgang Schlüter )
  • Long Distance (1979, MPS 15549)
  • Star Edition (2-LP, MPS 52035)
  • The best of the seventies (2-CD set, MPS 66893)
  • Live in Bavaria (1981, MPS 15,569)
  • Journal (1981, mood 33,605)
  • Nice prospects (1983, mood 33,617)
  • Palazzo Blue (1989, mood 33,608)
  • The best of the eighties (sampler of the aforementioned three albums, mood 6462)
  • ZOOM (1999, remastered, 2-CD set, MPS 559 909-2)
  • Jazzfest Berlin 1981 (2012, CD + DVD, Art of groove 973802)
  • Lost Tapes-Mainz 1963-1969 (2013, 2-CD-Set, Jazzhaus 101726)
  • Biton Grooves (2019)

With the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble

  • Live in the Schützenhaus (1977, mood 33,609)
  • Teamwork (1978, mood 33,618)
  • The Break Even Point (1979, mood 33,619)
  • Live in Berlin (1981, mood 28,628)
  • United Live Opus Six (1984, mood 33,621)
  • Round Seven (1987, mood 33,606)
  • well finally! (1992, mood 6382)
  • the ninth of united (1996, mood 6472)
  • UJRE plays Volker Kriegel
  • UJRE plays Wolfgang Dauner
  • Highlights (1992, mood 33,602)

Kriegel as a sideman

  • Ingfried Hoffmann : From twen with Love (with Pierre Cavalli , Peter Trunk, Rafi Lüderitz ), Philips (1966)
  • Emil Mangelsdorff : Swinging Oil Drops (1966)
  • Klaus Doldinger: Doldinger Goes On (1967)
  • Kühn Brothers & The Mad Rockers (MLP 15340, with Günter Lenz, Stu Martin ; 1968)
  • Rolf Kühn : Rolf Kühn Sextet (with James Carter, Ingfried Hoffman, Hans Rettenbacher, Stu Martin (d) 1969)
  • Rolf Kühn, Joachim Kühn: Bloddy Rockers (with Günter Lenz, Stu Martin, 1969)
  • Jonny Teupen : Harpadelic (1969, MPS 15247)
  • Dave Pike Set: Noisy Silence - Gentle Noise (1969, MPS 15215-ST)
  • Dave Pike Set: Four Reasons (1969, MPS 15253)
  • Dave Pike Set: Live at the Philharmonie (1969, MPS 15275)
  • Dave Pike Set: Album (1970, MPS 15309)
  • Dave Pike Set: Infra Red (1971, MPS 20739)
  • New Dave Pike Set: Salomão (1972, MPS MB-21541)
  • Don "Sugarcane" Harris: Keep on Driving (1970)
  • Don "Sugarcane" Harris: Got the Blues (1972)
  • Don "Sugarcane" Harris: Flashin 'Time (1973)
  • Don "Sugarcane" Harris: Keyzop (1973)
  • Klaus Doldinger's Passport: Doldinger Jubilee Concert (1974)
  • Curt Cress Clan: CCC (1975)

Participation on cabaret records

Transcriptions

  • Volker Kriegel - 10 compositions , Edition Swington, 1978

Literary work

Volker Kriegel as an author

  • The rock 'n' roll king . Aarau u. a .: Sauerländer 1982
  • Hello and other true stories ; Aarau u. a .: Sauerländer 1982, ISBN 3-7941-2265-8
  • Volker Kriegel's Little Dog Customer (1986)
  • Artists, crackers and the like ; Zurich: Haffmans 1992, ISBN 3-251-00203-1 , Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, 1994.
  • The Flaubert raven . The Raven No. 47 (Ed. V. Kriegel), Haffmans Verlag, 1997.
  • Sometimes it's better not to say anything. With a foreword by FW Bernstein . Haffmans, Zurich 1998. ISBN 3-251-00399-2 (exhibition catalog Wilhelm-Busch-Museum Hannover)
  • Olaf the Elk (1999)
  • Olaf takes off . Eichborn Verlag, 2000
  • Olaf goes underground . Eichborn Verlag, 2002
  • Erwin with the horn . Eichborn Verlag, 2002
  • How the naked sheep was difficult to walk and other peculiarities from the animal kingdom. With an afterword by Robert Gernhardt that explains everything . Kein & Aber, Zurich 2005. ISBN 3-0369-5135-0
  • Inner values , no and no, Zurich 2006, ISBN 3-0369-5232-2

Many of Volker Kriegel's books have been translated into the following languages: Italian, Greek, Swedish, English, French, Dutch, Japanese, Korean and Chinese.

