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Münchner Klaviersommer (Munich Piano Summer) was a series of
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. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
concerts in
Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...
featuring various famous artists. Despite the name, not only pianists performed in these concerts. The concerts were usually held in July in the Philharmonic Hall Gasteig and they took place from 1981 to 1998. The sequel to the Munich Piano Summer is the ''Jazz Summer in the Bayerischer Hof'' at the Hotel Bayerischer Hof.


Artists

The concert series began in 1981 with performances by Friedrich Gulda in the America House in Munich, from which the idea of the Munich Piano Summer was based on. The initiator, Gulda, appeared often in the concert series, usually with jazz classics and original compositions mixed and performed with other jazz stars. In 1982 Gulda performed together with
Chick Corea Armando Anthony "Chick" Corea (June 12, 1941 – February 9, 2021) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader and occasional percussionist. His compositions "Spain (instrumental), Spain", "500 Miles High", "La Fiesta", "Armando's Rhumba" ...
, which was followed by performances from Corea and
McCoy Tyner Alfred McCoy Tyner (December 11, 1938March 6, 2020) was an American jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer known for his work with the John Coltrane Quartet from 1960 to 1965, and his long solo career afterwards. He was an NEA Jazz Masters, NEA J ...
in 1983,
Cecil Taylor Cecil Percival Taylor (March 25, 1929April 5, 2018) was an American pianist and poet. Taylor was classically trained and was one of the pioneers of free jazz. His music is characterized by an energetic, physical approach, resulting in comple ...
in 1984,
James Blood Ulmer James "Blood" Ulmer (born February 8, 1940) is an American jazz, free funk and blues music, blues guitarist and singer. Ulmer plays a Gibson Byrdland guitar. His guitar sound has been described as "jagged" and "stinging". His singing has been ...
in 1985, and Joe Zawinul with Gulda in 1986. A big highlight was the concert from
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...
in Gasteig in 1987 with an octet. Miles Davis appeared the year after with a nonet, in 1987 also
Herbie Hancock Herbert Jeffrey Hancock (born April 12, 1940) is an American jazz musician, bandleader, and composer. He started his career with trumpeter Donald Byrd's group. Hancock soon joined the Miles Davis Quintet, where he helped to redefine the role of ...
also performed. 1989 included performances from the
Modern Jazz Quartet The Modern Jazz Quartet (MJQ) was a jazz combo established in 1952 that played music influenced by classical music, classical, cool jazz, blues and bebop. The Quartet consisted of John Lewis (pianist), John Lewis (piano), Milt Jackson (vibraphon ...
, Herbie Hancock and
Bill Evans William John Evans (August 16, 1929 – September 15, 1980) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist and composer who worked primarily as the leader of his trio. His use of impressionist harmony, block chords, innovative chord voicings, a ...
, Friedrich Gulda, Joe Zawinul, the
Jacques Loussier Trio The Jacques Loussier Trio was a French Third Stream jazz piano trio, led by pianist Jacques Loussier, that became known for its jazz interpretations of European classical music. They were colloquially known in France as "le trio Play Bach" after th ...
, Katia Labèque, John McLaughlin,
George Benson George Washington Benson (born March 22, 1943) is an American jazz fusion guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist. A former child prodigy, Benson first came to prominence in the ...
accompanied by McCoy Tyner and
Michael Brecker Michael Leonard Brecker (March 29, 1949 – January 13, 2007) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was awarded 15 Grammy Awards as a performer and composer, received an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in ...
. In 1986
Keith Jarrett Keith Jarrett (born May 8, 1945) is an American pianist and composer. Jarrett started his career with Art Blakey and later moved on to play with Charles Lloyd (jazz musician), Charles Lloyd and Miles Davis. Since the early 1970s, he has also be ...
performed. Other Performances included: * 1990:
Stan Getz Stan Getz (born Stanley Gayetski; February 2, 1927 – June 6, 1991) was an American jazz saxophonist. Playing primarily the tenor saxophone, Getz was known as "The Sound" because of his warm, lyrical tone, with his prime influence being the wis ...
(his last concert) and
Herbie Mann Herbert Jay Solomon (April 16, 1930 – July 1, 2003), known by his stage name Herbie Mann, was an American jazz Flute, flute player and important early practitioner of world music. Early in his career, he also played tenor saxophone and clarinet ...
* 1991:
Eliane Elias Eliane Elias (born 19 March 1960) is a Brazilian jazz pianist, singer, composer and arranger. Biography Elias was born in São Paulo, Brazil, on 19 March 1960. She started studying piano when she was seven, and at age twelve she was transcribing ...
, Gonzalo Rubalcaba, Herbie Hancock Quartet (with
Wayne Shorter Wayne Shorter (August 25, 1933 – March 2, 2023) was an American jazz saxophonist, composer and bandleader. Shorter came to mainstream prominence in 1959 upon joining Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, for whom he eventually became the primary comp ...
,
