Torben Ulrich
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Torben Ulrich (4 October 1928 – 20 December 2023) was a Danish writer, musician, filmmaker, and professional tennis player. He was the father of
Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...
drummer
Lars Ulrich Lars Ulrich (; ; born 26 December 1963) is a Danish musician who is the drummer and a founding member of American heavy metal band Metallica. Along with James Hetfield, Ulrich has songwriting credits on almost all of the band's songs, and the ...
.


Biography

Ulrich was born on 4 October 1928 in Copenhagen, the son of Ulla (née Meyer) and tennis player
Einer Ulrich Einer Ulrich (; 6 May 1896 – 28 February 1969) was a Danish tennis player who represented Denmark in the Davis Cup and the Olympic Games. He competed in the singles event at the 1924 Summer Olympics, reaching the second round in which he lost ...
. His mother was Jewish, and his family was persecuted during World War II. Torben played on the international tennis tour from the late 1940s into the 1970s, and on the international Tennis Grand Masters tour in the 1970s and 1980s. Torben won the Antwerp International singles title in 1951 and again in 1956 when he defeated
Jacques Brichant Jacques "Jacky" Brichant (28 March 1930 – 9 March 2011) was a Belgian tennis player. He was ranked world No. 9 for 1957. Brichant was a clay court specialist and won many clay court tournaments in Europe. Brichant has played the most Davis Cu ...
in the final. He won the
Stuttgart Open The Stuttgart Open (sponsored since 2022 by Hugo Boss and called the BOSS Open) is an ATP Tour 250 series professional tennis tournament on the ATP Tour. From 1970 to 1989, the Stuttgart Open was a Grand Prix tennis circuit event. From 1990 to 19 ...
tournament in 1953 on red clay. He became a professional tennis player when he signed a contract with the
World Championship Tennis World Championship Tennis (WCT) was one of the principal organizing bodies of men's professional tennis headquartered at the WCT Lakeway World of Tennis facility, Austin, Texas, United States from 1968 to 1989. It administered the WCT Circuit a w ...
promoters in early 1969 at 40 years old. In 1976 he was the top-ranked senior player in the world. Ulrich played more than 100
Davis Cup The Davis Cup is the premier international team event in men's tennis. It is organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) and contested annually between teams from over 150 competing countries, making it the world's largest annual ...
matches for Denmark. In 1977, at a month shy of 49, he became one of the oldest player in Davis Cup history. Ulrich apprenticed at Reuters news agency in Copenhagen in the late 1940s and began writing for Danish jazz magazines. In the 1950s, he wrote primarily on music for the Danish newspapers ''
Information Information is an Abstraction, abstract concept that refers to something which has the power Communication, to inform. At the most fundamental level, it pertains to the Interpretation (philosophy), interpretation (perhaps Interpretation (log ...
'' and ''
Politiken ''Politiken'' is a leading Danish daily broadsheet newspaper, published by JP/Politikens Hus in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was founded in 1884 and played a role in the formation of the Danish Social Liberal Party. Since 1970 it has been indepe ...
'', wrote for contemporary
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 ...
music trade journals, and was co-editor (with Gustava Brandt and Bengt Janus) of the literary magazine ''Bazar''. In the 1960s he had a weekly music column and wrote jazz reviews and roving reports on assorted cultural themes (with illustrator Klaus Albrectsen) for the Danish daily newspaper '' BT''. In the 1970s he contributed to the music periodical ''M.M.'' and in the 1980s and 1990s returned to Information writing on music, film, athletics, and culture. In 2003 an anthology of his writings from the 1940s to the 2000s, ''Jazz, Bold & Buddhisme'', edited by Lars Movin, was published (in Danish) by Informations Forlag. Two books of his thin columns of poetry-like texts (in English) were published by Forlaget Bebop: ''Terninger, Tonefald: 12 Lines, 36 Off-Lines'' (2005) and ''Stilhedens Cymbaler'' (2007). In the 1950s, Ulrich had a New Orleans-type
jazz band A jazz band (jazz ensemble or jazz combo) is a musical ensemble that plays jazz music. Jazz bands vary in the quantity of its members and the style of jazz that they play but it is common to find a jazz band made up of a rhythm section and a ho ...
