OSCAR KLEIN 5.1.1930 - 12.12.2006
By WILLIAM J. KOLE, The Associated Press, Wednesday, December 13, 2006; 10:05 AM
VIENNA, Austria -- Austrian-born jazz legend Oscar Klein, who fled when the Nazis took power and recorded with Lionel Hampton and other greats during a career that spanned four decades, has died at the age of 76, local media reported Wednesday.
Klein died Tuesday in Germany, the Austria Press Agency quoted a sister as saying. He had lived with his wife in the southwestern German state of Baden-Wuerttemberg.
Born Jan. 5, 1930, to a Jewish family in the southern Austrian city of Graz, Klein and his family fled the country after the Nazi regime annexed Austria just before World War II and settled in Switzerland. He had planned to celebrate his 77th birthday next month with a concert in Innsbruck, APA said.
Best known for his aggressive and expressive Chicago-style trumpeting, which made him a fixture on the European club and festival scene, Klein also played clarinet, guitar and harmonica and began his career when jazz was just taking hold in Vienna in the 1950s.
He teamed up with Joe Zawinul in the band Fatty George, later moved to the Tremble Kids and the Dutch Swing College Orchestra, and went on to play with Hampton, Wild Bill Davison, Bill Coleman, Dexter Gordon and other jazz greats.
Klein, who was self-taught, never learned to read music, but he made nearly 200 recordings in his 40-year career, specializing in "old" jazz, Dixieland, swing and blues.
Trained as a graphic artist, he spoke seven languages and worked as an art teacher in Florence, Italy, when he was 18.
In 1996, the late Austrian President Thomas Klestil presented Klein with the nation's silver Medal of Honor, one of Austria's highest decorations.
© 2006 The Associated Press
OSCAR KLEIN feat. ROMANO MUSSOLINI - Jazz Show - CD jp 1043
Oscar Klein trumpet, clarinet, guitar, harmonica
Romano Mussolini piano
Jan Jankeje bass
Gregor Beck drums
Titles: You are My Sunshine, Blues for Peter Schilperoort, O Sole Mio, A Tribute to Wild Bill, Bratislava Fantasy
To My Mother, Bye, Bye, Blackbird, Me and My Guitar, The Roman Swing of Mrs. Stone, Don't Get Around Anymore
The Sheik of Araby, The New Harmonica Shuffle
Europäisch ist dieses Quartett: Oscar Klein als gebürtiger Österreicher mit Romano Mussolini, der jüngste Sohn des italienischen Diktators, der allerdings nicht in die Fußstapfen seines Vaters getreten ist, sondern ein ausgesprochen delikates Swing-Piano mit moderner Aufassung spielt.
Oscar Klein gehört zu den europäischen Jazzern, die Traditionen stilecht weiterentwickeln und Jazz-Geschichte bewahren und das gleich auf mehreren Instrumenten. Vorrangig ist dabei seine Trompete, auf der er manchmal nach Satchmo klingt, aber in erster Linie den Sound eines Wild Bill Davison und eines Roy Eldridge konserviert. Oscar Klein war auch Mitglied der Dutch Swing College Band, bei der er auch noch gelegentlich als Gastsolist auftritt. Mit der mehr als bewährten Stuttgarter Rhythmus-gruppe Jan Jankeje & Gregor Beck, ist man auf Swing eingestellt.
Swing und Blues sind die Eckpfeiler in der Musik von Oscar Klein. Dazwischen bewegt sich der gebürtige Grazer stilistisch vom Ragtime bis zum modernen Mainstream. Als Multiinstrumentalist, der vier verschiedene Instrumente beherrscht, kann er dabei auf eine breite Palette von Klangfarben zurückgreifen.
..daß die vorliegende CD nicht zur Ein-Mann-Show wird, dafür sorgt Kleins hochklassiges, international besetztes Quartett...(Jazzpodium/Andreas Beyer)
Swing und Blues sind die Eckpfeiler in der Musik von Oscar Klein. Dazwischen bewegt sich der gebürtige Grazer stilistisch vom Ragtime bis zum modernen Mainstream. Als Multiinstrumentalist, der vier verschiedene Instrumente beherrscht, kann er dabei auf eine breite Palette von Klangfarben zurückgreifen.
..daß die vorliegende CD nicht zur Ein-Mann-Show wird, dafür sorgt Kleins hochklassiges, international besetztes Quartett..
(Jazzpodium, Andreas Beyer)
Europäisch ist dieses Quartett: Oscar als gebürtiger Österreicher mit Romano Mussolini, der jüngste Sohn des italienischen Diktators, der allerdings nicht in die Fußstapfen seines Vaters getreten ist, sondern ein ausgesprochen delikates Swing-Piano mit moderner Aufassung spielt.
Oscar Klein gehört zu den europäischen Jazzern, die Traditionen stilecht weiterentwickeln und Jazz-Geschichte bewahren und das gleich auf mehreren Instrumenten. Vorrangig ist dabei seine Trompete, auf der er manchmal nach Satchmo klingt, aber in erster Linie den Sound eines Wild Bill Davison und eines Roy Eldridge konserviert. Oscar Klein war auch Mitglied der Dutch Swing College Band, bei der er auch noch gelegentlich als Gastsolist auftritt. Mit der mehr als bewährten Stuttgarter Rhythmus-gruppe Jan Jankeje & Gregor Beck, ist man auf Swing eingestellt.
