Bob Degen Jr (born January 24, 1944 in

Scranton, Pennsylvania Scranton is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Lackawanna County, Pennsylvania, Lackawanna County. With a population of 76,328 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 U ...

, United States) is an American

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...

pianist. Much of his work has been in the trio format.

Life and Career

Degen was born in

in 1944. Both of his parents were performers; his father played country and western guitar and his mother was a tap-dancer. He attended

Berklee College of Music Berklee College of Music is a private music college in Boston, Massachusetts. It is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known for the study of jazz and modern American music, it also offers college-level cours ...

from 1961 until 1964 and played locally in

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

while there. He was influenced by jazz musician and multi-instrumentalist Art Kreinberg and played in a trio with Kreinberg and bassist Doug Smith in the early 1960s. In the mid-1960s he played in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

with

Dexter Gordon Dexter Gordon (February 27, 1923 – April 25, 1990) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, bandleader, and actor. He was among the most influential early bebop musicians, which included other greats such as Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gi ...

, Art Farmer,

Carmell Jones Carmell Jones (July 19, 1936 – November 7, 1996) was an American jazz trumpet player. Biography Jones was born in Kansas City, Kansas, United States. He started piano lessons at age five, and trumpet lessons at age seven. His first professional ...

, and Albert Mangelsdorff, and in 1968 recorded an album as leader. At the end of the decade he played with

Paul Motian Stephen Paul Motian (March 25, 1931 – November 22, 2011) was an American jazz drummer, percussionist, and composer. Motian played an important role in freeing jazz drummers from strict time-keeping duties. He first came to prominence in the ...

, as well as with Gary Peacock and

Buddy DeFranco Boniface Ferdinand Leonard "Buddy" DeFranco (February 17, 1923 – December 24, 2014) was an Italian-American jazz clarinetist. In addition to his work as a bandleader, DeFranco led the Glenn Miller Orchestra for almost a decade in the 1960s and ...

in the early 1970s. In 1974 Degen moved to

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, where he played often with

Heinz Sauer Heinz Sauer (born December 25, 1932, Merseburg) is a German jazz saxophonist. Sauer was an autodidact on tenor saxophone and began his career playing locally around Frankfurt in the 1950s. He played for many years in Albert Mangelsdorff's ense ...

. Since then, he has played with

Makaya Ntshoko Makaya (or Makhaya) Ntshoko (born 29 October 1939, Cape Town) is a South African drummer. He played with Dollar Brand's trio in 1958, and recorded in a sextet with Hugh Masekela and John Mehegan in 1959. He performed on The Jazz Epistles album ...

, the Frankfurter Jazz Ensemble,

Adelhard Roidinger Adelhard Roidinger (28 November 1941 – 22 April 2022) was an Austrian jazz musician (bass, electronic), composer and computer graphic designer. Life and Works Roidinger, who was from a musician family, learned first piano, violin and guitar. ...

Joki Freund Walter Jakob "Joki" Freund (September 5, 1926, Höchst, Frankfurt am MainFebruary 15, 2012, Schwalbach am Taunus) was a German jazz saxophonist. Freund began playing the accordion as a child, switching to tenor saxophone after World War II ...

Leszek Zadlo Leszek () is a Slavic names, Slavic Polish language, Polish male given name, originally ''Lestko'', ''Leszko'' or ''Lestek'', related to Lech (name), ''Lech'', ''Lechosław'' and Czech language, Czech ''Lstimir''. Individuals named Leszek celebrat ...

, Günter Lenz, and Uli Beckerhoff.

Discography

As leader

* ''Celebrations'' (Calig, 1968) * ''Sequoia Song'' (

Enja Enja Records is a German jazz record company and label based in Munich which was founded by jazz enthusiasts Matthias Winckelmann and Horst Weber in 1971. The label's first release was by Mal Waldron, and early releases included European and Ja ...

, 1976) * ''Chartreuse'' (Enja, 1978) * ''Children of the Night'' (Enja, 1978) * ''Hidden Track'' (Trion, 1981) * ''Joy - Friday Night'' (Dr. Jazz, 1995) * ''Catability'' (Enja, 1998) * ''Sandcastle'' (Free Flow 1998) * ''What's Your Dream?'' (Trion, 2008) * ''Jake Remembered'' (Enja, 2010)

Life and Career

Discography

As leader

References

Further reading