The Jazz Organ Scene

Germany

picture: Dominik Ketz

Rainer Brüninghaus Rainer was born in 1949. He discovered the piano at the age of four years. When he was nine years old, he started classical piano lessons. His talent was evident and a year later he could play Mozart sonatas. At age 14, he discovered jazz and as a 16-year-old he founded a trio and played modern jazz.   From 1968 to 1972 Brüninghaus studied sociology at the university of Köln, but there grew in him the conviction that his true appeal was music. During his sociology studies, he founded Eiliff, an experimental jazz rock band with which he recorded two LPs and one single. From 1971 to 1975 he studied music.   From 1973 to 1975, he was a regular member of Volker Kriegel’s jazz rock group Spectrum and participated in his next group Mild Maniac Orchestra. From 1973 onwards, he was also (until 1985) a frequent guest in the jazz ensemble of Hessischer Rundfunk and in its big band (hr-Bigband). He was also invited to play in the Kurt Edelhagen orchestra as a soloist. In 1975 a close cooperation with Eberhard Weber started which lasted for seven years in the group Colours in which Charlie Mariano also played. At the same time Rainer also worked together with Manfred Schoof.   Rainer enjoyed more and more respect also as a composer. Many commissioned works for both small and large ensembles and even for symphony orchestras were performed. Among others, Rainer wrote for the Siegerland Symphonie Orchester, the Young German-French Philharmonic Orchestra, the symphony orchestras of Radio Bremen and Norddeutscher Rundfunk, as well as for the big bands of Westdeutscher Rundfunk, Hessischer Rundfunk and Süddeutscher Rundfunk.   From 1981 to 1984, Rainer had his own trio once again, with trumpet player Markus Stockhausen and drummer Fredy Studer. With this trio he played at the Berlin Jazz Festival, and went on a big tour in 1983 through South America for the German Goethe Institut, and then in 1984 to Central America and the Caribbean. From 1985, the percussionist Trilok Gurtu and guitarist John Abercrombie joined the Brüninghaus trio. Guests and occasional players were Charlie Mariano, Hugo Read and Jo Thönes. The trio toured Europe as well as in 1985 Australia and New Zealand. Another climax in Rainer’s work as a composer was the Rhein Requiem. He wrote the 90 minute work in 1987 for a television concert of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. Lauren Newton, Paul McCandless, Trilok Gurtu and Klaus Bantzer contributed to the premiere.   In 1988 an intense cooperation with Jan Garbarek started that involved long tours throughout the world. Rainer has been a steady member of the Jan Garbarek Group until today, including worldwide touring. From 1984 to 1992 Rainer was teaching at the music department of the Musikhochschule Köln lecturing on the piano. From his didactic activities, many essays on music theory were published in a number of musical magazines, with the focus currently on "Piano News". Besides his many compositions for large and small ensembles, and also for piano solo, he also wrote pieces for award winning films and TV series. He was for a long time a member of the artistic advisory board of the UDJ (association of German jazz musicians). Since the beginning of 2011, Rainer has frequently played grand piano solo concerts again. The grand piano for him is the instrument with which he can express his musical ideas best of all, i.e. directly, spontaneously and emotionally.   Rainer is not the typical organist, in fact he plays the organ very seldom.

contact:	info@rainer-brueninghaus.com
homepage:	www.rainer-brueninghaus.com
	Click on the logo to see Rainer's tour dates.

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