Uli Trepte
Encyclopedia
Uli Trepte was a German musician best known for his collaborations with various influential Krautrock
bands in the early 1970s.
as a free jazz
player/founder member of the Irene Schweizer
Trio, a formation that wrote avantgarde history (Frankfurt Jazz Festival 66/1. Montreux Jazz Festival 67/Donaueschinger Tage für Neue Musik 67/Berliner Jazztage 67; 2 LPs). At about that time and later he also appeared with jazz musicians like Yusef Lateef
, Gato Barbieri
, Barney Wilen
, John McLaughlin
and Mal Waldron
.
and with drummer Mani Neumeier
formed Guru Guru
as part of the newly-emerging psychedelic rock
music, writing both lyrics and music for that group. It was a band which set a radical new playing standard and belonged to the few genuine pioneers of the so-called Krautrock (International Essen Song Days/Essener Rock- und Blues Tage 69/many festivals; 3TV appearances; 3 LPs).
, Faust
and Kickbit Information. During 1973 he toured the United Kingdom
with them.
From 1975 to the early 1980s, his main performance work was through his Spacebox project. With it he performed solo in Berlin
und London
where he stayed for about half a year each (e.g. Performance Weeks ´London Calling`/New London Theater/Avantgarde Center Oval, all in 1976/1977), enlarged it in 1978 to a quartet in Munich
and gained an international reputation as an extremely un-normed, uncommercial underground figure (Kohfidisch Festival 78/Umsonst&Draußen Festivals 78+79/Münchener Performance Wochen 79 und Münchener Jazzfest 80; 2 LPs).
In 1981 he spent six months in Tokyo
, one year in New York
in 1982, and after disbanding Spacebox, to live from 1985 in Berlin, where he reduced his original music to a mainly instrumental one, realizing it with selected musicians on sound carriers (1 LP, 1 CD), in the last years giving more priority to the playing of his Modal Minor Constant Structure Blues and working at the same time in cooperation with the Dutch multimedia artist Aja Waalwijk on the elaborate song project Takes on Words (2 CDs).
As the quintessence
of his musical concept he led 96-01 Move Groove, the Modal Groove Concept, with whom – including the involvement of such highly musicians such as Hans Hartmann (ex Guru Guru) and Edgar Hofmann (ex Embryo) – he also played live again (Herzberg Festival 96/Turkey tour 98; 2 CDs).
(Amon Düül
) and Geoff Leigh
(Henry Cow
) (2 CDs).
Uli Trepte died on 21 May 2009 in Berlin after a "long bout with cancer".
Krautrock
Krautrock is a generic name for the experimental music scenes that appeared in Germany in the late 1960s and gained popularity throughout the 1970s, especially in Britain. The term is a result of the English-speaking world's reception of the music at the time and not a reference to any one...
bands in the early 1970s.
Early career
Uli Trepte began his musical career in 1966 on double bassDouble bass
The double bass, also called the string bass, upright bass, standup bass or contrabass, is the largest and lowest-pitched bowed string instrument in the modern symphony orchestra, with strings usually tuned to E1, A1, D2 and G2...
as a free jazz
Free jazz
Free jazz is an approach to jazz music that was first developed in the 1950s and 1960s. Though the music produced by free jazz pioneers varied widely, the common feature was a dissatisfaction with the limitations of bebop, hard bop, and modal jazz, which had developed in the 1940s and 1950s...
player/founder member of the Irene Schweizer
Irène Schweizer
Irène Schweizer is a notable Swiss jazz and free improvising pianist. She was born in Schaffhausen, in 1941.She has performed and recorded numerous solo piano performances as well as performing as part of the Feminist Improvising Group, whose members include Lindsay Cooper, Maggie Nichols, Georgie...
Trio, a formation that wrote avantgarde history (Frankfurt Jazz Festival 66/1. Montreux Jazz Festival 67/Donaueschinger Tage für Neue Musik 67/Berliner Jazztage 67; 2 LPs). At about that time and later he also appeared with jazz musicians like Yusef Lateef
Yusef Lateef
Dr. Yusef Lateef is an American Grammy Award-winning jazz multi-instrumentalist, composer, educator and a spokesman for the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community after his conversion to the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam in 1950.Although Lateef's main instruments are the tenor saxophone and flute, he is known for...
, Gato Barbieri
Gato Barbieri
Leandro Barbieri , better known as Gato Barbieri , is an Argentinean jazz tenor saxophonist and composer who rose to fame during the free jazz movement in the 1960s and from his latin jazz recordings in the 1970s.-Biography:Born to a family of musicians, Barbieri began playing music...
, Barney Wilen
Barney Wilen
Barney Wilen was a French tenor and soprano saxophonist and jazz composer.Wilen was born in Nice; his father was an American dentist turned inventor, and his mother was French. He began performing in clubs in Nice after being encouraged by Blaise Cendrars who was a friend of his mother...
, John McLaughlin
John McLaughlin (musician)
John McLaughlin , also known as Mahavishnu John McLaughlin, is an English guitarist, bandleader and composer...
and Mal Waldron
Mal Waldron
Malcolm Earl Waldron was an American jazz and world music pianist and composer, born in New York City.Like his contemporaries, Waldron's roots lie chiefly in the hard bop and post-bop genres of the New York club scene of the 1950s; but with time, he gravitated more towards free jazz and composition...
.
