Häns'che Weiss (1951 – 2 June 2016) was a German

gypsy jazz Gypsy jazz (also known as sinti jazz, gypsy swing, jazz manouche or hot club-style jazz) is a musical idiom inspired by the Romani people, Romani jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt, Jean "Django" Reinhardt (1910–1953), in conjunction with the Fr ...

and

modern jazz Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

guitarist in the tradition of

Django Reinhardt Jean Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953), known by his Romani people, Romani nickname Django ( or ), was a Belgium, Belgian-born Romani jazz guitarist and composer in France. He was one of the first major jazz talents to emerge in Europe ...

. From 1969-1972 he played with the Schnuckenack Reinhardt Quintett, after which he made five albums with his own ensemble playing acoustic gypsy jazz along with self-composed and traditional gypsy tunes. From the early 80s to his death he played in a more mainstream/bebop jazz style with other German jazz artists including the violinist Martin Weiss (his nephew), and the double bass player Vali Mayer.

Life and work

Weiss was born in 1951 in

Berlin Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population withi ...

to a musical Sinto (German Romani) family, learning to play the guitar from his father Gono who before the second world war had played violin, guitar, accordion and zither. He took up the guitar aged 13, and two years later won the first prize in a young talent competition in Berlin.http://www.djangostation.com/Hans-che-Weiss-212.html Häns'che Weiss page on DjangoStation (in French) By the age of 18, he was already an excellent guitarist in the tradition of

and in December 1969 was picked by Schnuckenack Reinhardt to join his quintet in the role of solo guitarist. Over the succeeding two and a half years he played with this group in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and France and played as solo guitarist on two of the quintet's albums (''Musik deutscher Zigeuner 3'' and ''Musik deutscher Zigeuner 4''), produced by Siegfried Maeker for the Da Camera Song label. In September 1972 at age 21, Weiss left Schnuckenack's ensemble to found his own group, the Häns'che Weiss Quintet which drew some of its members from the (old) Schnuckenack Reinhardt Quintet. This new group comprised Häns'che Weiss at the solo guitar, the then 15-year old prodigy

Titi Winterstein The titis, or titi monkeys, are New World monkeys of the subfamily Callicebinae, which contains three extant genera: ''Cheracebus'', ''Callicebus'', and ''Plecturocebus.'' This subfamily also contains the extinct genera ''Miocallicebus, Homuncul ...

at the violin, Holzmanno Winterstein and Ziroli Winterstein at the rhythm guitars and Hojok Merstein at the double bass. This line-up travelled to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

in 1975 where they played at the prestigious

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

Folk Festival.https://www.cambridgelivetrust.co.uk/folk-festival/folk-festival/history/1971-1975 Cambridge Folk Festival History 1971-1975 In 1976 Holzmanno Winterstein left the band and was replaced by the excellent guitarist Lulu Reinhardt who played both rhythm and additional lead guitar roles. The Quintet released five albums all produced by Siegfried Maeker: ''Musik deutscher Zigeuner 5'' (1973), for which the ensemble received the

Deutscher Schallplattenpreis The Deutscher Schallplattenpreis was a prize that the awarded from 1963 through 1992. Its successor is the Echo Music Prize Echo Music Prize (stylised as ECHO, ) was an accolade by the , an association of recording companies of Germany to rec ...

(German recorded music prize); ''Musik deutscher Zigeuner 6'', ''Dja Maro Drom'' (1974) on Electrola, ''Das Häns'che Weiss Quintett'' (1975) on Songbird, and ''Fünf Jahre Musik deutscher Zigeuner'' (1977) on Intercord. In addition to making powerful music, Weiss and his musicians also made an important commitment to the defense and understanding of the Sinti people and culture. In the late 1970s the Quintet was dissolved and left to Titi Winterstein to continue. In 1981 Häns'che released the album ''Couleurs'', with a novel lineup including the percussionist Trilok Gurtu and second guitarist Romani Weiss. Subsequently, he formed a trio with his nephew, the young violinist Martin Weiss and bassist Vali Mayer. This line-up released the albums ''Zugaben...'' in 1985, ''Erinnerungen'' in 1988 and ''Vis à vis'' in 1991, with Weiss playing a more modern,

bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early to mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo (usually exceeding 200 bpm), complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerou ...

style of jazz guitar inspired by his other idols such as

Barney Kessel Barney Kessel (October 17, 1923 – May 6, 2004) was an American jazz guitarist. Known in particular for his knowledge of chords and inversions and chord-based melodies, he was a member of many prominent jazz groups as well as a "first call" gu ...

