Peter Kowald (21 April 1944 – 21 September 2002) was a German

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 duri ...

and free improvising double bassist and tubist.

Career

A member of the Globe Unity Orchestra, and a touring double-bass player, Kowald collaborated with many

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 ...

and American free-jazz players during his career, including

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (born 6 March 1941) is a German saxophonist and clarinetist. Biography Early life Brötzmann was born in Remscheid, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. He studied painting in Wuppertal and was involved with the Fluxus move ...

Irène Schweizer Irène Schweizer (born 2 June 1941) is a Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland. She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvis ...

, Karl Berger, Fred Anderson,

Hamid Drake Hamid Drake (born August 3, 1955) is an American jazz drummer and percussionist. By the close of the 1990s, Hamid Drake was widely regarded as one of the best percussionists in jazz and improvised music. Incorporating Afro-Cuban, Indian, and Afr ...

, Karl E. H. Seigfried, Conny Bauer, Jeffrey Morgan, Wadada Leo Smith,

Günter Sommer Günter "Baby" Sommer (born 25 August 1943) is a German jazz drummer. Career Sommer was born in Dresden on 25 August 1943. His first instrument was the trumpet, which he studied at school. He started playing the drums aged 15 or 16. He studie ...

, William Parker,

Barre Phillips Barre Phillips (born October 27, 1934, in San Francisco, California, United States) is an American jazz bassist. A professional musician since 1960, he moved to New York City in 1962, then to Europe in 1967. Since 1972, he has been based in sout ...

, Joëlle Léandre,

Alfred Harth Alfred Harth, now known as Alfred 23 Harth or A23H, is a German multimedia artist, band leader, multi-instrumentalist musician, and composer who creatively mixes genres. Career Harth founded a free improvisation band, Just Music (1967 to 1972) ...

, Lauren Newton and

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 ...

. He also recorded a number of solo double-bass albums, and was a member of the London Jazz Composer's Orchestra until 1985. He also recorded a number of pioneering double bass duets with

Maarten Altena Maarten van Regteren Altena (born January 22, 1943) is a Dutch composer and contrabassist. Altena attended the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (he studied contrabass) and graduated in 1968. Between 1980 and 1985, he studied composition with Robert ...

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 ...

, Joëlle Léandre,

, William Parker,

Damon Smith Damon Smith (born October 17, 1972) is an American free improvising bassist. He has worked with Cecil Taylor, Peter Brötzmann, Marshall Allen, John Tchicai, Elliott Sharp, Chris Cutler, Fred Frith, Jim O'Rourke etc. Biography Smith spent his ...

and

Peter Jacquemyn 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 ...

. In addition, Kowald collaborated extensively with poets and artists and with the dancers

Gerlinde Lambeck 663 Gerlinde is a minor planet orbiting the Sun The Sun is the star at the center of the Solar System. It is a nearly perfect ball of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core. The Sun radiates this ener ...

, Anne Martin (formerly of

Pina Bausch Philippine "Pina" Bausch (27 July 1940 – 30 June 2009) was a German dancer and choreographer who was a significant contributor to a neo-expressionist dance tradition now known as . Bausch's approach was noted for a stylized blend of dance mo ...

Ensemble), Tadashi Endo, Patricia Parker (founder of the

Vision Festival The Vision Festival is the world's premier festival of experimental music (typically free jazz/avant-garde jazz), art, film and dance, held annually in May/June on the Lower East Side of New York City from 1996 to 2011, in Brooklyn from 2012-2014, ...

Maria Mitchell Maria Mitchell (Help:IPA/English, /məˈraɪə/; August 1, 1818 – June 28, 1889) was an American astronomer, librarian, naturalist, and educator. In 1847, she discovered a comet named 1847 VI (modern designation C/1847 T1) that was later kno ...

, Sally Silvers, Cheryl Banks (formerly of

Sun Ra Le Sony'r Ra (born Herman Poole Blount, May 22, 1914 – May 30, 1993), better known as Sun Ra, was an American jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, and poet known for his experimental music, "cosmic" philosophy, prolific ou ...

's Arkestra), Arnette de Mille, Sayonara Pereira, and Kazuo Ohno. Specific works included ''Die Klage der Kaiserin'' (1989) with

, short pieces (since 1989) with Jean Sasportes, ''The spirit of adventure'' (1990) with Anastasia Lyra, ''Wasser in der Hand'' (1990/91) with Christine Brunel, and ''Futan no sentaku''/''The burden of choice'' (1990/91) with Min Tanaka and Butch Morris. Besides his duo work with singers such as

Jeanne Lee Jeanne Lee (January 29, 1939 – October 25, 2000) was an American jazz singer, poet and composer. Best known for a wide range of vocal styles she mastered, Lee collaborated with numerous distinguished composers and performers who included Gunte ...

