Hans Kumpf attended clinics for jazz and contemporary music in Remscheid, Darmstadt,Antwerp and other places, where he studied with Franzpeter Goebels, Johnny Griffin, Helmut Lachenmann, Erwin Lehn, Albert Mangelsdorff, Hans Deinzer and others.

Kumpf belonged to the organizing committees of jazz festivals in Ludwigsburg and the German Music Festival Stuttgart 1974. He was adviser for some international festivals(Malta etc.), too.

As a clarinetist he played at the German Jazz Festivals Frankfurt: 1972 with the group "AK Musick" and in 1976 with Theo Joergensmann's "Clarinet Contrast". In 1975 he joined Wolfgang Dauner's "Radio Jazz Group Stuttgart" and did a recording session of clarinet duos with Perry Robinson. At the "Top People Poll 1979" by the readers of the magazine of the International Jazz Federation, Jazz Forum, Kumpf was elected No. 5 clarinetist in Europe. In August 1979 a 90-minute live broadcasting in New York radio WKCR and a concert in John Fischer's loft "Environ"(feat. P. Robinson, P. Kuhn, M. Moss, and M. Whitecage). Another NYC session in1990 (feat. Fischer, Whitecage, Robinson, G. Hampel). In 1986 a radio production in Zurich with John Fischer and Mark Whitecage. 1980-90 Kumpf regularly visited the (former) USSR, he reported by radio broadcasts and print media about the jazz scene in Eastern Europe. Kumpf's jam sessions in Leningrad/St. Petersburg, Moscow, Tallinn, Riga and Vilnius were released on records in the West. In November 1984 Hans Kumpf did a studio session with the Romanian pianist Harry Tavitian. In the eighties he often played in happenings with the artists' group "Hauptsach fertich", including an event in Venice/Italy. 1983/84 Kumpf was a singer/actor in the choir of the musical" Cabaret" at the State Theater Stuttgart. In 1990 he was soloist of the Youth Jazz Orchestra Baden-Wuerttemberg in Bali.

Kumpf renewed the duo with Slovakian bass player Jan Jankeje for concerts (like in Leipzig, Halle) and in order to perform at art exhibitions. Together with his wife Katarzyna "Kasia" Kumpf as a speaker and author, he created the programs "Polish Poetry & Jazz" and "Polish Fairytales &Jazz". The Polish bass player Vitold Rek cooperates with the Kumpfs.

Hans Kumpf held lectures about music and theory in Berlin, Cologne, Darmstadt and other towns and at the meetings of the Institute for International Jazz Research: 1977 in Schielleiten, Austria, and in 1980 in Hamburg. Reports in writing and photographs for many magazines, newspapers and radio stations, for example SWF Radio Baden-Baden ("Pop-Shop"), SDR Radio Stuttgart("Musikpodium International"), NDR Radio Hamburg ("JazzLaboratorium"), Neue Musikzeitung, Musik und Bildung, Jazzthetik, DerSpiegel, Suedkurier, Tip, Der Tagesspiegel, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Sueddeutsche Zeitung.

Many reviews(in German language) and photos taken by Kumpf you can find in the internet,for example at http://www.jazzpages.com/kumpf_fr.htm

Cover photos for HiFi-Stereophonie, Jazz Podium, Jazz Forum, Blues Notes, Musik und Bildung,Bielefelder Jazz Katalog and many records. Photos in books, like "EuropasJazz", "Klangspuren", "Re-clams Jazzfuehrer", "Chet Baker in Europe" , "75 Jahre Donaueschinger Musiktage" and "Moderne Musik 1965-1985" . Photo exhibitions in Ludwigsburg, Nuremberg, Darmstadt, Eisenach, Nuertingen, Eberbach, Amsterdam, Moscow, Arkhangelsk, Vilnius.

Now, Hans Kumpf is a permanent contributor to Jazz Podium (Stuttgart), Esslinger Zeitung, Stuttgarter Nachrichten, Ludwigsburger Kreiszeitung, Rundschau Gaildorf, Marbacher Zeitung and others.

More Jazz Photos by Hans.

All photos copyright © Hans Kumpf. All Rights Reserved.

Count Basie backstage smoking. Antibes Jazz Festival, France.

This photo was the first I took of mystic avantgardist Sun Ra 1970 - when he came to the stage of the Donaueschingen Contemporary Music Festival in 1970. Two decades later I had long conversations with the "galactic" band leader - in Murcia/Spain and in Moscow. I asked him, whether it's difficult for him to travel so much. His answer: "No. You know, it's only the same planet".

Lester Bowie backstage at the 1. International Jazz Festival Moscow, 1990.

Miles Davis sucking his mouth piece some seconds before he entered the Berlin Philaharmie, 1983.

Drummer Art Blakey as a camera man for the French TV.... Chateauvallon Jazz Festival 1972.

Benny Goodman during the sound check in Stuttgart.

Charles Mingus during sound check in the amphi-theater of Chateauvallon, 1973. Two decades later Sue Mingus ("his last wife") phoned me and ordered a black&white negative of this photo session.

Trumpeter Chet Baker and his singing wife Ruth at the sound check in a Stuttgart club. I met Chet several times, in a studio I took photos for the record sleeve, and I made an interview with him. He was shy - but he trusted me, I think. Some months ago Ruth wrote me an email and said that she likes this photo very much.

Every time I met Don Cherry he was very friendly. From a photo that I took a poster was made for a concert in Southern Germany, 1986. I asked him to sign it, and he added some paintings, too - like 1969, when I asked for an autograph.

Dizzy Gillespie, Chuck Berry, Milt Jackson. Jazz Festival in the Olympic Hall Munich, 1981: Bebop, Rock'n'Roll and Cool united - Rock survived Berry is still alive, Dizzy and Milt passed away.

The German magazine "Jazz Podium" asked me to take a color photo of Dizzy Gillespie. I wanted to do this in the daylight. I asked him and Roy Eldridge to pose on the balcony of a restaurant. Stuttgart, ca. 1977.

I met the two bass players Red Mitchel and Percy Heath in the cafeteria during a TV program, 1988. We talked about jazz in Soviet Union. I mentioned to Percy Heath that the fans in Latvia are interested in having the Modern Jazz Quartet attend their festival. At this time US citizen Red Mitchel, who lived in Sweden, wrote an open letter to Kremlin chief Gorbatshev.

Stan Getz, Munich 1980.