Konrad "Conny" Bauer (born 4 July 1943) is 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 ...

trombonist The trombone (german: Posaune, Italian, French: ''trombone'') is a musical instrument in the brass family. As with all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player's vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate ...

. He is the brother of the trombonist Johannes Bauer. As a student at senior

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

Sonneberg Sonneberg in Thuringia, Germany, is the seat of the Sonneberg district. It is in the Franconian south of Thuringia, neighboring its Upper Franconian twin town Neustadt bei Coburg. Sonneberg became known as the "world toy city", and is home to ...

between 1957 and 1961, he was enthusiastic about modern music and dance genres such as swing,

boogie-woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pi ...

, blues and

rock 'n' roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

, and taught himself to play

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strin ...

and

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keybo ...

. After leaving school with A-levels, he tried to play his music in several bands and was nicknamed "Conny" by his friends. After recognizing that he did not know enough about music to become a professional musician, Bauer studied modern dance music from 1964 to 1968 at the Carl Maria von Weber-Music school Conservatory in

Dresden Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label= Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth ...

. Because too many students wanted to study guitar, he entered the trombone class, having had some experience of playing the instrument. In 1968 he left the conservatory for Berlin to improve his skills with private lessons. From 1969 until 1971 he started his career as guitarist and singer in the band of Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky. He also began a career as a trombone soloist in 1970. During the second half of the 1970s Bauer became a prominent jazz player in

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 ...

. He helped found numerous groups which influenced the development of jazz in

East Germany East Germany, officially the German Democratic Republic (GDR; german: Deutsche Demokratische Republik, , DDR, ), was a country that existed from its creation on 7 October 1949 until its dissolution on 3 October 1990. In these years the state ...

: these included FEZ and its successive quartet and trio formations, the Doppelmoppel quartet, and Synopsis/Zentralquartett with Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Ulrich Gumpert and Günter "Baby" Sommer. He was featured in a profile on composer

Graham Collier James Graham Collier (21 February 1937 – 9 September 2011) was an English jazz bassist, bandleader and composer. Life and career Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as a musician, ...

in the 1985

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...

documentary 'Hoarded Dreams'.https://www.bright-thoughts.co.uk/hoarded-dreams.html Hoarded Dreams documentary website In 1986 he toured Japan for several weeks, encountering numerous Japanese musicians. From 1988 to 1989 he directed the National Jazz Orchestra of the former East Germany. Since 1983 he has worked with artists such as Tadashi Endo, Sheryl Banks,

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 ...

, Derek Bailey,

Maggie Nicols Maggie Nicols (or Nichols, as she originally spelled her name as a performer) (born 24 February 1948), is a Scottish free-jazz and improvising vocalist, dancer, and performer. Early life and career Nicols was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, as Ma ...

, Theo Jörgensmann, Peter Brötzmann, Barre Phillips,

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

Han Bennink Han Bennink (born 17 April 1942) is a Dutch drummer and percussionist. On occasion his recordings have featured him playing soprano saxophone, bass clarinet, trombone, violin, banjo and piano. Though perhaps best known as one of the pivotal fig ...

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, New York City) is a free jazz and hard bop drummer who first came to notice in the late 1960s for performing with pianists Paul Bley and Chick Corea. Biography Altschul is of Russian Jewish heritage, the s ...

Jay Oliver Jay Russell Oliver (born April 26, 1959) is an American jazz musician (piano, piano keyboard, keyboards and music synthesizer, synths), music composer, composer, record producer, programmer and engineer. He began his professional music career at t ...

Louis Moholo Louis Tebogo Moholo (born 10 March 1940), is a South African jazz drummer. He has been a member of several notable bands, including The Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath and Assagai. Biography Born in Cape Town, Moholo formed The Blue ...

Gerry Hemingway Gerry Hemingway (born March 23, 1955) is an American drummer and composer. Hemingway was a member of the Anthony Braxton quartet from 1983 to 1994. He has also performed with Ernst Reijseger, Anthony Davis, Earl Howard, Leo Smith, George E ...

, and George E. Lewis. In 2004 Bauer was awarded the German SWR jazz prize especially for his solo recordings ''Hummelsummen''. As unaccompanied soloist Bauer uses multiphonics, with matchless "circular breathing techniques" he conjures his own loops.

Discography

* ''Just for fun'', FMP 0140 LP (1973) * ''Synopsis'', Amiga 855395 LP (1974) * ''Auf der Elbe schwimmt ein rosa Krokodil'', FMP 0240 LP (1974) * ''FEZ'', Amiga 855585 LP (1977) * ''Was ist denn nun?'', Konrad Bauer Trio, FMP 0780 LP (1979) * ''Secret Points'', Conny Bauer &

Gianluigi Trovesi Gianluigi Trovesi (born 1944) is an Italian jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, and composer. He has won various Italian jazz awards. He also teaches in Italy. Early life Trovesi was born in Nembro near Bergamo in Lombardy in 1944. He studied harmony ...

, Dragon DRLP 21 LP (1979) * ''Konrad Bauer Solo'', Amiga 855783 LP (1980) * ''Round about Mittweida'', Konrad Bauer Quartet, FMP 0980 LP (1982) * ''Flüchtiges Glück'', Konrad Bauer Solo, Riskant 4017 LP (1984) / EFA-CD 15713 * ''Reflections'', Doppelmoppel, FMP CD 74 (1986) * ''Jazzorchester der DDR'', directed by Konrad Bauer, Amiga 856455 LP (1987) * ''Live im Völkerschlachtdenkmal'', Konrad Bauer Solo, Amiga 856439 LP (1988) * ''Zentralquartett'', ZOOM 2170 019 ADD (1990) * ''Torontotöne'', Konrad Bauer Solo, Victo CD 017 (1991) * ''Three Wheels - Four Directions'', Konrad Bauer Trio, Victo CD 023 (1992) * ''Plié'', Zentralquartett, Intakt CD 037 (1994) * ''Bauer - Bauer'', Intakt CD 040 (1995) * ''Generations from (East) Germany'', Conny Bauer with Joachim Kühn, Klangräume, LC 6035 (1995) * ''Careless Love'', Zentralquartett, Intakt CD 050 (1998) * ''Aventure Québécoise'', Doppelmoppel, Victo CD 065 (1999) * ''Alice im Wunderland'', Walfriede Schmitt with Konrad Bauer, Eulenspiegel Verlag (2000) * ''News from Berlin'',

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 ...

, Konrad Bauer, Victo CD 081 (2002) * ''Between Heaven and Earth'', Conrad Bauer,

, Günter Sommer, Intakt CD 079 (2003) * ''Hummelsummen'', Conrad Bauer (solo), Intakt CD 085 (2003) With

*'' Hoarded Dreams'' (Cuneiform, 1983 007

External links

Zentralquartett

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Conny 1943 births Living people German jazz trombonists Male trombonists Free jazz trombonists People from Halle (Saale) Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber alumni 21st-century trombonists 21st-century German male musicians German male jazz musicians European Jazz Ensemble members Intakt Records artists FMP/Free Music Production artists Recipients of the Order of Merit of Berlin

Discography

See also

External links

References