
Martin Kunzler (born 29 April 1947) is a German jazz bassist and music journalist. He gained particular fame through his ''rororo Jazz-Lexikon'' published by
Rowohlt Verlag
Rowohlt Verlag is a German publishing house based in Hamburg, with offices in Reinbek and Berlin. It has been part of the Georg von Holtzbrinck Group since 1982. The company has been dissolved and restarted twice since its creation in 1908.
Hi ...
, which is now considered the standard German-language work on this musical genre.
Life
Kunzler was born in
Lörrach
Lörrach () is a city in southwest Germany, in the valley of the Wiese, close to the French and the Swiss borders. It is the district seat of the district of Lörrach in Baden-Württemberg. It is the home of a number of large employers, inclu ...
as the youngest of six siblings and went to the and the Wirtschaftsgymnasium . From 1960, he took
double bass
The double bass (), also known as the upright bass, the acoustic bass, the bull fiddle, or simply the bass, is the largest and lowest-pitched string instrument, chordophone in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding rare additions ...
lessons with
Chester Gill, and from 1964 he studied double bass with Michel Delannois as well as
music theory
Music theory is the study of theoretical frameworks for understanding the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory": The first is the "Elements of music, ...
with
Gerd Watkinson in Basel. After his marriage and the birth of his son Claudio, Kunzler completed a traineeship as newspaper editor at the in Lörrach from 1966 to 1968, after which he was editor and feature correspondent of the
Schwarzwälder Bote
''Schwarzwälder Bote'', is a German regional daily newspaper for the Black Forest and Upper Neckar region.
''Schwarzwälder Bote'' operates a network of 9 branches and 11 local editorial offices. The main circulation area, including the pa ...
until 1969. In 1967/68, he also held a teaching position at the Pädagogische Hochschule Lörrach in the subjects ''Double Bass'' and ''Workshop for Neue Musik''.
Kunzler was also active in
avant-garde
In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...
musical projects with the Tübingen ensemble of Heinz Kunzler and Wolfgang Hamm and the ensembles around Percy Gerd Watkinson. Numerous concerts and tours as a jazz musician followed, among others with
Oscar Klein,
Raymond Droz,
Ewald Heidepriem, ,
Phil Woods
Philip Wells Woods (November 2, 1931 – September 29, 2015) was an American jazz alto saxophonist, clarinetist, bandleader, and composer.
Biography
Woods was born in Springfield, Massachusetts. After inheriting a saxophone at age 12, he began t ...
,
Lee Konitz
Leon "Lee" Konitz (October 13, 1927 – April 15, 2020) was an American jazz Alto saxophone, alto saxophonist and composer.
He performed successfully in a wide range of jazz styles, including bebop, cool jazz, and avant-garde jazz. Konitz's ass ...
,
Albert Nicholas
Albert Nicholas (May 27, 1900 – September 3, 1973) was an American jazz clarinet player, who was mostly based in Europe after 1953.
Career
Nicholas's primary instrument was the clarinet, which he studied with Lorenzo Tio in his hometown ...
,
Milt Buckner
Milton Brent Buckner (July 10, 1915 – July 27, 1977) was an American jazz pianist and organist, who in the early 1950s popularized the Hammond organ.Arwulf ArwulfMilt Buckner biography All Music. He pioneered the parallel chords style Feather ...
,
Attila Zoller
Attila Cornelius Zoller (June 13, 1927 – January 25, 1998) was a Hungarian jazz guitarist. After World War II, he escaped the Soviet takeover of Hungary by fleeing through the mountains on foot into Austria. In 1959, he moved to the United Sta ...
,
Stu Martin,
Jean-Louis Chautemps
Jean-Louis Chautemps (6 August 1931 – 25 May 2022) was a French jazz saxophonist.
Career
Born in Paris, Chautemps initially studied medicine and law, and began playing saxophone at age 16. His first major gig was with Jef Gilson in 1950. In 19 ...
,
Pony Poindexter
Norwood "Pony" Poindexter (February 8, 1926 – April 14, 1988) was an American jazz saxophonist who was born in New Orleans and died in Oakland, California.
Poindexter began on clarinet and switched to playing alto and tenor sax. In 1940, he st ...
and above all for many years with the American
arranger
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestrat ...
Bob Carter.
From 1970 to 1972, Kunzler was head of the feature section of the ' in Bielefeld; during this time he also published his first book as co-author alongside Bernhard Conz with the title ''Gerettet auf dem Steinway-Flügel''. After an interlude at the ''
Badische Zeitung
The ''Badische Zeitung'' (''Baden Newspaper'') is a German newspaper based in Freiburg im Breisgau, covering the South Western part of Germany and the Black Forest region. It has a circulation of 145,825 and a readership of 409,000. The paper was ...
'' in Freiburg im Breisgau, in 1973 he took over the PR department of Musikproduktion in Hamburg and later in Mannheim. There he mainly looked after the record labels
Harmonia Mundi
Harmonia Mundi is a record label that specializes in classical music, jazz, and world music (on the World Village label). It was founded in France in 1958 and is now a subsidiary of PIAS Entertainment Group, which is itself owned by Universal M ...
and
Musik Produktion Schwarzwald
MPS Records was a German jazz record company and label founded in 1968 by Hans Georg Brunner-Schwer. MPS stands for "Musik Produktion Schwarzwald" (Music Production Black Forest).
History
Originally based in Villingen, MPS was founded as the su ...
, one specialising in
early music
Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...
and the other in jazz.
Kunzler also worked as a producer, not in jazz but in the classical field (and there mainly as a specialist for modern and
early music
Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750) or Ancient music (before 500 AD). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad Dates of classical ...