Guru Guru
In 1968 he changed to bass guitarBass guitar
The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....
and with drummer Mani Neumeier
Mani Neumeier
Mani Neumeier is a German rock musician, free jazz-drummer, artist, frontman of the German Krautrock-band Guru Guru....
formed Guru Guru
Guru Guru
Guru Guru is a German Krautrock band formed in 1968 as The Guru Guru Groove by Mani Neumeier , Uli Trepte and Eddy Naegeli later replaced by American Jim Kennedy...
as part of the newly-emerging psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
music, writing both lyrics and music for that group. It was a band which set a radical new playing standard and belonged to the few genuine pioneers of the so-called Krautrock (International Essen Song Days/Essener Rock- und Blues Tage 69/many festivals; 3TV appearances; 3 LPs).
Neu!
He left the group in 1972, to play with the Progressive Rock bands Neu!Neu!
Neu! was a German band formed by Klaus Dinger and Michael Rother after their split from Kraftwerk in the early 1970s...
, Faust
Faust (band)
Faust are a German krautrock band. Formed in 1971 in Wümme, the group was originally composed of Werner "Zappi" Diermaier, Hans Joachim Irmler, Arnulf Meifert, Jean-Hervé Péron, Rudolf Sosna and Gunther Wüsthoff, working with record producer Uwe Nettelbeck and engineer Kurt Graupner.-History:Faust...
and Kickbit Information. During 1973 he toured the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
with them.
Spacebox
In 1975 founded his own group, Spacebox, to realize his concept of an authentic European, cyclic structured, minor dominated, modal harmonic, collective improvised, organic-electric live music as a player, composer and songwriter.From 1975 to the early 1980s, his main performance work was through his Spacebox project. With it he performed solo in Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
und London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
where he stayed for about half a year each (e.g. Performance Weeks ´London Calling`/New London Theater/Avantgarde Center Oval, all in 1976/1977), enlarged it in 1978 to a quartet in Munich
Munich
Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...
and gained an international reputation as an extremely un-normed, uncommercial underground figure (Kohfidisch Festival 78/Umsonst&Draußen Festivals 78+79/Münchener Performance Wochen 79 und Münchener Jazzfest 80; 2 LPs).
In 1981 he spent six months in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, one year in New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
in 1982, and after disbanding Spacebox, to live from 1985 in Berlin, where he reduced his original music to a mainly instrumental one, realizing it with selected musicians on sound carriers (1 LP, 1 CD), in the last years giving more priority to the playing of his Modal Minor Constant Structure Blues and working at the same time in cooperation with the Dutch multimedia artist Aja Waalwijk on the elaborate song project Takes on Words (2 CDs).
As the quintessence
Quintessence
Quintessence, literally fifth essence , can refer to:-Science:* Aether , the fifth classical element after earth, fire, water, and air...
of his musical concept he led 96-01 Move Groove, the Modal Groove Concept, with whom – including the involvement of such highly musicians such as Hans Hartmann (ex Guru Guru) and Edgar Hofmann (ex Embryo) – he also played live again (Herzberg Festival 96/Turkey tour 98; 2 CDs).
Currently
From 2002 he only performed as a solo act called "Bass+Lyrik", but releasing recordings of strictly instrumental music resulting from different sessions with the participation of - besides the above mentioned - Chris KarrerChris Karrer
Chris Karrer is a German guitarist and composer. He also plays oud, saxophone and violin.He is known as co-founder of Amon Düül and for his collaboration with Embryo.With his band Amon Düül II he composed film music for Rainer Werner Fassbinder's Niklashauser Fart...
(Amon Düül
Amon Düül
-External links:* - Extensive bio @ Perfect Sound Forever* mainly focussed on their collaboration with Robert Calvert of Hawkwind...
) and Geoff Leigh
Geoff Leigh
Geoff Leigh is an English jazz and progressive rock musician, playing primarily soprano sax and flute. He was a member of the English avant-rock group Henry Cow and founded several bands himself, including Red Balune, Random Bob, Black Sheep, Mirage, and Ex-Wise Heads.-Biography:Geoff Leigh's...
(Henry Cow
Henry Cow
Henry Cow were an English avant-rock group, founded at Cambridge University in 1968 by multi-instrumentalists Fred Frith and Tim Hodgkinson. Henry Cow's personnel fluctuated over their decade together, but drummer Chris Cutler and bassoonist/oboist Lindsay Cooper were important long-term members...
) (2 CDs).
Uli Trepte died on 21 May 2009 in Berlin after a "long bout with cancer".
Discography (selected)
- with Guru GuruGuru GuruGuru Guru is a German Krautrock band formed in 1968 as The Guru Guru Groove by Mani Neumeier , Uli Trepte and Eddy Naegeli later replaced by American Jim Kennedy...
:
- Ufo (1970)
- Hinten (1971)
- Kan-guru (1972)
- Der Elektrolurch (1977) Compilation
- The Story of Life (1979)
- Rock on Brain (1980) Comp.
- Spaceship (1996)
- 30 Jahre Live (1998) 3 CD-Box
- Very Best of Guru Guru (1999)
- Essen 1970 (2003)
- with Spacebox:
- Spacebox (1981) (vinyl limited to 1000 copies)
- Kick Up (1984)
Solo
- Real time music (1996)
- Groove along with dong (1998)
- Yestermorrow Songs (2000) with Aja Waalwijk
- Staticsphere (2001)
- Rollomat (2004)
- Multiphonic music (2006)
- Incredible world (2007) with Aja Waalwijk
- Portrait (2009) (Compilation)