Wolfgang Schalk

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Wolfgang Schalk (* 8. April 1961 in Gleisdorf in Eastern Styria ) is an Austrian jazz - guitarist , composer and bandleader .

life and work

Schalk grew up in a family of artists in Prebensdorf, Austria, in the Ilztal community . He attended elementary school there and later the secondary school in Pischelsdorf . During this time he first took accordion lessons at the Gleisdorf Music School for four years and switched to classical guitar at the age of 15. After graduating from secondary school, Schalk moved to Graz , where he attended the Higher Technical College specializing in art, where he first came into contact with jazz. There he also met his future teacher and mentor Franz Posch, with whom he subsequently took private lessons.

Schalk names the jazz greats Jaco Pastorius , John McLaughlin , Wes Montgomery and Pat Martino as influences at the time , as well as Austrian guitarists such as Harry Pepl , Karl Ratzer and Harri Stojka . In Graz he played in projects with Arne Marsel and the electric jazz band X-Press with Uli Rennert and Heinrich von Kalnein . After moving to Vienna in 1987, Schalk worked for several years as a studio musician for various bands, but this work was not what he was looking for. Schalk began to write his own music and played in changing formations with musicians such as Wolfgang Puschnig , Harry Sokal , Bumi Fian , Paul Urbanek , Florian Bramböck and Peter Herbert . Schalk's debut album The Be Hop Hip Bop was released in 1993 on the Austrian label West East Music .

In 1996 Schalk traveled to New York City for the first time for a joint recording session with the American saxophonist Michael Brecker . This meeting led him to emigrate to the United States a year later . Once there, Schalk quickly gained a foothold and made a name for himself both as a guitarist and as a composer. He worked with musicians such as Dave Kikoski , Rick Margitza , Jamey Haddad , Gene Jackson , Andy McKee , Ian Froman , Geoffrey Keezer , John Beasley , Helen Sung , Dave Carpenter and Marvin Smitty Smith .

In 2005 he signed a contract with Universal Music and released the album Space Messengers . His subsequent recordings were released on his own label Frame Up Music , through which he now sells reissues of his first two albums, the rights of which he has bought back.

Schalk lives in a loft in Hoboken , New Jersey and commutes between the east coast and his second home in Los Angeles . In 2016 Schalk went on a European tour and played four concerts in Austria and one concert in Passau .

Discography

  • 2016: From Here to There (Frame Up Music)
  • 2013: The Second Third Man feat. Michael Brecker [Remixed & Remastered in 2012] (Frame Up Music)
  • 2012: Word of Ear (Frame Up Music)
  • 2008: Wanted (Frame Up Music)
  • 2005: Space Messengers (Universal Music / Frame Up)
  • 2002: Rainbows in the Night (West East / Frame Up)
  • 1993: The Be Hop Hip Bop (West East / Frame Up)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Regional media Austria: Wolfgang Schalk - Interview with the musician before the concert on June 5th in Gleisdorf . In: mein district.at . ( mein district.at [accessed October 1, 2017]).
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Schalk - Word Of Ear - mica - music austria . In: mica - music austria . February 6, 2013 ( musicaustria.at [accessed October 1, 2017]).
  3. ↑ DATES. Retrieved October 1, 2017 .
personal data
SURNAME Schalk, Wolfgang
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Austrian jazz guitarist, composer and band leader
DATE OF BIRTH April 8, 1961
PLACE OF BIRTH Gleisdorf , Eastern Styria