Diamanda Galás Diamanda Galás (born August 29, 1955) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, visual artist, and soprano. She has campaigned for AIDS education and the rights of the infected. Galás's commitment to addressing social issues and her involve ...

, Anna Homler or

Sainkho Namtchylak Sainkho Namtchylak ( tyv, Сайын-Хөө Намчылак, russian: Сайнхо Намчылак, born 1957) is a singer originally from Tuva, an autonomous republic in the Russian Federation just north of Mongolia. She is known for her Tuvan ...

, Peter was especially interested in his international improvising ensemble Global Village with musicians from different cultural regions of the world: China, Japan, Near East, South Europe, North and South America. He died of a heart attack in New York City in 2002.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

*''Die Jungen: Random Generators'' (FMP, 1979) with

*'' Touch the Earth'' (FMP, 1980) with Leo Smith and

*''Two Making a Triangle'' (FMP, 1982) with

*'' If You Want the Kernels You Have to Break the Shells'' (FMP, 1982) with Leo Smith and Günter Sommer *''Paintings'' (FMP, 1982) with

*''

Open Secrets ''Open Secrets'' () is a book of short stories by Alice Munro published by McClelland and Stewart in 1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente buil ...

'' (FMP, 1988) *''Duos: Europa · America · Japan'' (FMP, 1984–89) *''Duos 2'' (FMP, 1986–90) *''When The Sun Is Out You Don't See Stars'' (FMP, 1992) with Werner Lüdi, Butch Morris and

*'' Was Da Ist'' (FMP, 1994) *''Cuts'' (FMP, 1995) with Ort Ensemble Wuppertal,

Lê Quan Ninh Lê Quan Ninh (born Paris, 1961) is a French percussionist active in contemporary music and free improvisation. He began studying piano at the age of 7, but turned towards percussion as a teenager. When he was 16, he entered the National Con ...

and

Carlos Zingaro Carlos Zíngaro (or Carlos "Zíngaro" Alves, born 15 December 1948 in Lisbon, Portugal) is a Portuguese violinist and electronic musician active in free improvisation. Biography Zingaro studied classical music at the Lisbon Music Conservatory fr ...

*''Bass Duets'' (FMP, 1979–82) – compilation *''Mirror – Broken But no Dust'' (Balance Point Acoustics, 2000) *''Deep Music'' (Free Elephant) *''The Victoriaville Tape'' (Free Elephant) *''Silence & Flies: Live at Nigglmuhle'' (Free Elephant, 2001) *''Global Village'' (Free Elephant, 2004) *''Aria'' (Free Elephant, 2005) *''Live at Kassiopeia'' (NoBusiness, 2011) with Julius Hemphill

As sideman

*1966: Alexander Schlippenbach: ''Globe Unity'' *1967: Peter Brotzmann: '' For Adolphe Sax'' *1968: The Peter Brotzmann Octet: ''

Machine Gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

'' *1973: Globe Unity Orchestra – ''Live in Wuppertal'' *1986: ''Global Village Suite'' *1986: Wadada Leo Smith: ''

Human Rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

'' *1987: Bill Dixon: ''

Thoughts In their most common sense, the terms thought and thinking refer to conscious cognitive processes that can happen independently of sensory stimulation. Their most paradigmatic forms are judging, reasoning, concept formation, problem solving, an ...

'' (Soul Note) *1996/2003: ''Duos 1'' / ''Duos 2'' *1998: Fred Anderson Trio – ''

Live at the Velvet Lounge ''Live at the Velvet Lounge'' is an album by American jazz saxophonist Fred Anderson with German free jazz bassist Peter Kowald and long-time collaborator drummer Hamid Drake. The record documents a June 1998 performance at the Chicago club owne ...

References

External links

Kowald's FMP releases
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kowald, Peter Avant-garde jazz musicians 1944 births 2002 deaths German jazz double-bassists Male double-bassists CIMP artists 20th-century double-bassists 20th-century German male musicians German male jazz musicians Spontaneous Music Ensemble members Globe Unity Orchestra members FMP/Free Music Production artists Intakt Records artists 20th-century German musicians NoBusiness Records artists Locust Music artists