Konrad "Conny" Bauer (born 4 July 1943) is a German

free jazz Free jazz, or free form in the early to mid-1970s, is a style of avant-garde jazz or an experimental approach to jazz improvisation that developed in the late 1950s and early 1960s, when musicians attempted to change or break down jazz conventi ...

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

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

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 ...

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, but already developed in African-American communities since the 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually ex ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

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

, and taught himself to play guitar and piano. 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 German, Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; , ) is the capital city of the States of Germany, German state of Saxony and its second most populous city after Leipzig. It is the List of cities in Germany by population, 12th most p ...

. 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 ...

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

East Germany East Germany, officially known as the German Democratic Republic (GDR), was a country in Central Europe from Foundation of East Germany, its formation on 7 October 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with West Germany (FRG) on ...

: 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 Double bass, bassist, bandleader and composer. Life and career Born in Tynemouth, Northumberland, England, on leaving school Collier joined the British Army as ...

in the 1985

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

documentary 'Hoarded Dreams'. 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 (15 June 1938 – 26 December 2023) was an English free improvisation, free improvising drummer and electronic musician. Born in Sheffield, Oxley moved to London in 1966 and became house drummer at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club where he ...

, 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 M ...

, Theo Jörgensmann,

Peter Brötzmann Peter Brötzmann (6 March 1941 – 22 June 2023) was a German jazz saxophonist and clarinetist regarded as a central and pioneering figure in European free jazz. Throughout his career, he released over fifty albums as a bandleader. Amongst his m ...

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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 f ...

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 figu ...

Barry Altschul Barry Altschul (born January 6, 1943, in 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, ...

, Jay Oliver,

Louis Moholo Louis Tebogo Moholo (10 March 1940 – 13 June 2025) was a South African jazz drummer. He was a member of several notable bands, including The Blue Notes, the Brotherhood of Breath and Assagai. Biography Born in Cape Town, Moholo formed The ...

, Gerry Hemingway, 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 A multiphonic is an extended technique on a monophonic musical instrument (one that generally produces only one note at a time) in which several notes are produced at once. This includes wind, reed, and brass instruments, as well as the human vo ...

, 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) * ''Toronto Töne'', 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, 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 ''Hoarded Dreams'' is a live album by bassist/composer Graham Collier featuring a composition commissioned for the Bracknell Jazz Festival by the Arts Council of Great Britain in 1983 and released on the Cuneiform label in 2007. Reception Al ...

'' (Cuneiform, 1983

007 The ''James Bond'' franchise focuses on James Bond (literary character), the titular character, a fictional Secret Intelligence Service, British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels ...

With

Barry Guy Barry John Guy (born 22 April 1947, in London, England) is an English composer and double bass player. His range of interests encompasses early music, contemporary composition, jazz and improvisation, and he has worked with a wide variety of or ...

and the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra with

Irène Schweizer Irène Schweizer (2 June 1941 – 16 July 2024) was a Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. Life and career Schweizer was born in Schaffhausen, Switzerland on 2 June 1941. She performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as ...

* '' Radio Rondo/Schaffhausen Concert'' (Intakt, 2009)

References

External links

Zentralquartett

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bauer, Conny 1943 births Living people German jazz trombonists German male trombonists Free jazz trombonists Musicians 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

References

External links