Jo Thönes (born 28 November 1958) is a German percussionist, Jazz drummer and composer.

Life

Born in

Leverkusen Leverkusen () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, on the eastern bank of the Rhine. To the south, Leverkusen borders the city of Cologne, and to the north the state capital, Düsseldorf. With about 161,000 inhabitants, Leverkusen is on ...

, Thönes began playing the drums at the age of thirteen. In 1976 and 1977, he had lessons with

Christoph Caskel Christoph Caskel (born 12 January 1932) is a German percussionist and teacher. Life Born in Greifswald, Caskel began learning percussion at an early age, taking lessons at the age of five with a military musician and as a schoolboy with a percus ...

at the in Cologne, with whom he subsequently studied at the

Hochschule für Musik Köln ' (, plural: ') is the generic term in German for institutions of higher education, corresponding to ''universities'' and ''colleges'' in English. The term ''Universität'' (plural: ''Universitäten'') is reserved for institutions with the right to ...

. During his studies, he was a member of

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' ...

's band, with whose big band he also performed at the Deutsches Jazzfestival, Prague and the

JazzFest Berlin JazzFest Berlin (also known as the Berlin Jazz Festival) is a jazz festival in Berlin, Germany. Originally called the "Berliner Jazztage" (''Berlin Jazz Days''), it was founded in 1964 in West Berlin by the Berliner Festspiele. Venues included B ...

in the 1980s. He also played in s' bands, for example in a trio with Tom van der Geld and was a member of the German-French Jazz Ensemble of

Henri Texier Henri Texier (born 27 January 1945) is a French jazz double bassist. At the age of sixteen, fascinated by the double bass, Texier became a self-taught bassist, crediting Wilbur Ware most as an influence. He formed his first group with Georges ...

and Albert Mangelsdorff, with whom he also performed in a trio. Since 1981, he has been a member of various ensembles of

Uli Beckerhoff Ulrich (Uli) Beckerhoff (born 6 December 1947 in Münster) is a German jazz composer, trumpeter, and academic. He led the ''Uli Beckerhoff Trio'' with Jasper van 't Hof and John Stanley Marshall as the other two members. He teaches at the Fo ...

, in whose recordings of "Private Life" (1992) and "Das Geheimnis" (1994) he was also involved. He also played with the quartet of

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 ...

and Tom Van der Geld, with ,

Christof Lauer Christof Lauer (born 25 May 1953) is a German jazz tenor and soprano saxophonist, born in Melsungen, Germany, perhaps most well known in Europe where he has done projects with various musicians, such as Palle Danielsson, Carla Bley,

Tony Lakatos Antal "Tony" Lakatos (born 13 November 1958 in Budapest) is a Hungarian Jazz saxophonist (tenor, soprano saxophone), who currently lives in Frankfurt (Germany). Lakatos attended the Béla Bartók Conservatory in Budapest from 1975 to 1980, then ...

Jiří Stivín Jiří Stivín (born 23 November 1942 in Prague) is a Czech flute player and composer. Biography He graduated from the Film Faculty of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU). He also studied composition at the Royal Academy of Music ...

, Dom Um Romao,

Jasper van 't Hof Jasper van 't Hof (born 30 June 1947) is a Dutch jazz pianist and keyboard player. Van 't Hof was born in Enschede, Overijssel, Netherlands, and began studying piano at the age of five. He played in jazz bands at school, and by the age of 19 wa ...

Klaus Doldinger Klaus Doldinger (born 12 May 1936) is a German saxophonist known for his work in jazz and as a film music composer. He was the recipient of 1997's Bavarian Film Awards. Life and work Doldinger was born in Berlin, Germany, and entered a Düsse ...

and . In 1989, Thönes began his collaboration with

Markus Marcus, Markus, Márkus or Mărcuș may refer to: * Marcus (name), a masculine given name * Marcus (praenomen), a Roman personal name Places * Marcus, a main belt asteroid, also known as (369088) Marcus 2008 GG44 * Mărcuş, a village in Dobârl� ...

and

Simon Stockhausen Simon Stockhausen (born 5 June 1967) is a German composer. His parents are the artist Mary Bauermeister and the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen; the musician Markus Stockhausen is his half-brother. Life Born in Bergisch Gladbach, Stockhausen ...

, which also resulted in recordings such as ''Aparis'' (1989) and ''Jubilee'' (1996). Thönes has also been a guest soloist with the

WDR Big Band WDR may refer to: * Waddell & Reed (stock ticker: WDR), an American asset management and financial planning company * Walt Disney Records, an American record label of the Disney Music Group * WDR neuron, a type of neuron involved in pain signalling ...

, as well as in several projects by Klaus König and in the "Celebration Orchestra" of

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 s ...

, but also with

Joachim Kühn Joachim Kurt Kühn (born 15 March 1944) is a German jazz pianist. Biography He was born in Leipzig, Germany. Kühn was a musical prodigy and made his debut as a concert pianist, having studied classical piano and composition, with Arthur Schmid ...

as well as with

Jazz fusion Jazz fusion (also known as fusion and progressive jazz) is a music genre that developed in the late 1960s when musicians combined jazz harmony and jazz improvisation, improvisation with rock music, funk, and rhythm and blues. Electric guitars, ...

musicians like

James Blood Ulmer James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been called "ragg ...

, , Michael Sagmeister, , John Abercrombie and Peter O'Mara. Thönes increasingly worked as an interpreter of

Neue Musik Neue Musik (English ''new music'', French ''nouvelle musique'') is the collective term for a wealth of different currents in composed Western art music from around 1910 to the present. Its focus is on compositions of 20th century music. It is char ...

and was involved in performances of works by

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, one of the first American composers of international renown. His music was largely ignored during his early career, and many of his works went unperformed f ...

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 ...

Mauricio Kagel Mauricio Raúl Kagel (; 24 December 1931 – 18 September 2008) was an Argentine-German composer. Biography Kagel was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, into an Ashkenazi Jewish family that had fled from Russia in the 1920s . He studied music, his ...

and

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer known for his contribution to the development of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, a ...

. He also composed ballet music for the New York Palindrome Dance Company.PALINDROME DANCE, INC.
/ref> Thönes also worked as a studio musician for film and television productions and as a lecturer at numerous jazz workshops and at the

Folkwang University of the Arts The Folkwang University of the Arts is a university for music, theater, dance, design, and academic studies, located in four German cities of North Rhine-Westphalia. Since 1927, its traditional main location has been in the former Werden Abbey in E ...

before he was appointed professor at the

Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt, Weimar The University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar (in German: Hochschule für Musik Franz Liszt Weimar) is an institution of music in Weimar, Germany. The Hochschule Franz Liszt, who spent a great deal of his life in Weimar, encouraged the founding of ...

in 1995.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thones, Jo German jazz drummers German percussionists Jazz fusion musicians 1958 births Living people People from Leverkusen

Life

Further reading

References

External links