Alexander von Schlippenbach (born 7 April 1938) is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing

free jazz Free jazz is an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventions, such as regular tempos, tones, and chord changes. Musicians during ...

in a trio with saxophonist

Evan Parker Evan Shaw Parker (born 5 April 1944) is a British tenor and soprano saxophone player who plays free improvisation. Recording and performing prolifically with many collaborators, Parker was a pivotal figure in the development of European free ja ...

and drummer

Paul Lovens Paul Lovens (born 6 June 1949) is a German musician. He plays drums, percussion, singing saw, and cymbals. He has performed with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. He was born in Aachen, Germany. In the early ...

, and as a member of the

Globe Unity Orchestra The Globe Unity Orchestra is a free jazz ensemble. Globe Unity was formed in autumn 1966 with a commission received by Alexander von Schlippenbach from the Berlin Jazz Festival. It had its debut at the Berliner Philharmonie on 3 November combining ...

. Since the 1980s, Von Schlippenbach has explored the work of more traditional jazz composers such as

Jelly Roll Morton Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (later Morton; c. September 20, 1890 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and jazz pianist, bandleader, and composer. Morton was jazz's first arranger, proving that a gen ...

Thelonious Monk Thelonious Sphere Monk (, October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer. He had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including " 'Round Midnight", "B ...

Biography

Schlippenbach started to play piano from the age of eight and went on to study composition at

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

under

Bernd Alois Zimmermann Bernd Alois Zimmermann (20 March 1918 – 10 August 1970) was a German composer. He is perhaps best known for his opera ''Die Soldaten'', which is regarded as one of the most important German operas of the 20th century, after those of Berg. As a ...

. While studying he started to play with

Manfred Schoof Manfred Schoof (born 6 April 1936) is a German jazz trumpeter. Career Schoof was born in Magdeburg, Germany, and studied music in Kassel and Cologne, where one of his teachers of the big band leader Kurt Edelhagen. Schoof performed on Edelhagen' ...

. At the age of 28 he founded the

. In 1988, he founded the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, a big band that has over the years comprised, among others,

Willem Breuker Willem Breuker (4 November 1944 – 23 July 2010) was a Dutch bandleader, composer, arranger, saxophonist, and clarinetist. Career During the mid 1960s, he played with percussionist Han Bennink and pianist Misha Mengelberg, co-founding the Insta ...

Misha Mengelberg Misha Mengelberg (5 June 1935 – 3 March 2017) was a Dutch jazz pianist and composer.Feather, Leonard & Gitler, Ira (2007) ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Jazz'', p. 459. Oxford University Press. A prominent figure in post-WWII European Jazz ...

, Schlippenbach's wife

Aki Takase (born January 26, 1948) is a Japanese jazz pianist and composer. Biography Takase was born in Osaka and started to play piano at age 3. Raised in Tokyo, she studied classical piano at Toho Gakuen School of Music.Ankeny, Jaso"Artist Biography".A ...

and

Kenny Wheeler Kenneth Vincent John Wheeler, OC (14 January 1930 – 18 September 2014) was a Canadian composer and trumpet and flugelhorn player, based in the U.K. from the 1950s onwards. Most of his performances were rooted in jazz, but he was also active ...

. In 1994, he was awarded the

Albert Mangelsdorff Albert Mangelsdorff (September 5, 1928 – July 25, 2005) was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics. Early life Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt on September 5, 1928, as the son of the book ...

prize. Schlippenbach has produced various recordings and worked for German radio channels. He played with many players of the

European free jazz European free jazz is a part of the global free jazz scene with its own development and characteristics. It is hard to establish who are the founders of European free jazz because of the different developments in different European countries. One c ...

community. In 2005, he recorded the complete works of

, which were released on CD as ''

Monk's Casino ''Monk's Casino'' is a live album by German free jazz pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach featuring the complete compositions of Thelonious Monk recorded in Germany in 2003-04 for the Intakt label.

''.

Gallery

Image:Alexander von Schlippenbach.jpg Image:Alexander-von-Schlippenbach.jpg Image:Alexander-von-Schlippenbachh01.jpg

Discography

As leader

* ''Globe Unity'' (SABA, 1967) * ''The Living Music'' (QUASAR, 1969) * ''Payan'' (Enja, 1972) * ''

Pakistani Pomade ''Pakistani Pomade'' is an album by German free jazz pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach's Trio, featuring saxophonist Evan Parker and percussionist Paul Lovens, recorded in Germany in 1972 for the FMP label.Paul Lovens Paul Lovens (born 6 June 1949) is a German musician. He plays drums, percussion, singing saw, and cymbals. He has performed with the Aardvark Jazz Orchestra and Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra. He was born in Aachen, Germany. In the early ...

