Fritz "Freddie" Brocksieper (August 24, 1912 in Constantinople, Ottoman Empire – January 17, 1990) was a German jazz-musician, drummer, and bandleader.

Early life

Brocksieper was born in Constantinople. At a young age in 1917, he observed military parades and developed an attraction to Turkish cymbals that led him to pursue music later in life. His family migrated to

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

in 1918, and he eventually took up drumming to the detriment of his engineering education.

Career

He was playing professionally in Germany by 1930, working in

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in the 1930s. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he played with the Goldene Sieben (Golden Seven, 1939), Benny De Weille (1940),

Willy Berking Willy Berking (22 June 1910 – 21 May 1979) was a German orchestra conductor, trombonist and composer. Career Berking studied music (piano and composition) in Düsseldorf and then in Berlin, where he formed his first big band at the age of 1 ...

(1940–1941), and the radio orchestra of

Lutz Templin Ludwig "Lutz" Templin (June 18, 1901, Düsseldorf - March 7, 1973, Stuttgart) was a German jazz bandleader. Templin played violin and saxophone, and studied composition before finding work playing and arranging in dance ensembles. From 1941 to 1949 ...

, just as in the National-Socialist propaganda band Charlie and His Orchestra. His playing style on the drums was influenced above all by Gene Krupa. He recorded with his own ensembles, both large and small, in the later 1940s; he performed for American

GIs A geographic information system (GIS) is a type of database containing Geographic data and information, geographic data (that is, descriptions of phenomena for which location is relevant), combined with Geographic information system software, sof ...

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, and

."Freddie Brocksieper". '' The New Grove Dictionary of Jazz'', ed.

Barry Kernfeld Barry Dean Kernfeld (born August 11, 1950) is an American musicologist and jazz saxophonist who has researched and published extensively about the history of jazz and the biographies of its musicians. Education In 1968, Kernfeld enrolled at U ...

, 1994, p. 153. The son of a Greek-speaking Jewish woman and a German engineer, he was able to get through National-Socialism as an essential swing musician. Freddie Brocksieper was considered a leading figure of early European big-band jazz. After the Second World War he led various bands in Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin, and played also in American officers' clubs. With his bands he made it to the front page of Stars and Stripes. Beginning in 1957

Bavarian radio Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR; "Bavarian Broadcasting") is a public-service radio and television broadcaster, based in Munich, capital city of the Free State of Bavaria in Germany. BR is a member organization of the ARD consortium of public broadcas ...

regularly broadcast live concerts from his studio in Munich. Brocksieper continued performing in the 1960s and 1970s, and was awarded a Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1980. From 1964 he played mainly in trios, and often with American soloists in Europe.

References

1912 births 1990 deaths German expatriates in the Ottoman Empire German jazz drummers Male drummers German jazz bandleaders 20th-century German musicians 20th-century drummers German male jazz musicians Goldene Sieben members 20th-century German male musicians {{jazz-drummer-stub