, playing clarinet. In the 2000s, he was invited to use his voice and texts with the Copenhagen free-jazz trio Clinch (Claus Bøje on drums, Peter Friis Nielsen on bass guitar, Christer Irgens-Møller/keyboards); they released the 2006 album ''Dice, Done'' (also with
Lotte Anker Lotte Anker (born 1958) is a Danish jazz saxophonist, and composer. With pianist Marilyn Crispell, she serves as one of the co-leaders of the Copenhagen Art Ensemble. Musical career Anker was born in Copenhagen and studied music at Copenhagen ...
(saxophone) and Steffen Poulsen (electronica)). In 2005 he founded the collaborative improvised music group Instead Of, composed of
Lori Goldston Lori Goldston (born ) is an American cellist and composer. Accomplished in a wide variety of styles, including classical, world music, rock and free improvisation, she came to prominence as the touring cellist for Nirvana from 1993–1994 and a ...
, cello; Angelina Baldoz, trumpet and flutes; Jaison Scott, drums; and Ulrich on voice/texts and "bag of tricks", releasing in 2007 the album ''Live on Sonarchy''. In 2007 he began recording with Danish pianist Søren Kjærgaard, releasing three albums over the next six years: ''Suddenly, Sound: 21 songlines for piano, drainpipe, etc.'' (2009), ''Alphabet, Peaceful, Diminished: 29 Proposals from the Towers of Babble'' (2010), and ''Meridiana: Lines Toward a Non-local Alchemy'' (2014). In 2021, at the age of 92, Ulrich released the jazz record ''Oakland moments: cello, voice, reuniting (rejoicing)'', which featured him playing alongside cellist Lori Goldston. Ulrich began painting in 1971 when the
Lions Club Lions Clubs International, is an international service organization, currently headquartered in Oak Brook, Illinois. , it had over 46,000 local clubs and more than 1.4 million members (including the youth wing Leo clubs, Leo) in more than 200 ge ...
of Copenhagen asked a variety of politicians, actors, writers and others to make "a blue elephant" for a charity exhibit to benefit a senior center in Denmark. Instead, he explored what the imprint of the tennis ball might be, and in subsequent years created several series of works, "Imprints of Practice" and "Exsamplings of Play", using played tennis balls, skipped rope, and racquet frame and grip, primarily on rice paper. The works have been exhibited in Copenhagen, Paris, Dublin, New York, Los Angeles, Houston, and Seattle, among other places. Ulrich appeared in two
Jørgen Leth Jørgen Leth (; born 14 June 1937) is a Danish poet and film director who is considered a leading figure in experimental documentary film making. Most notable are his documentary '' A Sunday in Hell'' (1977) and his surrealistic short film '' T ...
films: ''Motion Picture'' (1969) and ''Moments of Play'' (1986). He co-directed (with
Gil de Kermadec Gil de Kermadec (1922 – 27 May 2011) was a French tennis player. Active on tour in the 1940s and 1950s, de Kermadec was the son of painter Eugène de Kermadec. He made the singles third round of the 1951 French Championships and featured in mu ...
) and appeared in ''The Ball and The Wall'' (1988) and co-directed (with Rick New and Molly Martin) and appeared in ''Body & Being: Before the Wall'' (2002). In 2011, Ulrich began development with choreographer-dancer Beth Graczyk and composer-musician Angelina Baldoz on the dance project "Cacophony for 8 Players", which premiered in 2014 in Seattle. Ulrich was the director of and a performer in the work. In 1986, he received the from Gerlev Idrætshøjskole in Denmark for athletico-cultural contributions. In 2006, he received an award from Klara Karolines Fond, "for his inspiration to artists of many kinds and for his views on athletics, art and existence". In 2013, the Ulrich family received the Davis Cup Award. Ulrich died on 20 December 2023, at the age of 95.


Singles performance timeline

The following lists main draw appearances for Grand Slam tournaments only.
Note: 1 First round bye


See also

*
List of Denmark Davis Cup team representatives This is a list of tennis players who have represented the Denmark Davis Cup team in an official Davis Cup match. Denmark have taken part in the competition since 1921. Players References {{DEFAULTSORT:Denmark Davis Cup Lists of Davis C ...


References


External links

*
Torben Ulrich's paintings
* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ulrich, Torben 1928 births 2023 deaths Danish expatriates in the United States Danish Jews Danish male tennis players Danish people of German-Jewish descent Danish people of German descent Ilk Records artists Jewish tennis players People from Tiburon, California Sportspeople from Marin County, California Sportspeople from Frederiksberg Tennis players from the Capital Region of Denmark 20th-century Danish sportsmen