Essays and anecdotes

  • Jazz and rock in the anthology jazz rock / tendencies of modern music , ed. by Burghard König. Rowohlt Taschenbuch Verlag, Reinbek 1983.
  • Our jazz and our critics , in: Der Rabe, Haffmans Verlag, 14/1986 (also in Kriegel Sometimes it's better, you don't say anything , Haffmans 1998, exhibition catalog Wilhelm Busch Museum, pp. 183–190)
  • For a discovery through mountains of rubbish , in: Further education and media, Adolf Grimme Institute, 1990.
  • Flaubert's furuncle in: Der Rabe No. 47, Der Flaubert Rabe, ed. by V. Kriegel. Haffmans Verlag, 1997.
  • Bell sound and full droning , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung 1997.

Since the 1970s, she has been working regularly as a freelance editor in the NDR jazz editorial team (Michael Naura) with the programs Notebook and Soundcheck , with Evelyn Kriegel as speaker.

Volker Kriegel as a translator, illustrator and caricaturist

  • Charles Dickens : A Christmas Tale . Translation and pictures: Volker Kriegel. Haffmans Verlag, 1994; Gutenberg Book Guild, Frankfurt am Main 1994, Heyne Verlag 1996, Eichborn Verlag 2008.
  • Miles Davis - A Critical Biography . Translated from English by V. Kriegel. LIT Verlag, 1982. ISBN 3-90-670002-X
  • Heinrich Heine: Memoirs . Illustrated by V. Kriegel, Eichborn-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997.
  • Dick King-Smith: The Queen's Nose . Translated and illustrated by V. Kriegel. Fischer Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1997.
  • Alphonse Daudet: The Secret of Maître Cornille . Gutenberg Book Guild, Frankfurt am Main 1994.
  • William Goldman: Goigoi . Verlag Sauerländer 1981; Gutenberg Book Guild, Frankfurt am Main 1994.
  • Oskar Ansull & Georg Eyring: … lightly about love and death . Haffmans, 1998.
  • Werner Schmöll & Ulla Specht: Well, cheers ! Haffmans, Zurich 1997.
  • Gustave Flaubert: The dictionary of platitudes . Haffmans, 1998.
  • Roger Willemsen : Carnival of the Animals (Photos: Volker Kriegel). Eichborn Verlag, 2003.
  • Samuel Pepys : The secret diaries (Ed .: Volker Kriegel and Roger Willemsen). Eichborn Verlag, 2004.
  • Der Rabe 1–63, magazine for every kind of literature, 1982–2001, Haffmans Verlag.
  • Flann O'Brien : On Swimming Two Birds (Cover Illustration: Volker Kriegel)
  • Volker Kriegel / Stephan Opitz: A matter of taste , Nicolai Verlag, Berlin, 2004.
  • Gerhard Polt : Oha! Small Oktoberfest and local history . Illustrations. Kein & Aber, Zurich 2011. ISBN 978-3-0369-5620-6

and cover drawings for books by Julian Barnes, Flann O'Brien, Bernd Eilert, Gustave Flaubert, Jerome K. Jerome, David Lodge, Guy de Maupassant, Harry Rowohlt, R. L. Stevenson, Nigel Williams, Roger Willemsen and others.

Exhibitions

  • 1993: Ludwigshafen, City Museum (solo exhibition)
  • 1994: Wiesbaden, City Hall (solo exhibition)
  • 1995: Greiz, Sommerpalais (solo exhibition)
  • 1997: Participation in the Triennale in the Summer Palace Greiz
  • 1998: Hanover, Wilhelm Busch Museum (solo exhibition)
  • 2005/2006: Hanover, Wilhelm Busch Museum (solo exhibition)
  • 2013: Wiesbaden, Kunsthaus Wiesbaden (solo exhibition)
  • 2018: Frankfurt am Main, Caricatura (solo exhibition)

The artistic estate of Volker Kriegel's caricatures and drawings can be seen in the Wilhelm Busch Museum in Hanover.

