Alexander von Schlippenbach


Alexander von Schlippenbach is a German jazz pianist and composer. He came to prominence in the 1960s playing free jazz in a trio with saxophonist Evan Parker and drummer Paul Lovens, and as a member of the Globe Unity Orchestra. Since the 1980s, Von Schlippenbach has explored the work of more traditional jazz composers such as Jelly Roll Morton or Thelonious Monk.

Biography

Schlippenbach started to play piano from the age of eight and went on to study composition at Cologne under Bernd Alois Zimmermann. While studying he started to play with Manfred Schoof. At the age of 28 he founded the Globe Unity Orchestra. In 1988, he founded the Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra, a big band that has over the years comprised, among others, Willem Breuker, Paul Lovens, Misha Mengelberg, Evan Parker, Schlippenbach's wife Aki Takase and Kenny Wheeler.
In 1994, he was awarded the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize.
Schlippenbach has produced various recordings and worked for German radio channels. He played with many players of the European free jazz community. In 2005, he recorded the complete works of Thelonious Monk, which were released on CD as Monk's Casino.

Discography

As leader or co-leader

Globe Unity The Living Music Payan Pakistani Pomade Three Nails Left The Hidden Peak Piano Solo Rondo Brillante with Martin Theurer Anticlockwise Stranger Than Love with Paul Lovens, Smoke (Alexander von Schlippenbach and [Sunny Murray album)|Smoke] with Sunny Murray, Elf Bagatellen Physics Light Blue Schlippenbach Plays Monk Tangens with Sam Rivers Digger's Harvest with Tony Oxley Complete Combustion Hunting the Snake Swinging the Bim Compression Broomriding Open Speech with Carlos Bechegas Vesuvius with Paul Dunmall Monk's Casino Winterreise Twelve Tone Tales Vol. I Twelve Tone Tales Vol. II Dedalus with Daniele D'Agaro Friulian Sketches Blackheath with Eddie Prevost Gold Is Where You Find It Bauhaus Dessau Berlin with G9 Gipfel Blue Hawk with Manfred Schoof Schlippenbach Plays Monk First Recordings Features Warsaw Concert Jazz Now! So Far with Rudi Mahall Interweaving with Dag Magnus Narvesen Liminal Field with Dag Magnus Narvesen
With Globe Unity OrchestraLive in Wuppertal Der Alte Mann Bricht...Sein Schweigen Bavarian Calypso & Good Bye Into the Valley Vol. 2 Evidence Vol. 1 Jahrmarkt & Local Fair Pearls Improvisations Hamburg '74 Compositions Intergalactic Blow Rumbling 20th Anniversary Globe Unity 67 & 70 Globe Unity 2002 Baden-Baden '75 Globe Unity 40 Years Globe Unity 50 Years
With Sven-Ake Johansson Live at the Quartier Latin Kung Bore Drive Kalfaktor A. Falke Und Andere Lieder Blind Aber Hungrig Norddeutsche Gesange
With Manfred SchoofVoices Manfred Schoof Sextet European Echoes The Early Quintet
With Aki TakasePiano Duets: [Live in Berlin 93/94] Live at Café Amores Lok 03 Iron Wedding: Piano Duets New Blues So Long, Eric! Signals Live at Cafe Amores Hokusai Piano Solo
With the Berlin Contemporary Jazz OrchestraBerlin Contemporary [Jazz Orchestra (album)|Berlin Contemporary Jazz Orchestra] The Morlocks and Other Pieces

As sideman

With Peter BrotzmannAlarm Up and Down Peter Brotzmann/Alexander von Schlippenbach/Achim Trampenau Fifty Years After
With Evan Parker50th Birthday Concert 2X3=5 The [Bishop's Move (album)|The Bishop's Move] America 2003
With others