Theo Jörgensmann
Theo Jörgensmann (born 1948 in Bottrop) is a jazz and free improvisation clarinet player and composer. A professional musician since 1974.
Theo Jörgensmann is one of the most advanced modern free improvisers on his instrument. Jörgensmann´s possibilities of expression are wide-ranging. By abstracting and transferring. he combines elements of jazz, classical music, new music and different ethnic styles, without beeing tied to any of them, Having deeply internalized all his experience as an artist, he doesn´t need to quote, he can content himself with merely hinting. Any attempt at a distinction between composition and improvisation would be irrelevant in this music of fluid transition. The art of emotionally abandoning oneself to the process of playing and yet at the same time consciously structuring it, is one of the assets of his music. The musical communication captivates us with its changes between the abstract and the concrete. This leads to some surprising - conscious or subconscious - combinations, examples of what Theo Jörgensmann called a "new musical structuring of time ".
As a free improviser he has worked with (among many others) Mike Richmond, Barre Phillips, Kent Carter, John Lindberg, Wilbur Morris John Fischer, Vincent Chancey, Kenny Wheeler, Lee Konitz. He has recorded and performed with some of the best performers in avantgarde jazz and improvised music from around the world. In the 1970´s he was leader one of West Germany´s best-known jazz groups. Beginning of the 1980´s he took part in a "Clarinet Summit" (which was created by Joachim E. Berendt and himself) with John Carter, Perry Robinson, Gianluigi Trovesi and others.
1997 he started with a new Quartet, which toured in North America (1999, 2001, 2003) and beyond that, he is playing with young Polish twins Marcin Oles and Bartlomiej Oles since 2003. Following the publishing of their previous work "miniatures", the second album "directions" was chosen by Polish Internet-jazz-service Diapazon as Record Of The Year 2005.
Selected discography
- Oles Jörgensmann Oles directions with Marcin Oles and Bartlomiej Oles (2005)
- Theo Jörgensmann Fellowship with Petras Vysniauskas, Charlie Mariano, Karl Berger, Kent Carter and Klaus Kugel (2005)
- Oles Jörgensmann Oles miniatures with Marcin Oles and Bartlomiej Oles (2003)
- Theo Jörgensmann Quartet Hybrid Identity with Christopher Dell, Christian Ramond and Klaus Kugel (2002)
- Theo Jörgensmann Eckard Koltermann Pagine Gialle (2001)
- Theo Jörgensmann Quartet Snijbloemen with Christopher Dell, Christian Ramond and Klaus Kugel (2000)
- Theo Jörgensmann Albrecht Maurer European Echoes with Barre Phillips, Bobo Stenson, Kent Carter, Wolter Wierbos, Benoit Delbecq a.o. (1999)
- Theo Jörgensmann So I play solo (1997)
- Karoly Binder featuring Theo Jörgensmann Live at Music Academy Budapest Solo Duo (1993)
- Willem van Manen Contraband Live at Bim Huis Amsterdam (1988)
- Theo Jörgensmann Zeitverdichtung solo (1987)
- Franz Koglmann Schlaf Schlemmer, Schlaf Margritte (1985)
- Andrea Centazzo Mitteleuropa Orchestra Doctor Faustus with Carlos Zingaro, Carlo Actis Dato, Franz Koglmann, Albert Mangelsdorff, Gianluigi Trovesi, Franco Feruglio a.o. (1984)
- European Interface The Breghenz Session with John Fischer, Melvyn Poore and Andrea Centazzo (1983)
- Theo Jörgensmann Laterna Magica solo (1983)
- Clarinet Summit You Better Fly Away with John Carter, Perry Robinson, Gianluigi Trovesi, Didier Loockwood, Eje Thelin, Stan Tracey, J.F.Jenny-Clark, Aldo Romano a.o. (1980)
- Theo Jörgensmann Quartet feat. John Thomas Go Ahead Clarinet (1977)
- Theo Jörgensmann Quartet in time guests Clarinet contrast with Perry Robinson (1976)