Wolfgang Dauner (; 30 December 1935 – 10 January 2020) was a German jazz pianist who co-founded the

United Jazz + Rock Ensemble United may refer to: Places * United, Pennsylvania, an unincorporated community * United, West Virginia, an unincorporated community Arts and entertainment Films * United (2003 film), ''United'' (2003 film), a Norwegian film * United (2011 film) ...

. He worked with

Hans Koller Antonio Hans Cyrill Koller (12 February 1921 in Vienna – 21 December 2003 in Vienna) was an Austrian jazz tenor saxophonist and bandleader. Koller attended the University of Vienna from 1936 to 1939 and served in the armed forces from 1940 to 1 ...

Albert Mangelsdorff Albert Mangelsdorff (September 5, 1928 – July 25, 2005) was a German jazz trombonist. Working mainly in free jazz, he was an innovator in multiphonics. Early life Mangelsdorff was born in Frankfurt on September 5, 1928, as the son of the book ...

Volker Kriegel Volker Kriegel (24 December 1943 – 15 June 2003) was a German jazz guitarist and composer who also an author and drew cartoons. He was a founding member of the United Jazz + Rock Ensemble. Biography Kriegel was born in Darmstadt on 24 Decem ...

and

Ack van Rooyen Ack van Rooyen (1 January 1930, The Hague – 18 November 2021) was a Dutch jazz trumpeter and flugelhornist. He was the brother of Jerry van Rooyen. Van Rooyen began playing with a military band as a teenager, touring bases in Indonesia. He the ...

and composed for radio, television, and film.

Education and career

Dauner attended the Musikhochschule in Stuttgart, where he focused on composition, piano, and trumpet. In the 1960s he belonged to a sextet led by

Joki Freund Walter Jakob "Joki" Freund (September 5, 1926, Höchst, Frankfurt am MainFebruary 15, 2012, Schwalbach am Taunus) was a German jazz saxophonist. Freund began playing the accordion as a child, switching to tenor saxophone after World War II ...

. As the leader of his trio, he recorded for the first time in 1964, an early session in the history of European

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 during ...

. In 1969, he was leader and composer for Radio Jazz Group Stuttgart. A year later he started the jazz rock band Et Cetera. With

, he began the Free Sound & Super Brass Big Band. In 1975, he was a founding member of the

United Jazz and Rock Ensemble The United Jazz + Rock Ensemble (abbr. "United" or "UJRE") developed from a group of jazz musicians that was formed for a 1974 to 1975 television show of Süddeutscher Rundfunk (South German Broadcasting). Almost all future members of "United" ...

. It was a collaboration of trombonist

, trumpeter

, sax player

Charlie Mariano Carmine Ugo Mariano (November 12, 1923 – June 16, 2009) was an American jazz saxophonist who focused on the alto and soprano saxophone. He occasionally performed and recorded on flute and nadaswaram as well. Biography Mariano was born in ...

, bassist

Eberhard Weber Eberhard Weber (born 22 January 1940, in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German double bassist and composer. As a bass player, he is known for his highly distinctive tone and phrasing. Weber's compositions blend chamber jazz, European classical music, m ...

and guitarist

. Additionally, he worked as a composer in radio, film, and television. He composed two chamber operas.

Personal life

Dauner was married to Randi Bubat, a stage and costume designer. He was the father of German drummer Florian Dauner. He died in Stuttgart on 10 January 2020.

Discography

* ''Dream Talk'' (CBS, 1964) * ''Free Action'' (SABA, 1967) * ''Wolfgang Dauner/Eberhard Weber/Jurgen Karg/Fred Braceful'' (Calig, 1969) * ''Requiem for Che Guevara/Psalmus Spei'' (MPS, 1969) * ''The Oimels'' (MPS, 1969) * ''Rischka's Soul'' (CTR, 1970) * ''Output'' (ECM, 1970) * ''Musica Sacra Nova II'' (Schwann AMS Studio, 1970) * ''Changes'' (Mood, 1978) * ''Grandison Musik fur Einen Film'' (Zweitausendeins, 1979) * ''Two Is Company'' (Mood, 1983) * ''Solo Piano'' (Mood, 1983) * ''Meditation On a Landscape/Tagore'' (Mood, 1986) * ''Zeitlaufe'' (Mood, 1988) * ''One Night in 88'' (Mood, 1988) * ''Pas de Trois'' (Mood, 1989) * ''Solo Piano 2'' (Mood, 1994) * ''Live in Concert'' (Mood, 1998) * ''Filmmusik Studio Orchester'' (Mood, 2001) * ''Dauner Zu House Remixed'' (Mood, 2001) * ''Tribute to the Past'' (HGBS, 2010) * ''Dauner/Dauner'' (Connector, 2014) * ''Elektronische Mythen'' (Connector, 2016) * ''80 Jahre Das Jubilaumskonzert'' (Timba, 2017)

Awards

Dauner received the

Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany The Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (german: Verdienstorden der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, or , BVO) is the only federal decoration of Germany. It is awarded for special achievements in political, economic, cultural, intellect ...

, and in 2016 the

Echo In audio signal processing and acoustics, an echo is a reflection of sound that arrives at the listener with a delay after the direct sound. The delay is directly proportional to the distance of the reflecting surface from the source and the list ...

for his life's work. The same year, on the occasion of his 80th birthday, he was awarded a special prize of the 2016 Jazzpreis Baden-Württemberg, as one of the most versatile jazz pianists and keyboarders ("einer der vielseitigsten Jazzpianisten und -keyboarder unserer Zeit") which included a concert in Stuttgart. He also received the Staufermedaille of the state Baden-Württemberg then.

References

External links

* * *
Wolfgang Dauner
NNDB * Andreas Kolb
Am Anfang war das Bergwerk
Jazzzeitung 2004/04, p. 23 * {{DEFAULTSORT:Dauner, Wolfgang 1935 births 2020 deaths Musicians from Stuttgart German jazz pianists Jazz fusion pianists United Jazz + Rock Ensemble members Officers Crosses of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Recipients of the Order of Merit of Baden-Württemberg German jazz composers Male jazz composers German male pianists 21st-century pianists 21st-century German male musicians Brain Records artists State University of Music and Performing Arts Stuttgart alumni