Michael Griener (born 6 February 1968) is a German

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 m ...

percussionist.

Life and Works

Griener, who was already well known as an

improviser Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

and interpreter of contemporary music, moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

in 1994. In Berlin, he appeared on the scenes with many musicians such as

Tal Farlow Talmage Holt Farlow (June 7, 1921 – July 25, 1998) was an American jazz guitarist. He was nicknamed "Octopus" because of how his large, quick hands spread over the fretboard. As Steve Rochinski notes, "Of all the guitarists to emerge in th ...

, Herb Ellis,

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of orchestras ...

Axel Dörner Axel Dörner (born 26 April 1964 in Cologne, Germany) is a German trumpeter, pianist, and composer. Biography Dörner studied piano in the Dutch town Arnhem (1988–89) and at the Music Academy in Cologne (1989–1996). From 1991 he studied t ...

, Mal Waldron,

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 ...

Zeena Parkins Zeena Parkins (born 1956) is an American composer and multi-instrumentalist active in experimental, free improvised, contemporary classical, and avant-jazz music; she is known for having "reinvented the harp". Parkins performs on standard har ...

Keith Tippett Keith Graham Tippetts (25 August 1947 – 14 June 2020), known professionally as Keith Tippett, was a British jazz pianist and composer. According to AllMusic, Tippett's career "..spanned jazz-rock, progressive rock, improvised and contemporary ...

, Butch Morris, Ulrich Gumpert,

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 ...

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 ...

Mats Gustafsson Mats Olof Gustafsson (born 29 October 1964) is a Swedish free jazz saxophone player. Career Gustafsson came to the attention of lovers of improvised music as part of a duo with Christian Munthe (started in 1986), as member of Gunter Chri ...

Alexander von Schlippenbach Alexander von Schlippenbach (born 7 April 1938) is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens, and as a member of the Globe Unity Orchest ...

Joëlle Léandre Joëlle Léandre (born 12 September 1951 in Aix-en-Provence, France) is a French double bassist, vocalist, and composer active in new music and free improvisation. In the field of contemporary music, she has performed with Pierre Boulez's E ...

David Liebman David Liebman (born September 4, 1946) is an American saxophonist, flautist and jazz educator. He is known for his innovative lines and use of atonality. He was a frequent collaborator with pianist Richie Beirach. In June 2010, he received a N ...

Conny Bauer Konrad "Conny" Bauer (born 4 July 1943) is a German free jazz trombonist. He is the brother of the trombonist Johannes Bauer. As a student at senior high school in Sonneberg between 1957 and 1961, he was enthusiastic about modern music and danc ...

, Johannes Bauer,

Andrea Neumann Andrea Neumann (1969 – 2020) was a German visual artist and educator. She is one of the most important artists of the Saarland region. She is known for her abstract paintings. Biography Andrea Neumann was born on June 5, 1969, in Stuttgart, G ...

, Chris Dahlgren, Frank Gratkowski,

Phil Minton Phil Minton (born 2 November 1940) is a British avant-garde jazz/ free-improvising vocalist and trumpeter. Minton is a highly dramatic baritone who tends to specialize in literary texts: he has sung lyrics by William Blake with Mike Westbrook' ...

and Tony Buck. He cooperated with Günther Christmann in ''Vario-Projekte'' for a long time (at ''C.I.M. festival'' in

the Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

1990. at

Moers festival The Moers Festival is an annual international music festival in Moers, Germany. The festival has changed from concentrating on free jazz to including world and pop music, though it still invites many avant-garde jazz musicians. Performers at Moer ...

1992, ''Interplay'' 2006, ...). With the duet ''Kimmo Elomaa'' and with the ''Live-Elektroniker Jayrope'', he was awarded the prize

Senate of Berlin The Senate of Berlin (german: Berliner Senat) is the executive body governing the city of Berlin, which at the same time is a state of Germany. According to the the Senate consists of the Governing Mayor of Berlin and up to ten senators appoint ...

in 2001. Besides, he worked with dancers like Anzu Furukawa and ''David Zambrano'' and with actors and writers. He collaborated also with Oskar Ansull in the Paul Celan project. At present, he plays in Ulrich Gumpert's quartet, ''Baby Bonk'', and his own trio ''Themore 3, TGW'' (with Christian Weber and Michael Thieke), in ''Lacy Pool'' and in a duet with

Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky (10 December 1933 – 10 July 2023), often called Luten Petrowsky, was a German jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist, composer and author. He is considered the father of free jazz in East Germany (GDR). He was one of f ...

. Griener made tours in many European countries and also in Turkey, Israel, Morocco and the USA. He teaches jazz and

rhythm Rhythm (from Greek , ''rhythmos'', "any regular recurring motion, symmetry") generally means a " movement marked by the regulated succession of strong and weak elements, or of opposite or different conditions". This general meaning of regular re ...

at the

Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber The Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber (Carl Maria von Weber College of Music; also/formerly known as Dresden Conservatory or Dresden Royal Conservatory) is a university of music in Dresden, Germany. History The Hochschule opened ...

and at the ''Jazz School Berlin''.

