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Donald's Encyclopedia of Popular MusicA B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y ZKOGLMANN, Franz(b 22 May '47, Austria) Trumpet, flugelhorn, leader, third-stream arranger and composer. Turned on by Louis Armstrong at age 13, studied classical music at State Conservatory '69--72 but meanwhile inspired again by Miles Davis; visited USA early '70s, formed Pipe Records '73. Led group Masters of Unorthodox Jazz '70s; played in various groups '80s, formed his own 10--12 piece band Pipetet. His object is 'to discard [free jazz's] dogma of innovation ... to seek a balance between emotion and intellect, and to take up historical styles and transfer them to provocative new contexts'. He has the confidence of a true composer, about ten albums for hat Hut since '84 showing a European eclecticism unafraid to fuse elements both 'in' and 'out', anything that works incl. echoes of Viennese composers from Schubert to the 20th century. After Flaps with Steve Lacy '73 and Opium For Franz with Bill Dixon '76, Schlaff Schlemmer, Schlaff Magritte '84 under his own name was the first stab at what would be his true 'post-avant-garde' path. From then on the recordings have gained in strength and confidence. Ich '86 carried on a vein of lyrical melancholy with duo and trio tracks as well as the twelve-piece group; About Yesterday's Ezzthetics '87 incl. Lacy, Orte der Geometrie '88 incl. Ran Blake; A White Line '89 (with Paul Bley), The Use Of Memory '90, L'Heure Bleue '91 (with Misha Mengelberg), Cantos I--IV '92 all incl. the superb Tony Coe (see his entry). On the first album Koglmann's sources were perhaps a bit too diverse, but the subsequent mix of originals and reworkings of modern jazz classics incl. Monk, Shorty Rogers, George Russell's 'Ezz-thetic', 'Israel' (from the Miles Davis Birth of the Cool sessions), Dick Twardzik's 'The Fable Of Mabel' (written for Serge Chaloff) etc reveal surprising relationships between themes and new dimensions of familiar tunes, as well as a fully original ensemble palette. For example, all the material on The Use Of Memory is original, the title track subtitled 'Bix, Miles And Chet', using fragments of a Baker solo on a Miles tune which turns out to be not that far from 'Clarinet Marmalade'. Collaborations on the same label incl. Annette '92 with Bley and Gary Peacock, and We Thought About Duke '94 with Lee Konitz, a septet also incl. Coe. |