Movies

  • 25 years of Jazzkeller (TV documentary, 60 min, ZDF, 1977)
  • Montreux 77 - Portrait of a festival (TV documentary, 60 min, ZDF, 1977)
  • The cardsharp (cartoon, 10 min; Joachim Kreck film production 1980)
  • Portrait Fritz Weigle (= FW Bernstein), (TV documentary, 10 min, NDR, 1990)
  • Self-portrait (TV film, 8 min, ZDF, Aspects, 1997)
  • Portrait Robert Gernhardt (TV documentary, 6 min., ZDF, Aspects, 1997)
  • Portrait Robert Gernhardt (TV documentary, 35 min., 3Sat, 1997)

Awards

As a musician

  • 1982: German Record Award , "Artist of the Year 1982" , category Ensemble Pop national

As a writer and cartoonist

literature

  • Wolfgang Sandner: Jazz in Frankfurt , Frankfurt 1990 (Societäts-Verlag).
  • Jürgen Schwab: The Frankfurt Sound. A city and its jazz history (s) , Frankfurt 2004 (Societäts-Verlag).

Web links

Commons : Volker Kriegel  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Volker Kriegel  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Schwab: The Frankfurt Sound. A city and its jazz history (s). Frankfurt a. M. 2004, p. 175
  2. ↑ See Sandner, p. 128
  3. ↑ See outbreak of the Convention , in: Die Zeit of October 22, 1965
  4. ↑ Jürgen Schwab: The Frankfurt Sound. A city and its jazz history (s). Frankfurt a. M. 2004, p. 168; Thomas Staiber Volker Kriegel - December 24, 1943 to July 15, 2003 ( Memento of the original from September 25, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thomas-staiber.de
  5. ↑ Jürgen Schwab: The Frankfurt Sound. P. 175ff.
  6. ↑ Schwab, p. 175
  7. ^ Klaus Doldinger Quartet & Volker Kriegel - Nordwestradio in concert: Pop & Jazz. (No longer available online.) In: www.radiobremen.de. Archived from the original on July 31, 2016 ; accessed on July 31, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.radiobremen.de
  8. ↑ jazzindex.ch
  9. ↑ The drawer is stuck , in: Der Spiegel, 30/1971.
  10. ↑ See Hessischer Rundfunk (ed.): Inventory 11: German Jazz Festival Frankfurt 1953-1992
  11. ^ Live jazz program from hr2 Kultur , accessed on November 3, 2015
  12. ↑ Thomas Garms, in: Sandner, p. 128
  13. ↑ Hans-Jürgen Linke: The Elegant - On the Death of Volker Kriegels In: Frankfurter Rundschau , July 17, 2003, p. 10
  14. ↑ a b c Interview with Volker Kriegel, in: Guitar & Bass 8/1997, pp. 44–47
  15. ↑ See Sandner p. 129
  16. ↑ See Sandner p. 129
  17. ↑ Jazzzeitung 11/2002 , p. 9.
  18. ↑ Stefan Müller: How the Mathar sitar piece conquered the club scene; Indian vibes in the Black Forest . In: taz , June 26, 2001:
  19. ↑ 30 Years of Guitar Center, in: Guitar & Bass 4/05 (PDF; 2.59 MB)
  20. ^ Thomas Jeschonnek: Guitar Center sold out. Peter Coura's cult music store closes its doors. (No longer available online.) Musikmachen.de, November 4, 2014, archived from the original on November 7, 2014 ; accessed on November 6, 2014 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.musikmachen.de
  21. ↑ The Guardian of July 22, 2003, p. 25: Ian Carr - Obituary: Letter: Volker Kriegel
  22. ^ Securities , in: Süddeutsche Zeitung of November 9, 2001, p. 18.
  23. ↑ thomas-staiber.de ( Memento of the original from November 25, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.thomas-staiber.de
  24. ↑ jazzzeitung.de
  25. ^ Information on the caricatures collection , Wilhelm-Busch-Museum , Hanover, accessed on November 28, 2015
  26. ↑ framus-vintage.de
  27. ↑ with Eberhard Weber, Marc Hellman , Djalma Corrêa , Edson Ernetério de Sant'Ana, Onias Camardelli
  28. ↑ krautrock-musik Zirkus.de - Curt Cress Clan LP
  29. ↑ Certificate of the German Record Award on www.hpstroeer.com
  30. ↑ FAZ of October 21, 1999, p. 52
  31. ↑ The Guardian, July 22, 2003, p. 25
personal data
SURNAME Kriegel, Volker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION German jazz musician, writer and cartoonist
DATE OF BIRTH December 24, 1943
PLACE OF BIRTH Darmstadt
DATE OF DEATH June 14, 2003
Place of death San Sebastian