Heinz Sauer

Born on Christmas Day 1932 in Merseburg Germany, he started playing rather than just listening to jazz whilst he was studying Mathematics and Physics at Darmstadt University. By 1956 he was a sufficiently proficient saxophonist to win first place at an amateur jazz festival. By 1960 he was invited to join fellow Frankfurter, trombonist Albert Mangelsdorf f in his band. This had a profound effect on Sauer. He toured widely with the band in Europe and immersed himself in the free European jazz of the time. In 1974 he formed his own band, Voices, with Bob Degen, Ralf Hübner, Günter Lenz and Günter Kronberg . In 1979 he made his first recording for ECM as part of tenor sax player George Adam's band on his album Sound Suggestions in the company of Jack DeJohnette, Kenny Wheeler and Richie Beirach. Sauer always remained based in Germany and for many years played in various combinations, duo with Bob Degan, and trio with bassist Stephan Schmolck, quartet and with the famous NDR Big Band. When his long term duo partner, pianist and friend Bob Degan left Germany to return to the his native USA in 1999, Sauer met up and started performing with a young music student, pianist Michael Wollny. The grand elder and infant terrible of the German jazz scene released their first album - Melancholia in 2005 to great critical acclaim. They followed this up with Certain Beauty a year later. This saw jazz standards alongside contemporary pop and jazz tunes all subjected to the dissection and analysis of these two master improvisers. The fourth album by Sauer and Wollny - "Don't explain" preserves a live performance by the duo at Darmstadt where it all started and is being release to coincide with Sauer's 80th. birthday. Many happy returns. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.