Welf Dorr

The Welf Dorr Unit combines free jazz spontaneity with the urgency of funk and rock inspired by the the motto “Jazz is the Teacher, Funk is the Preacher”.
WDU, with Welf Dorr on alto sax/bass clarinet, Dave Ross on guitar, Dmitry Ishenko on bass and Joe Hertenstein on drums, was launched in 2012 with a performance at the Evolving Music Series run by Arts for Art (presenters of the Vision Festival) and since has played at clubs like nublu and the Red Hook Jazz Festival. Their debut record "Blood" was released in 2018 on Chant Records (online) and Creative Sources Recordings (CDs).

Underground Horns is Welf's other main project - a 6-piece brass band which special recipe includes some funk, jazz and hip hop spiced up with African and other world rhythms...MUSIC FOR THE PEOPLE!
Ken Waxman reviewed their 2nd album BIG BEAT (2010) in The New York Jazz Record calling them "an unapologetic party band with brains...with tonal inflections from the Big Easy, central Africa, the Maghreb and the Baltic states".
UH performed internationally in Egypt, Germany and most recently at Tudo é Jazz in Brazil, stateside at the Lowdown Hudson Blues Festival, NYC Winter Jazz Festival, Dizzy’s (Jazz at Lincoln Center), the Blue Note and various Jam Band Festivals, sharing the bill with Rebirth Brass Band, Big Sam's Funky Nation and B.B. King.

Besides leading his own projects Welf is playing in Karl Berger's Improvisers Orchestra, Kenny Wollesen’s Himalayas, On Ka'a Davis and the Famous Original Djuke Players and was a member of the Nublu Orchestra conducted by the late Butch Morris (“You guys sound good”, David Murray).

Originally from Munich (Germany) he studied at Berklee before he moved 1995 to New York. Here he played and recorded a.o. with Frank Lacy, Sonny Simmons, Sabir Mateen, Kim Clark, Ronnie Drayton, Graham Haynes, Meshell Ndegeocello, Jeffrey Shurdut, Daniel Carter, Steve Swell, Lukas Ligeti, Vernon Reid, Juini Booth, Jojo Kuo and the Goldsparkle Brass Band.

1996 he founded Funk Monk with members from the US, Europe and Africa, a band that combined the hypnotic groove of hip hop with the complex harmonies of jazz. 1998 Funk Monk recorded their debut CD “Live at the Knitting Factory”.

In 2005 he recorded a concert with a quintet including Kenny Wollesen on drums and Jonathan Finlayson on trumpet released as FLOWERS FOR ALBERT.

Welf performed in the US, Europe, Mexico, Brazil and Egypt including festivals such as Willisau (Switzerland), Vision Festival or Celebrate Brooklyn as well as places as City Hall of New York.

Discography:
Blood, Welf Dorr Unit (2018)
Aria, William Hooker (2017)
Almost Blue, Underground Horns (2014)
Shotgun Recordings, Kenny Wollesen's Himalayas (2013)
Big Beat, Underground Horns (2010)
Seeds of Djuke, On Ka'a Davis (2009)
Funk Monk, Underground Horns (2008)
Humanity, Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut (2008)
Subway Music, Drumadics (2007)
Inzebulon, Kenny Wollesen’s Himalayas (2007)
Upper Planets, Kenny Wollesen’s WSU (2007)
East Village Pharmacy, EVP (2007)
People Get Rewarded For What I Am Condemned For, Jeffrey Shurdut (2006)
Zebulon 2, This is the Music of Life w’ Sonny Simmons (2005)
Flowers for Albert, Welf Dorr w’ Jonathan Finlayson & Kenny Wollesen (2005)
Persistence of Memory, Jeffrey Hayden Shurdut w’ Sabir Mateen (2004)
2002, Funk Monk (2002)
Uptime, Marc Constant Quintet w’ Frank Lacy (2001)
Live at the Knitting Factory, Funk Monk (1999)
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