, (Po Torch, 1985) * ''

Smoke Smoke is a suspension of airborne particulates and gases emitted when a material undergoes combustion or pyrolysis, together with the quantity of air that is entrained or otherwise mixed into the mass. It is commonly an unwanted by-product ...

'' with

Sunny Murray James Marcellus Arthur "Sunny" Murray (September 21, 1936 – December 7, 2017) was an American musician, and was one of the pioneers of the free jazz style of drumming. Biography Murray was born in Idabel, Oklahoma, where he was raised by an ...

, (FMP, 1990) * ''Elf Bagatellen'' (FMP, 1990) * ''Physics'' (FMP, 1993) * ''Light Blue Schlippenbach Plays Monk'' (Enja, 1997) * ''Tangens'' with Sam Rivers (FMP, 1998) * ''Digger's Harvest'' with

Tony Oxley Tony Oxley (born 15 June 1938) is an English free improvising drummer and one of the founders of Incus Records. Biography Oxley was born in Sheffield, England. A self-taught pianist by the age of eight, he first began playing the drums at se ...

(FMP, 1999) * ''Complete Combustion'' (FMP, 1999) * ''Hunting the Snake'' (Atavistic, 2000) * '' Swinging the Bim'' (FMP, 2000) * ''Compression'' (2002) * ''Broomriding'' (Psi, 2003) * ''Open Speech'' with Carlos Bechegas (Forward, 2004) * ''Vesuvius'' with

Paul Dunmall Paul Dunmall (born 6 May 1953) is a British jazz musician who plays tenor and soprano saxophone, as well as the baritone and the more exotic saxello and the Northumbrian smallpipes. He has played with Keith Tippett and Barry Guy. In the early ...

(Slam, 2005) * ''

'' (Intakt, 2005) * ''Winterreise'' (Psi, 2006) * ''Twelve Tone Tales Vol. I'' (Intakt, 2006) * ''Twelve Tone Tales Vol. II'' (Intakt, 2006) * ''Dedalus'' with Daniele D'Agaro (Artesuono, 2007) * ''Friulian Sketches'' (psi, 2008) * ''Blackheath'' with

Eddie Prevost Eddie or Eddy may refer to: Science and technology *Eddy (fluid dynamics), the swirling of a fluid and the reverse current created when the fluid flows past an obstacle *Eddie (text editor), a text editor originally for BeOS and now ported to Linu ...

(Matchless, 2008) * ''Gold Is Where You Find It'' (Intakt, 2008) * ''Bauhaus Dessau'' (Intakt, 2010) * ''Berlin'' with G9 Gipfel (Jazzwerkstatt, 2010) * ''Blue Hawk'' with

(Jazzwerkstatt, 2011) * ''Schlippenbach Plays Monk'' (Intakt, 2012) * ''First Recordings'' (Trost, 2014) * ''Features'' (Intakt, 2015) * ''Warsaw Concert'' (Intakt, 2016) * ''Jazz Now!'' (Intuition, 2016) * ''So Far'' with

Rudi Mahall Rudi Mahall (born December 23, 1966) is a contemporary jazz bass clarinetist. While studying classical clarinet, Mahall shifted towards contemporary music, improvisation and jazz. He is, or was a member of following bands: Avantgardeband ''Die ...

(

Relative Pitch Relative pitch is the ability of a person to identify or re-create a given musical note by comparing it to a reference note and identifying the interval between those two notes. For example, if the note ''Do'' and ''Fa'' is played on a piano, a per ...

, 2018) * ''Interweaving'' with Dag Magnus Narvesen (Not Two, 2018) * ''Liminal Field'' with Dag Magnus Narvesen (Not Two, 2019) With

