Werner Dies (January 15, 1928,
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
- February 5, 2003) was 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 major ...
tenor saxophonist, clarinetist, guitarist, composer, and arranger.
Dies was an autodidact on guitar and saxophone, and studied clarinet and composition starting in 1947. From 1947 to 1955 he played guitar in the dance band of
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 ...
, and was a member of the bands
Hotclub Combo and
Two Beat Stompers. He also led his own ensemble, which went on a tour of Yugoslavia in 1955. From 1955 to 1965 he was a member of
Hazy Osterwald
Rolf Osterwald, better known as Hazy Osterwald (February 18, 1922 in Bern – February 26, 2012 in Lucerne) was a Swiss jazz bandleader, trumpeter, and vibraphonist.
Osterwald began his career as a pianist. He arranged for Fred Böhler in the ...
's sextet, and also worked as a
session musician
Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a ...
and arranger. He toured with
Joe Turner and, in 1968,
Charly Antolini
Charly Antolini (born 24 May 1937) is a Swiss jazz drummer.
Career
Born in Zürich, Antolini started playing the traditional Swiss Basler drum. In 1956, he went to Paris, where he played with Sidney Bechet and Bill Coleman. He joined the Tre ...
.
He had a hit in Germany in 1954 with "Schuster bleib bei deinen Leisten", the German-language version of the song "
The Little Shoemaker
The Little Shoemaker" is a popular song based on the French song, "Le petit cordonnier", by Rudi Revil. The original French lyric was written by Francis Lemarque (page in French). The English language lyrics were written by Geoffrey Claremont P ...
". This spent eight weeks at #1 on the German hit parade starting in October 1954. He also wrote a treatise on clarinet improvisation, published by
Schott in 1967. He later worked for
Howard Carpendale
Howard Victor Carpendale (born 14 January 1946) is a South African-German singer living and working in Germany.
Biography
Carpendale is a pop singer who sings most of his songs in German. His 1979 song ''Nachts, wenn alles schläft'' had been ...
,
Adam & Eve
Adam and Eve, according to the creation myth of the Abrahamic religions, were the first man and woman. They are central to the belief that humanity is in essence a single family, with everyone descended from a single pair of original ancestors. ...
,
, and other singers, and produced
easy listening
Easy listening (including mood music) is a popular music genre and radio format that was most popular during the 1950s to 1970s. It is related to middle-of-the-road (MOR) music and encompasses instrumental recordings of standards, hit songs, n ...
music with his own ensemble, the Werner Dies Sax Band. He produced the group
Bläck Fööss
The Bläck Fööss ( Ripuarian ''De Bläck Fööss'') are a music group from Cologne, Germany, started in 1970.
Name of the band
The band's name in Kölsch, a local dialect of Ripuarian, in which the group predominantly sings, means barefoo ...
from 1973 to 2003.
References
*
Carlo Bohländer and Karl-Heinz Holler: ''Reclams Jazzführer''. Stuttgart, Reclam, 1977.
*Bielefelder catalog Jazz, 2001.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dies, Werner
German jazz saxophonists
Male saxophonists
1928 births
2003 deaths
Musicians from Stuttgart
German jazz clarinetists
German jazz bandleaders
20th-century saxophonists
20th-century German male musicians
German male jazz musicians