Stanley Clarke Stanley Clarke (born June 30, 1951) is an American bassist, composer and founding member of Return to Forever, one of the first jazz fusion bands. Clarke gave the bass guitar a prominence it lacked in jazz-related music. He is the first jazz-fus ...
) and the Michel Camilo Quintet, * 1992: George Shearing and Bob Berg / Chick Corea / Eddie Gomez /
Steve Gadd Stephen Kendall Gadd (born April 9, 1945) is an American jazz fusion drummer, percussionist, and session musician. Gadd is one of the best-known and most highly regarded session and studio drummers in the industry, recognized by his induction i ...
* 1993:
Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, percussionist, and bandleader. He worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles Mingus, an ...
with Allstar Band ( Clark Terry, Sweets Edison, Al Grey,
Benny Golson Benny Golson (January 25, 1929 – September 21, 2024) was an American bebop and hard bop jazz tenor saxophonist, composer, and arranger. He came to prominence with the big bands of Lionel Hampton and Dizzy Gillespie, more as a writer than a p ...
, Junior Mance, Jimmy Woode,
Panama Francis David Albert "Panama" Francis (December 21, 1918 – November 13, 2001) was an American swing jazz drummer who played on numerous hit recordings in the 1950s. Early life Francis was born in Miami, Florida, on December 21, 1918. His father was ...
, Ingrid Jensen), the
Ahmad Jamal Ahmad Jamal (born Frederick Russell Jones; July 2, 1930 – April 16, 2023) was an American jazz pianist, composer, bandleader, and educator. For six decades, he was one of the most successful small-group leaders in jazz. He was a NEA Jazz Ma ...
Trio,
Joe Henderson Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 – June 30, 2001) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist and very occasional flute player. In a career spanning more than four decades, Henderson played with many of the leading American players of his day an ...
Trio (with Dave Holland, Al Foster)
Al Di Meola Albert Laurence Di Meola (born July 22, 1954) is an American guitarist. Known for his work in jazz fusion and world music, his breakthrough came after joining Chick Corea's Return to Forever group in 1974. He launched, from 1976 afterwards, a s ...
,
Burkard Schliessmann Burkard Schliessmann is a German classical pianist and concert artist with an active international career. Life and career Schliessmann was born in Aschaffenburg. He attended the Frankfurt University of Music and Performing Arts and graduate ...
* 1994: Gonzalo Rubalcaba,
Oscar Peterson Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. As a virtuoso who is considered to be one of the greatest Jazz piano, jazz pianists of all time, Peterson released more than 200 recordin ...
Quartet, an all-star band led by
Lalo Schifrin Boris Claudio "Lalo" Schifrin (born June 21, 1932) is an Argentine-American pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. He is best known for his large body of film and TV scores since the 1950s, incorporating jazz and Music of Latin America, Lati ...
(with James Morrison, Ray Brown, Grady Tate), the Joe Henderson Quartet and Joshua Redman Quartet (with
Brad Mehldau Bradford Alexander Mehldau (; born August 23, 1970) is an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. Mehldau studied music at The New School, touring and recording while still a student. He was a member of saxophonist Joshua Redman's quar ...
, Christian McBride) * 1995:
Gary Burton Gary Burton (born January 23, 1943) is an American jazz Vibraphone, vibraphonist, composer, and educator. Burton developed a pianistic style of four-mallet technique as an alternative to the prevailing two-mallet technique. This approach caused ...
,
Milt Jackson Milton Jackson (January 1, 1923 – October 9, 1999), nicknamed "Bags", was an American jazz vibraphonist. He is especially remembered for his cool swinging solos as a member of the Modern Jazz Quartet and his penchant for collaborating with ...
, Wynton Marsalis and the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra * 1996: Wallace Roney, Joshua Redman, Chick Corea, Christian McBride, Roy Haynes * 1997: Chick Corea / Gary Burton,
Herb Alpert Herb Alpert (born March 31, 1935) is an American trumpeter, pianist, singer, songwriter, record producer, arranger, conductor, painter, sculptor and theatre producer, who led the band Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass (sometimes called "Herb Alpe ...
and Band, Michel Petrucciani with Miroslav Vitous and Steve Gadd *1998:
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 ...
/ Wolfgang Dauner Quintet (with Dieter Ilg, Christof Lauer, Wolfgang Haffner), Jasper van't Hof with Dave Friedman, Michel Petrucciani Trio, Oscar Peterson Quartet, Gonzalo Rubalcaba


Jazz Summer of Hotel Bayerischer Hof

The end came when the city of Munich discontinued the concert series in 1999. It was initially continued under the same name and later (in 2007) as ''Jazz Summer of Hotel Bayerischer Hof'' in which the piano concertos of the summer already took place in addition to Gasteig since 1991. The Jazz Summer is held annually in July at the Night Club (late concerts) and in the hotel's ballroom. The events are accompanied by exhibitions and films and since 2008 regular appearances from a band made up of Munich jazz critics, led by Wolfgang Schmid. Giving the musicians are the opportunity to write a critic about the critics, which is then published in the Jazz newspaper.


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Munchner Klaviersommer Jazz festivals in Germany Music in Munich