Awards and honours

In March 2006, he won the prize the most creative soloist at the Neuer Deutscher Jazzpreis. In November 2008, he was appointed honorary professor of the Hochschule für Music Carl Maria von Weber.

Discography

1993 *Günter Christmann ''Sometimes crosswise''

Moers Music Moers Music is a German jazz record label that was founded by Burkhard Hennen in Moers, Germany. The label started in 1974 under the name Ring but was changed three years later due to a conflict with a Canadian record label that had the same name. ...

02094 *Proust ''Vol. 2'' Hybrid HMP CD 5 1994 *Griener Schweitzer Sudmann ''Laarmann'' Jazz-Festival Münster 1997 *Andreas Willers trio ''Blue Collar'' JazzHausMusik JHM 89 1998 *Butch Morris ''Conducts Berlin Skyscraper '95'' with Bernhard Arndt, Elisabeth Böhm-Christl, Johanne Braun,

Nicholas Bussmann Nicholas Bussmann is a composer and performer. He is a founder of the Love Song Competition which takes place every year in Berlin. Nicholas Bussmann has collaborated with Toshimaru Nakamura Toshimaru Nakamura is a Japanese musician, active in ...

, David de Bernardi,

, Wolfgang Fuchs, Gregor Hotz, Aleks Kolkowski, Stephan Mathieu, Dietrich Petzold, Kirsten Reese, Albrecht Riermeier, Olaf Rupp, Tatjana Schütz, Marc Stutz-Boukouya FMP CD 92/93 1999 *Andreas Willers Trio ''Tin Drum Stories'' between the lines 009 2003 * Paul Brody's Tango Toy ''South Klezmer Suite'' Laika Records 3510170. 2 2004 *Schwimmer ''7x4x7'' creative sources cs 013 *Various ''No Idea Festival'' spring garden music 011 2005 *Denzler/Dörner/Müller/Erdmann/Griener ''Stralau'' creative sources cs 032 *Willers/ Dominique Pifarély/Grange/Griener ''Montauk'' between the lines BTLCHR 71208 *Zoran Terzic trio '': I'' Konnex Records KCD 5139 *Babybonk ''sagt die Wahrheit'' (with

Kalle Kalima Kalle Kalima (born 29 December 1973 in Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland) is a Finland, Finnish jazz guitarist and improvisational musician. Biography Kalima got piano lessons as a child for five years before switching to the guitar at age 11. He st ...

, Martin Klingeberg, Jan Roder) Konnex KCD 5147 *Baltschun/Butcher/Christmann/Griener ''Vario 41'' edition explico 14 2007 *Thieke/Griener/Weber ''The Amazing Dr. Clitterhouse''

Ayler Records Ayler is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Albert Ayler (1936–1970), American jazz saxophonist, singer, and composer * Donald Ayler (1942–2007), American jazz trumpeter, brother of Albert * Ethel Ayler (1930–2018), Americ ...

aylDL-058 * Carl Ludwig Hübsch's ''Primordial Soup'' (with Axel Dörner, Frank Gratkowski, Carl Ludwig Hübsch) Red Toucan RT9331 *Dietrich Eichmann ensemble ''the hot days'' (with Chris Heenan, Christian Weber, Alexander Frangenheim, Gunnar Brandt-Sigurdsson, Dietrich Eichmann)

Leo Records Leo Records is a British record company and label which releases jazz from Russian, American, and British musicians. It concentrates on free jazz. Leo Records was founded in 1979 by Leo Feigin (also known under his broadcasting name Aleksei L ...

LR 486 *Ulrich Gumpert ''Quartette'' (with Ulrich Gumpert, Ben Abarbanel-Wolff, Jan Roder)

Intakt Records Intakt Records is an independent record label, based in Zürich. History The label was founded in 1986 by Patrik Landolt.Margasak, Peter (September 2013) "Intakt's Landolt Takes Long-Term Approach to Avant-Garde". ''Down Beat''. p. 16. In the ea ...

Intakt CD 127 *''„Ich hebe meine Augen in die Welt" – ''Groteske Gedichte und ein Prosatext von Alfred Lichtenstein, audiobook with Barbara Wittmann and Detlef Bierstedt with Aki Takase and Michael Griener, audiobook edition words & music, 2007, 2008 * ''SQUAKK'' with Jan Roder (bass), Christof Thewes (trombone) JW 046 recorded in 7 August 2008 in NUPHOBIA Studios, Berlin

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griener, Michael Jazz drummers German percussionists 1968 births Living people Intakt Records artists Leo Records artists