). As an editor, he has designed many projects in this field; important permanent partners were
Carl Orff
Carl Heinrich Maria Orff (; 10 July 1895 – 29 March 1982) was a German composer and music educator, who composed the cantata ''Carmina Burana (Orff), Carmina Burana'' (1937). The concepts of his Orff Schulwerk, Schulwerk were influential for ...
,
Gary Bertini
Gary Bertini (; May 1, 1927 – March 17, 2005) was one of the most important Israeli musicians and conductors.
In 1978 he was awarded the Israel Prize for Music.
Biography
Gary Bertini was born ''Shloyme Golergant'' in Bricheva, Bessarabia, th ...
, and
Peter Michael Hamel
Peter Michael Hamel (born 15 July 1947 in Munich) is a German composer. His works have been associated with the Minimal music, minimalist style of composition, and in the late 1970s with the New Simplicity movement.
He is the son of the film ...
.

After BASF's withdrawal from the music business in 1976, he worked as a freelancer for record companies such as
Deutsche Grammophon
Deutsche Grammophon (; DGG) is a German classical music record label that was the precursor of the corporation PolyGram. Headquartered in Berlin Friedrichshain, it is now part of Universal Music Group (UMG) since its merger with the UMG family of ...
(Production archive),
EMI
EMI Group Limited (formerly EMI Group plc until 2007; originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At t ...
,
Wergo,
Teldec
Teldec (Telefunken-Decca Schallplatten GmbH) is a German record label in Hamburg, Germany. Today the label is a property of Warner Music Group.
History
Teldec was a producer of (first) shellac and (later) vinyl records. The Teldec manufacturing ...
(The Old Work) or
Bellaphon
Bellaphon Records is an independent German record label of Bellaphon records GmbH. The label produces its own artists and distributes those of other labels.
Recording artists
* Johnny Cash
* The Flippers
* Ganymed
* Geordie
* Joan Jett & t ...
,
WDR WDR may refer to:
* Waddell & Reed (stock ticker: WDR), an American asset management and financial planning company
* Walt Disney Records, an American record label of the Disney Music Group
* WDR neuron, a type of neuron involved in pain signalli ...
,
ORF
ORF or Orf may refer to:
* Norfolk International Airport, IATA airport code ORF
* Observer Research Foundation, an Indian research institute
* One Race Films, a film production company founded by Vin Diesel
* Open reading frame, a portion of the g ...
and the
Deutsche Welle
(; "German Wave"), commonly shortened to DW (), is a German state-funded television network, state-owned international broadcaster funded by the Federal Government of Germany. The service is available in 32 languages. DW's satellite tele ...
,
Schott Music
Schott Music () is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe, and is the second-oldest music publisher after Breitkopf & Härtel. The company headquarters of Schott Music were foun ...
and newspapers or magazines such as the ''
Neue Musikzeitung'' (nmz, Bosse Verlag), ''
Das Orchester
''Das Orchester'' is a German-language magazine for musicians and management which has been published eleven times a year since 1953 by Schott Music and is distributed in over 45 countries worldwide. The editor-in-chief is based in Berlin while ...
'', Melos, Musica, Musik und Bildung, Fonoforum, Stereo, Disk (Holland), the ', numerous daily newspapers and popular magazines up to ''
Playboy
''Playboy'' (stylized in all caps) is an American men's Lifestyle journalism, lifestyle and entertainment magazine, available both online and in print. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, funded in part by a $ ...
''.
In 1977 he joined the ''
Boehringer Mannheim
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on ...
'' as press spokesman, (later
Roche Diagnostics
F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, commonly known as Roche (), is a Swiss multinational holding healthcare company that operates worldwide under two divisions: Pharmaceuticals and Diagnostics. Its holding company, Roche Holding AG, has shares listed on ...
), but retained his freelance activities as author and producer. From 1980 onwards, his work for the first edition of the Rowohlt-Jazzlexikon moved into the foreground. It was published in 1988, followed by various supplemented or unchanged new editions and a completely revised new version in 2002.
Kunzler also collaborates to the ''
Neue Deutsche Biographie
(''NDB''; Literal translation, literally ''New German Biography'') is a Biography, biographical reference work. It is the successor to the ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'' (ADB, Universal German Biography). The 27 volumes published thus far co ...
'' of the
Bavarian Academy of Sciences
The Bavarian Academy of Sciences and Humanities () is an independent public institution, located in Munich. It appoints scholars whose research has contributed considerably to the increase of knowledge within their subject. The general goal of th ...
. He has also been active in the field of museums, including essayistic contributions for exhibition catalogues and, in 2002, marketing for a major
Jean Tinguely
Jean Tinguely (22 May 1925 – 30 August 1991) was a Swiss sculptor best known for his kinetic art sculptural machines (known officially as Métamatics) that extended the Dada tradition into the later part of the 20th century.Chilvers, Ian; Gl ...
retrospective at the
Kunsthalle Mannheim
The Kunsthalle Mannheim is a museum of modern and contemporary art, built in 1907, established in 1909 and located in Mannheim, Germany. Since then it has housed the city's art collections as well as temporary exhibitions – and up to 1927 those ...
.
Work
* ''Gerettet auf dem Steinway-Flügel. Bernhard Conz über Conz und andere''. Busse Verlag, Herford 1971.
* ''Jazz-Lexikon''. Extended new edition Rowohlt, Reinbek 2002 (digitally available via Directmedia Publishing Berlin 2006).
# ''A–L''. .
# ''M–Z''. .
* ''Wir und wie wir wohnen''.
''Wir & wie wir wohnen''
on WorldCat Neu Heidelberg, Heidelberg 2018,
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kunzler, Martin
German music journalists
Jazz writers
1947 births
Living people
People from Lörrach