The recent publication of “Mainz Studio Recordings, 1963-1969” (SWR JazzHaus, distr. Ducale), which collects four previously unpublished recording sessions by guitarist Volker Kriegel, provides a retrospective on the formative period of a musician who, thanks to his fervent work on several fronts from the early 1970s until his untimely death, left not insignificant traces on the path of German and wider European jazz. We should also mention his contribution as a music critic, essayist and presenter of radio programmes devoted to jazz, as well as his intense activity as an excellent illustrator and designer of cartoons and comic strips. In this respect, he became particularly popular with children as Olaf the Elch, known in Italy as L’alce Gustavo.
Kriegel (Darmstadt 1943 – San Sebastian 2003) began studying the guitar autodidactically at the age of thirteen, but it was not until he was in his twenties that he showed that he had acquired a remarkable mastery of the instrument and an adequate knowledge of the jazz tradition. This is borne out by the first of the aforementioned Mainz recordings, made as a trio in November 1963, in which he tackles such jazz pages as Django, Israel, Rhythm-a-ning and Three Seconds with clean precision, as well as a number of consummate standards. John Lewis, Johnny Carisi, Thelonious Monk and Oliver Nelson in one go. Not surprisingly, in the same year he won the “Best Young Guitarist” award at the German Amateur Jazz Festival in Düsseldorf. Kriegel also began to frequent the Frankfurt jazz scene and came into contact with the brothers Albert and Emil Mangelsdorff. He then joined a classical organ trio under the guidance of saxophonist Klaus Doldinger and with organist Ingfried Hoffmann.
Subsequent sessions, which can be found on the “Mainz Studio Recordings, 1963-1969”, saw him in various groups with vibraphone (first Claudio Szenkar, then Fritz Hartschuh), tenor saxophone (Gustl Mayer) and flute (Emil Mangelsdorff). This led to a broadening of the tonal, colouristic and stylistic range, the result of a compositional personality that is not yet mature, but fresh and genuine. Among his many original compositions are witty arrangements of The Beatles’ Norwegian Wood and Frank Zappa’s Mother People. Like other musicians of the time, the young Kriegel absorbed inspiration from other areas and grasped the artistic value inherent in the music of the Beatles and Frank Zappa. So much so, in fact, that in 1968 his first full-length record, which also had a distinctly jazzy feel to it, was entitled ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’. This open-mindedness towards outside influences, different sonic elements and varied rhythmic forms was also reflected in his militancy, from 1969 to 1972, in the Dave Pike Set, a quartet led by the American vibraphonist Dave Pike, a frequent collaborator of Herbie Mann who had recently emigrated to Germany. Complemented by Hans Rettenbacher on double bass and Peter Baumeister on drums, the quartet recorded no less than six albums for MPS.
It is this label, based in Villingen, near the Black Forest, that provides a wealth of documentation on Kriegel’s solo production in the 1970s, which can be divided into two main and quite distinct phases: the first (1971-1973), characterised by electric jazz, which also tended towards informal atmospheres; the second (1974-1979), oriented towards a jazz-rock open to admixtures of funk and Latin, which was entertaining but, over time, increasingly based on specific formulae. “Spectrum” (1971) features a quintet consisting of Kriegel (who also plays sitar), John Taylor (electric piano), Peter Trunk (double bass, electric bass and cello), Baumeister (drums) and Cees See (percussion). The following year’s Inside: Missing Link”: Taylor, Baumeister and See are joined by Albert Mangelsdorff on trombone, Alan Skidmore and Heinz Sauer on saxophone, Eberhard Weber on double bass and electric bass and John Marshall on drums. Taylor, Weber (also on cello), Marshall and See then form the rhythmic-harmonic backbone of “Lift! (1973), for which Kriegel enlisted the Englishman Stan Sulzmann on soprano sax and flute and the great Polish violinist Zbigniew Seifert, who would sadly die in 1979 at the age of 33.
A point of transition, if not of rupture, between the first and second phases, ‘Mild Maniac’ records a turn towards themes more in tune with melodic values, the accomplices being Weber, Joe Nay (drums), Peter Giger (percussion) and a young Rainer Brüninghaus on keyboards, who would later enter the ECM circuit, first in some works signed by Weber, then as a member of Jan Garbarek’s group. The following year, Mangelsdorff, bassist Hans-Peter Ströer and Ray Mantilla on conga joined the group for the eclectic “Topical Harvest”. In 1976 Kriegel formed the Mild Maniac Orchestra, which, despite its name, was a quartet completed by very young musicians: Ströer, keyboardist Thomas Bettermann and Dutch drummer Evert Fraterman. With this group, Kriegel recorded four works between 1976 and 1979: “Octember Variations”, “Elastic Menu”, “Houseboat” and “Long Distance”. According to canons comparable to the aesthetic of Return to Forever, the group’s poetics lean towards a mixture of jazz, funk, rock and Latin. Among the four albums mentioned above, “Octember Variations” stands out, not least because of the contribution of some distinguished guests: Alan Skidmore (tenor saxophone), Ack van Rooyen (trumpet) and Wolfgang Dauner (synthesizer).
The second half of the 1970s also marked other important milestones in Kriegel’s artistic development: in 1977 he founded his own label, Mood Records, and released seven recordings, almost all of them live, by the United Jazz+Rock Ensemble, a unique ensemble that brought together important German, British and Dutch jazz personalities. The ensemble was formed between 1975 and 1976 at the instigation of Dauner, who was asked by a producer to put together an orchestra for a television programme broadcast by Süddeutscher Rundfunk. The pianist initially recruited Kriegel, Mangelsdorff and drummer Jon Hiseman, known for his work with the Graham Bond Organisation and John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, and for founding Colosseum and Tempest. Gradually the ensemble took shape with the addition of Barbara Thompson and Charlie Mariano on saxophone, Van Rooyen, Ian Carr and Kenny Wheeler on trumpet and Weber on double bass. The eclectic and entertaining line-up lasted until 1992. They reunited for a farewell tour in 2002, a few months before Kriegel’s sudden death the following year. Since the 1980s, the guitarist had increasingly reduced his musical activity, before leaving the scene almost entirely in the 1990s to devote himself to his activities as a critic, radio populariser and passionate cartoonist. With the discretion that had always characterised his style.
