The period from the late 1960s to the early 1980s can certainly be described as the golden age of European and therefore, of course, German free jazz. Apart from the big names - the Brötzmanns, Schlippenbachs, Kowalds etc. - the heyday of this music would have been inconceivable without the musicians who were always there and without whom the trios, quartets and even larger ensembles would have been unthinkable. The wonderful bassist Hans Schneider is a prime example of this. He has now died after a long illness.
Schneider was born in 1951 in Leverkusen, West Germany. He turned to music at an early age and at the beginning of the 1960s he first started playing in beat bands, then in rock and jazz groups, where he met guitarist Erhard Hirt. It was the start of a long musical journey together, which began in a band called Jazz Community. In addition to these local bands and his double bass studies at the Cologne University of Music, Schneider soon became part of the scene around the legendary FMP label in the 1970s. From 1974 he was a member of Georg Gräwe’s quintet, with whom he later also played in the Grubenklangorchester. Since 1979 he has also worked on different projects with Erhard Hirt. Together with saxophonist Wolfgang Fuchs, the two were then among the founding members of the King Übü Orchestrü, to this day one of the most unusual large formations in the field of improvised music. But Schneider’s musical activities were not limited to Germany. In the mid-1980s he played in a quartet with Evan Parker, Paul Lytton and Paul Rutherford, and over the years with many greats of improvised music such as Maggie Nichols, Peter Kowald, John
Tchicai, Alexander von Schlippenbach, Phil Minton, Sven-Åke Johansson and
Peter Brötzmann. Projects such as Frisque Concordance with John Butcher,
Georg Gräwe and Martin Blume and the re-formed XPACT (with Stefan Keune,
Erhard Hirt and Paul Lytton), the nucleus of the King Übü Orchestrü, were
also highlights in his later work.
From the 1990s onwards, he frequently played with saxophonist Stefan Keune,
who - apart from their common interest in music - became a friend for life.
Their trio, initially with
Paul Lytton
on drums, who later was replaced by Achim Krämer (also a lifelong friend),
lasted a long time. He later worked with Melvyn Poore and Frank
Gratkowski, among others. Schneider was finally back at the first concerts
of the King Übü Orchestrü, which was re-launched by Erhart Hirt. Schneider
was able to the concert in Bonn, but it was already becoming apparent that
he was in pain. He was suffering from severe circulatory problems and had to
be hospitalised. The doctors realised that one of his legs had to be
removed. Since then, he was unable to play, a heavy blow for him, whose life
and thoughts were largely determined by music.
His friends and fellow musicians always emphasised how unique Hans Schneider
sounded as a bassist and the Unlimited Festival in Wels also celebrated
him as “... one of the most distinguished bass players in free music in
Central Europe for over 35 years.“ Felix Klopotek summarised his playing
like that: “Hans Schneider very often creates connections; as a player, you
can actually always refer to his rich, inviting playing in order not to
lose the overview in the heated (musical) debates. But Schneider can also
refuse to play and withdraw until he imperceptibly reappears and sets the
final accents.“ These recordings may epitomise this:
The first recordings with Georg Gräwe, New Movements (FMP 1976) and Pink Pong (FMP, 1978) with Gräwe (piano), Horst Grabosch (trumpet), Harald Dau (saxophones) and Achim Krämer (drums) are secret FMP classics. Also worth mentioning is the trio with Wolfgang Fuchs (saxophone) and Klaus Huber (drums) and their somewhat underrated recording Momente (FMP 1979). Waterloo (Emanem, 1985) with Evan Parker (saxophone), Paul Rutherford (trombone) and Paul Lytton (drums) is a great disc, as is XPACT’s Frogman's View (Uhlklang, 1986) (with Fuchs, Hirt and Lytton). Of course, the first recording of King Übü Örchestrü, Music is Music is ... (Uhlklang, 1985), should not be forgotten here. My personal favourite is his trio with Stefan Keune and Achim Krämer, especially their album No Comment (FMP, 2009) and Nothing Particularly Horrible (Live in Bochum’93) (FMR, 2019) Stefan Keune, John Russell (guitar) and Paul Lovens (drums). Also absolutely worth listening to are the re-formed XPACT with XPACT II (FMR, 2021) and of course the King Übü Örchestrü: Roi (FMR, 2023).
With Hans Schneider goes an important part of the l’age d’or of this music. May he rest in peace.
Here is a video of XPACT II with Hans Schneider on bass:
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