brownie Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 From AP: VIENNA, Austria (AP ) - Saxophonist Hans Koller, who rose to world fame and played with some of America's jazz legends, died following a bout of pneumonia, Austrian state radio reported Tuesday. He was 82. Koller, who also made his mark as a jazz composer, died Monday. He played with Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims and Stan Kenton during his long career. Koller was only 14 but already a veteran performer when he registered at the Vienna Music Academy as a fifth-semester student in 1935. After being drafted into the German Wehrmacht in 1941, Koller was captured by the U.S. army. He set up a band as a prisoner of war - and its popularity was so great that he was among the last to be released, the Austria Press Agency reported. He returned to Vienna in 1946 and immediately founded the Hot Club Vienna. Four years later went to Germany to launch his international career. Despite numerous offers to move to the United States, where he was acclaimed by critics and respected by jazz greats, Koller preferred to remain in Europe. In 1958, Koller played with Benny Goodman and his band at the World Exhibition in Brussels. At the first all-European jazz festival in 1960, in Antibes, France, Koller won the distinction of best soloist. Koller was the first European jazz musician to receive five stars from the U.S. music magazine Downbeat, its highest distinction. Fellow Austrian jazz musician Joe Zawinul - himself internationally renowned - called him "our God." Koller began composing and painting in the 1960s He stopped playing in the 1980s. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 This is sad news Thanks for posting, brownie. ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Claude Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 (edited) That's sad. I have just discovered Hans Koller through the recent MPS reissues. I've included below some information (previously posted on the AAJ board) on these sessions which are hardly known in the US. Since 1996 there is a Hans Koller Jazz Prize, the 2003 event took place in Vienna only two weeks ago. Hans Koller -------------------------------- The six Hans Koller titles are available as from today from Amazon Germany (10 Euro each, 5-6 days shipping time). I've translated the short descriptions from their website. Click on the cover picture for the Amazon.de link. I've heard a Hans Koller CD sampler that came out some years ago and I'm tempted to get them all. The earliest records are the best in my view. Exclusiv (1964) Hans Koller's first MPS LP is one of today's most sought after records from the label. Koller plays in a quartet and nonett with outstanding musicians such as Attila Zoller (guitar), Jimmy Pratt (drums) and Ex-Ellington-bassist Oscar Pettiford. An absolute classic in german jazz - for the first time on CD. Relax With My Horns (1966) A legendary trio recording with J.A. Rettenbacher (bass) and Rafi Luederitz (drums). Remarkably, Koller plays up to four tenor and soprano saxophone voices in overdub and so creates a "one man sax section". New York City (1968) This album was only released in 1979, but the grandiose music for orchestra and solists was recorded 11 years before. The musicians are regulars of the czech Gustav Brom Big Band and top solo artists such as trumpeter Benny Bailey, trombonist Peter Herbolzheimer, saxophonists/flutists Joki Freund and Emil Mangelsdorff, bassist Jiri Mraz and of course Koller. Phoenix (1972) In the 70's, Hans Koller played a free but not chaotic music full of tension and intensity, with pianist Albert Mair, bassist Adelhard Roidinger and drummer Alex Bally. The album title expressed the fact that Koller, who had spend some years with painting, entered the jazz scene again, like Phoenix rising from the ashes. Kunstkopfindianer (1974) Together with constituents from the New Jazz scene, Zbigniew Seifert (violin & saxophone), Janusz Stefanski (drums) and Wolfgang Dauner (keyboards), Hans Koller created a sound world of melodic sketches and rhythmic structures. Despite the greatest possible freedom, the group never gets lost in noise orgies or sound babbling (literate translation ) Zoller Koller Solal (1965) For this MPS highlight, producer Joachim-Ernst Berendt had the idea to unite a group without a rhythm section, only saxophone, guitar and piano. This timeless and tension-loaded album received a five star review in Down Beat, which is very rare for european productions. ------------------------- Edited December 23, 2003 by Claude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
couw Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 like Claude, I was just getting into his music. Great player. Sad loss. ---- Check out this CD on Jazz Realities, titled Musician of the Year. It collects a lot of ancient 10" LPs. Samples can be found here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 One of my favorite recordings of his (I know not many of them, have not picked up any of the MPS CDs yet) is this one: it features the quartet of OP, Koller, Attila Zoller and Jimmy Pratt. Some more tracks by this line up have been included on one of the above MPS CDs (see the MPS thread in the Reissue secion for more). ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brownie Posted December 23, 2003 Author Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 An interesting website in german about Hans Koller: http://tools.search.yahoo.com/language/tra...y.html&lp=de_en Wait for the english translation to appear... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 uh, thanks for the link, but that translation let me link the original here, for the few of us who read german: http://kultur.orf.at/orfon/kultur/010209-4...3txt_story.html ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted December 23, 2003 Report Share Posted December 23, 2003 Very very sad news indeed. Koller was one of the greatest and most original European jazz musicians in the 20th century - and an interesting painter as well. That Jazz Realities CD couw recommended is a treat. I always loved the Vienna Blues pictured above, got the MPS "Exclusiv" only last week - this is simply a year that's almost too hard to endure. So many greats that we lost. RIP Hans, you're having a great jam session with Prez, Stan, Bill Perkins and all the "brothers", I'm sure! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted February 2, 2004 Report Share Posted February 2, 2004 Germany's Jazz Podium magazine has a well-written obituary in the February 2004 issue, suggesting that he died lonely and rather withdrawn from most people. His last recording from 1991 at the occasion of his 70th birthday is his legacy, I can recommend it: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
king ubu Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 There's a beautiful Koller solo rendition of "Lush Life" (on tenor, of course), on the following album: hatOLOGY 520 Bernd Konrad Hans Koller Unit with Didier Lockwood Phonolith I got this disc yesterday, and think it's a rather interesting one, but need to listen to it some more times. That one track by Koller solo is very beautiful, though! By the way, Mike, some of the material from "Phonolith" (Body & Soul among it) has been recorded in 1994! The other tracks from that date include a duo by Konrad & Koller, and a larger ensemble (recording the title tune), featuring among others Herbert Joos, Kenny Wheeler, Pierre Favre. Here you can see all the details: ubu Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeweil Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 So Koller kind of returned the favor to Konrad, who had been on the CD "Out on th rim". I am not a Koller completist, he has a few typical mannerisms he uses a little too often for my taste, like sliding into the main note. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jug21 Posted February 26, 2004 Report Share Posted February 26, 2004 You'll find 6 previously unreleased tracks by Koller (with Fritz Pauer) on that release: http://www.sonarkollektiv.de/releases/SK019CD/ excellent stuff! (as the two tracks by Ronnie Ross!) Christian Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Clunky Posted March 24, 2004 Report Share Posted March 24, 2004 You'll find 6 previously unreleased tracks by Koller (with Fritz Pauer) on that release: http://www.sonarkollektiv.de/releases/SK019CD/ excellent stuff! (as the two tracks by Ronnie Ross!) Christian picked up this release on new 2LP set, it's very good, pretty accessible stuff so not sure how representative it is of the artists in question. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Son-of-a-Weizen Posted January 14, 2010 Report Share Posted January 14, 2010 That's sad. I have just discovered Hans Koller through the recent MPS reissues. I've included below some information (previously posted on the AAJ board) on these sessions which are hardly known in the US. I've heard a Hans Koller CD sampler that came out some years ago and I'm tempted to get them all. The earliest records are the best in my view. DO you know if this was this ever reissued in Europe? From 1958 according to the gokudo site. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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