OSCAR KLEIN & LINO PATRUNO European Jazz Stars
Live at the San Marino Jazz Festival CD jp 1052
Oscar Klein Cornet, Clarint
Alexander Katz Trombone
Engelbert Wrobel Clarinet, Soprano Sax
Bob Barton Piano and Vocal
Lino Patruno Guitar, Benjo
Jan Jankeje Bass
Gregor Beck Drums
Dana Gillespie Vocal
This is a felicitous example of Eurojazz: eight artist representing five countries more harmoniously, more compatibly and more sucessfully than any European politicans could aspire to in a year of gravy traint diplomacy. ..Enthusiasm and joie de vivre abounded on this occasion and everyone is adequately featured..
(Kevin Henriques, Jazz Journal)
In jazz, it happens all the time. When Oscar Klein took the stage in this 1995 concert, he did not know, who would be joining him. Guitarist Patruno was there; he organized the festival. Klein had been in a group with Jan Jankeje and Gregor Beck; Jankeje knew the trombonist Alexander Katz. They had never played as a group before, and there was no time to rehearse. They started to play, and - everything worked, from sparkling solos to tight ensembles. At the spur of the moment, great music was made. In jazz, it happens all the time.
(JRG Barrett)
Pick-A-Blues Oscar Klein and Katie Kern | Jazz Point Records 1065
Oscar Klein: Trumpet, Clarinet, Harmonica, Guitar
Katie Kern: Guitar, Vocals
Chris Nemet, Piano
Jan Jankeje, Bass
Heini Albert, Drums
Titles: Going To New York; Moods; Long Lost Love; Honky Tonk Train Blues; Free My Mind; Blues For Django And Mezz; Pick That Thing; Cotton Fields Boogie; When The Saints; Boxer Boogie; Goin' To Chicago; C-Jam Blues; Caravan; Blue Dreams
Nobody else than the multi-instrumentalist and music educator Prof. OSCAR KLEIN formed this group on August 25 2001. Because his usual musicians were otherwise engaged he put together a new line-up of musicians which proved to be one his best formations ever. On August 27 2001, the band recorded (14!) titles for jazzpoint records in the space of eight hours. The product, a first-class and versatile CD, is already in the shops. As producer of this CD, entitled "PICK-A-BLUES", Oscar Klein came up with an interesting idea. He introduced ten fundamentally different kinds of blues on the CD and divided the four remaining songs into country, soul and drum features.
All of this would not have been possible without the great talent and the unparalleled enthusiasm of the participating musicians, some of whom are very young.
JAZZ: "Pick-A-Blues" im Brucknerhaus: WIE DIE BLUEMEN DES HERBSTES
Oscar Klein ist Trompeter und Gitarrist, greift zu Mundharmonika und Klarinette. Jeder kennt den nahbaren Professor im Kapitäns-Outfit samt Kapperl. Erfolgreich buhlte er mit "Pick-A.Blues" im Linzer Brucknerhaus. Niemand ging enttäuscht weg.
Nach 1945 waren Dixieland und Swing die neuen Mythen in der Musik. Damals hat Klein Europas Jazz mitgeprägt. Jahre der Beharrlichkeit folgten. Auch heute preist er Django Reinhardt und Fatty George. Überdies pflegt er Blues-Begierden. Alles tönt glaubhaft. Zudem widerstandfähig, wie die Blumen des Herbstes. Als ergötzlicher Platzsprecher sorgt er auch für Lacher. Und seinen jungen Günstlingen ist er Mentor, Motor, Beschützer.
Die singende Gitarristin Katie Kern, E-Pianist Oliver Humer, Bassist Jan Jankeje und Schlagzeuger Heini Altbart in einsatzfreudiger Eintracht. Von Blues zu Zawinuls Volkslied "Mercy, Mery, Mercy". (Oberösterreichische Nachrichten)
DVD jp 1071 OSCAR KLEIN PICK-A-BLUES
Lives blues - jazzpoint records goes DVD
Bassist Jan Jankeje joins forces with Oscar Klein and Katie Kern
WEINSBERG: Hot off the press is the first ever DVD from the Weinsberg,
Germany-based label "jazzpoint records". Now you can not only listen to
blues, country and jazz performances on vinyl or CD, you can even watch
them: OSCAR KLEIN'S "PICK-A-BLUES live" is the title of this groovy disk.
Felix Hassenfratz, a student in Cologne, produced this recording of a
concert for young businesspeople of the Heilbronn-Franconia region in
southwestern Germany at the Öhringen college of commerce on July 11, 2003.
You can experience authentically and live the nonchalant and unflappable
performance as both announcer and musician of Oscar Klein, the trumpeter,
guitarist and harmonica-player born in Graz, Austria in 1930. A big
surprise is young KATIE KERN from Vienna, an expressive guitarist in the
country-blues vein and a skilled vocalist. Smart HEINI ALTBART, the third
Austrian in the line-up, captivates the audience with a breathtaking
twenty-minute drum solo based on the Duke Ellington hit "Caravan". Jan
Jankeje, the Slovakian-born bassist (and producer) who defies
categorization, pays homage to his new hometown with a swinging air
"Weinsberg, Dance With Me". With "Mood", the Hungaro-Yugoslav pianist CHRIS
NEMET shows his brilliance as a versatile composer and skilled improviser.
As a bonus the DVD contains informative interviews conducted by Hans Kumpf
with this quintet, which was founded in August 2001. Hans Kumpf also took
the stills.
This unique DVD - as well as the CD of the same title recorded earlier -
can be obtained from jazzpoint records, Postfach 1314, D-74185 Weinsberg,
music stores or via the internet at www.jazzpoint.de.
(Hans Kumpf)