* ''Live in Wuppertal'' (FMP, 1973) * ''Der Alte Mann Bricht...Sein Schweigen'' (FMP, 1974) * ''Bavarian Calypso & Good Bye'' (FMP, 1975) * ''Into the Valley Vol. 2'' (FMP, 1976) * ''Evidence Vol. 1'' (FMP, 1976) * ''Jahrmarkt & Local Fair'' (Po Torch, 1977) * ''Pearls'' (FMP, 1977) * ''Improvisations'' (Japo, 1978) * ''Hamburg '74'' (FMP, 1979) * ''Compositions'' (Japo, 1980) * ''Intergalactic Blow'' (Japo, 1983) * ''Rumbling'' (FMP, 1991) * ''20th Anniversary'' (FMP, 1993) * ''Globe Unity 67 & 70'' (Atavistic, 2001) * ''Globe Unity 2002'' (Intakt, 2003) * ''Baden-Baden '75'' (FMP, 2011) * ''Globe Unity 40 Years'' (Intakt, 2007) * ''Globe Unity 50 Years'' (Intakt, 2018) With Sven-Ake Johansson * ''Live at the Quartier Latin'' (FMP, 1976) * ''Kung Bore'' (FMP, 1978) * ''Drive'' (FMP, 1981) * ''Kalfaktor A. Falke Und Andere Lieder'' (FMP, 1983) * ''Blind Aber Hungrig Norddeutsche Gesange'' (FMP, 1986) With

* ''Voices'' (CBS, 1966) * ''Manfred Schoof Sextet'' (Wergo, 1967) * ''European Echoes'' (FMP, 1969) * ''The Early Quintet'' (FMP, 1978) With

* '' Piano Duets: Live in Berlin 93/94'' (FMP, 1995) * ''Live at Café Amores'' (NoBusiness, 1995) * ''Lok 03'' (Leo, 2005) * ''Iron Wedding: Piano Duets'' (Intakt, 2008) * ''New Blues'' (Yellowbird, 2012) * ''So Long Eric!'' (Intakt, 2014) * ''Signals'' (Trost, 2016) * ''Live at Cafe Amores'' (NoBusiness, 2018) * ''Hokusai Piano Solo'' (Intakt, 2019) With the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra * '' Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra'' (ECM, 1990) * '' The Morlocks and Other Pieces'' (FMP, 1994) * '' Live in Japan '96'' (DIW, 1997)

As sideman

With

Peter Brotzmann Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

* ''

Alarm An alarm device is a mechanism that gives an audible, visual or other kind of alarm signal to alert someone to a problem or condition that requires urgent attention. Alphabetical musical instruments Etymology The word ''alarm'' comes from th ...

'' (FMP, 1983) * ''Up and Down'' (Olof Bright 2010) * ''Peter Brotzmann/Alexander von Schlippenbach/Achim Trampenau'' (Carbon Edition, 2013) * ''Fifty Years After'' (Trost, 2019) With

* '' 50th Birthday Concert'' (Leo, 1994) * ''2X3=5'' (Leo 2001) * ''

The Bishop's Move "The Bishop's Move" is a short story by the British comic writer P. G. Wodehouse. A part of the Mr. Mulliner series, the story was first published in August 1927 in ''Liberty'' in the United States, and in September 1927 in '' The Strand Magazi ...

'' (Les Disques Victo, 2004) * ''America 2003'' (Psi, 2004) With others *

Gunter Hampel Gunter Hampel (born 31 August 1937) is a German jazz vibraphonist, clarinettist, saxophonist, flautist, pianist, and composer. He became dedicated to free jazz in the 1960s, developing a record label (Birth Records) and working with Jeanne Lee, ...

, ''Heartplants'' (SABA, 1965) *

, ''Legendary'' (Birth 1998) * Mario Schiano, ''Unlike'' (Splasc(H), 1990) *

Philipp Wachsmann Philipp John Paul Wachsmann (born 5 August 1944) is an African avant-garde jazz/jazz fusion violinist born in Kampala, Uganda, probably better known for having founded his own group Chamberpot. He has worked with many musicians in the free jazz id ...

, ''Free Zone Appleby, 2006'' (Psi, 2007) *

, ''Die Befristeten & Improvisationen Uber Die Oper Die Soldaten & Tratto'' (Wergo, 1967) *

, ''Requiem fur Einen Jungen Dichter'' (Sony 1995)

References

External links

Official website

allboutjazz.com
*

at th
European Free Improvisation Pages
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schlippenbach, Alexander von Free jazz pianists Experimental big band musicians German jazz pianists German jazz composers Male jazz composers 1938 births Living people Musicians from Berlin Avant-garde jazz pianists Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany German male pianists 21st-century pianists 20th-century pianists 20th-century German male musicians 21st-century German male musicians Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra members Globe Unity Orchestra members Atavistic Records artists FMP/Free Music Production artists Intakt Records artists NoBusiness Records artists