Wes Montgomery John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. Montgomery was known for his unusual technique of plucking the strings with the side of his thumb and for his extensive use of octaves, which gave him a ...

Joe Pass Joe Pass (born Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalacqua; January 13, 1929 – May 23, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. Although Pass recorded and performed live with pianist Oscar Peterson, composer Duke Ellington, and vocalist Ella Fitzgerald, he ...

and

Kenny Burrell Kenneth Earl Burrell (born July 31, 1931) is an American jazz guitarist known for his work on numerous top jazz labels: Prestige Records, Prestige, Blue Note, Verve Records, Verve, CTI Records, CTI, Muse Records, Muse, and Concord Records, Conco ...

, also incorporating some influences from bossa nova. After the departure of Martin Weiss, who then began a solo career, Häns'che Weiss continued to perform as a duet with Vali Mayer, sometimes accompanied by the young pianist Micky Bamberger. This line-up released three albums in a more modern style: ''Just play'', ''Just play II'', ''The duo: live!'', and performed regularly within Germany. After being ill for some time, Häns'che Weiss died on 2 June 2016. His Django-inspired guitar work played a significant role in the revival of the "hot club" style of gypsy guitar playing from the late 1960s onwards and he is remembered not only for his fine playing and mentoring of younger musicians but also for his cheerful on-stage persona.

Awards

(German Recording prize)

Discography

* with Schnuckenack Reinhardt: ''Musik deutscher Zigeuner - Schnuckenack Reinhardt Quintett, Vol. 3'' (Da Camera Song, LP, released September 1970, recorded 13/14 May 1970; live recording at Heidelberg and Ludwigsburg) * with Schnuckenack Reinhardt: ''Musik deutscher Zigeuner - Schnuckenack Reinhardt Quintett, Vol. 4'' (Da Camera Song, LP, released April 1972, recorded 29/30 November 1971) * ''Musik Deutscher Zigeuner – Häns'che Weiss Quintett, Vol. 5'' (Da Camera Song, LP, released März 1973, recorded 26/27/28 September 1972) * ''Musik Deutscher Zigeuner – Häns'che Weiss Quintett, Vol. 6'' (Da Camera Song, LP, released Mai 1974, recorded 29/30/31 October 1973) * Häns'che Weiss Quintett: ''Dja Maro Drom'' (Electrola, LP, released September 1974, recorded 1–5 July 1974) * Das Häns'che Weiss Quintett: ''Das Häns’che Weiss Quintett'' (Songbird 1975, recorded 24–29 September 1975) * Häns'che Weiss Quintett: ''Fünf Jahre Musik Deutscher Zigeuner'' (Intercord 1977, recorded 24 February–1 March 1977, with Oscar Klein, Silvano Lagrène) * Häns'che Weiss: ''Couleurs'' (CC-Records 1981, recorded January 1981, with Martin Weiss, Romani Weiss, Hans Hartmann, Dieter Goal, Albert Mair, Trilok Gurtu and Walter Buri) * Häns'che Weiss Ensemble: ''Zugaben…'' (self-produced, recorded 1985) * Häns'che Weiss Ensemble: ''Erinnerungen'' (Elite Special, 1988) * Häns'che Weiss Ensemble: ''Vis à Vis'' (Elite Special, 1991) * Häns'che Weiss: ''Special at Lloyd's'' (Deutscher Lloyd Versicherungen, recorded October 1995) * Häns'che Weiss, Vali Mayer: ''"The Duo" Live'' (MMM, 1996) * Häns'che Weiss, Vali Mayer: ''...Just Play !'' (MMM, 1998) * Häns'che Weiss, Vali Mayer: ''...Just Play! II'' (MMM, 2003)

Notes

External links

* Entry for Häns'che Weiss on

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

(translated version from August 2017 used as the basis for the initial version of this page) * Häns'che Weiss page a
JazzManouche.de
* Häns'che Weiss discography a
discogs.com
see also entry fo
Häns'che Weiss Quintett
* Häns'che Weiss biography (in French) and discography o

* Häns'che Weiss Quintett
live audience recording
from the 1975 Cambridge Festival, U.K. (for other Weiss tracks via YouTube us
this link

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Häns'che 1951 births 2016 deaths German jazz guitarists German people of Sinti descent Gypsy jazz guitarists Continental jazz guitarists German male guitarists 20th-century German guitarists 20th-century German musicians 20th-century German male musicians German male jazz musicians