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Frank Gratkowski
Frank Gratkowski was born in Hamburg in 1963 and studied at the Cologne University of Music and Dance. He has extended his instrumental skills to include almost the entire spectrum of woodwind instruments, including flutes. He works intensively on tonal extensions and modifications of his instruments in solo projects and small formations using unorthodox playing techniques and microtonal concepts, some of which he has developed himself. As a bandleader and composer, he traverses the broad context of contemporary improvised music. There is no clear distinction between composition and improvisation in his work.
While still a student, Gratkowski worked with trombonist and composer Klaus König, as part of Georg Graewe’s GrubenKlangOrchester and in the WDR Big Band. In 1995 he formed the Frank Gratkowski Trio with Dieter Manderscheid on bass and Gerry Hemingway on drums. They were joined in 2000 by Dutch trombonist Wolter Wierbos. Since 2001 he has been part of a trio with Achim Kaufmann on piano and Wilbert de Joode on bass. With his first solo program, he was an award-winner at the “Musik kreativ” competition. As a soloist, he has released the thus far three-part CD series “Artikulationen” (1991, 2000, 2023). In 2008 the experimental saxophone quartet “Fo[u]r Alto” was formed. He is a co-founder of the Multiple Joy[ce] Orchestra, for which he also composes. In the past few years, he has increasingly collaborated with musicians of the younger generation, currently for example in the quartet The Resonators.
Gratkowski has played as a soloist, bandleader or sideman at the most important German and numerous international festivals. Among other things, he has performed with a trio at the Donaueschinger Festival, was commissioned to create a composition for the ensemble Zeitkratzer in 2014, was improviser in residence at the Austrian new music festival “Klangspuren” in 2021, and worked as a soloist with the orchestra of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR). At the November Music festival in Den Bosch and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, he performed with the ensemble Apartment House, for which he wrote a commissioned composition. After his work “Mature Hybird Talking” for and with Ensemble Modern in 2022, he worked with Ensemble Musikfabrik in 2023.
Under his own name, Frank Gratkowski has released around 50 CDs, as a sideman he has been involved in an unknown number of additional productions. In 2005 he received the prestigious SWR Jazz Prize.
Frank Gratkowski lives in Berlin. He has taught at conservatories in Arnhem, Hanover, Berlin and currently Cologne, and has extensive international experience as a university lecturer and workshop leader.
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Nicola Miller: Living Things
by Mike Jurkovic
It is more than fair enough to say that Nova Scotia-based saxophonist/composer Nicola Miller's vision and understanding of things is peppered with oddly curious axioms and an astute ear for the undertow that pulls us all further out to sea or crashing into the breakers. At least that is what Living Things, Miller's first bold statement as a leader leads one to believe given the odd shapes and delineations that such serpentine wanderings of the lead-off “Barge"--its slippery, open ...
Continue ReadingFrank Gratkowski, Simon Nabatov: Tender Mercies
by John Sharpe
This collection of seven duets from pianist Simon Nabatov and reedman Frank Gratkowski stands as one of those times when the late Misha Mengelberg's term “instant composition" for a series of seat-of-the-pants encounters makes absolute sense. Perhaps that should not be a surprise, considering the protagonists histories and shared base in the German city of Cologne. Indeed, their association dates back to at least 1999, when the reedman appeared as part of a quartet on Nabatov's Nature ...
Continue ReadingFrank Gratkowski, Achim Kaufmann, Wilbert de Joode, Tony Buck: Flatbosc & Cautery
by John Sharpe
Adding a new member to a long-established group sometimes reinforces the chemistry, at other times it transforms. With the threesome of reedman Frank Gratkowski, pianist Achim Kaufmann and bassist Wilbert de Joode, a unit since 2002, the co-option of Necks drummer Tony Buck propels the outfit more explicitly towards the high-energy end of the free spectrum, compared with previous outings such as palaë (Leo, 2007) and oblengths (Leo, 2016). Recorded in concert in Koln, in May 2018, ...
Continue ReadingGratkowski, Nabatov, Mahnig: Dance Hall Stories
by Angelo Leonardi
Il titolo e la foto di copertina sono allusivi e non vanno presi alla lettera. Il pianista Simon Nabatov e il sassofonista Frank Gratkowski non hanno deciso di abbandonare la libera improvvisazione per un omaggio al repertorio da ballo ma includono nella collaborazione il giovane batterista Dominik Mahnig, che si aggiunge in metà dei brani del disco. Anche se pubblicata nel 2020 la registrazione risale a una session in studio (a Colonia) di tre anni prima. A ...
Continue ReadingSimon Nabatov: Time Labyrinth
by Angelo Leonardi
Registrato il 17 aprile 2019 a Colonia, “Time Labyrinth" è la prima parte di un progetto di Simon Nabatov denominato Changing Perspectives, che sarà completato nel prossimo futuro. Il pianista e compositore di origine russa vive nella città tedesca da quasi tre decenni ed è una figura di primo piano nell'universo della musica improvvisata europea ai confini tra jazz d'avanguardia e musica classica contemporanea. Le sei composizioni che costituiscono l'opera si collocano decisamente nell'ambito della musica ...
Continue ReadingSimon Nabatov: Time Labyrinth
by Glenn Astarita
Pianist Simon Nabatov is well-known for his explosive semi-structured presentations and freely navigated improvisational advances within this seemingly limitless musical space. But Nabatov is a composer who often stretches the perceived limits of avant-garde jazz. With this effort, he pursues a largely new approach by employing chamberesque forums via an acoustic-electric platform, intensified by consummate woodwind aces Frank Gratkowski, Matthias Schubert and other stalwarts to round out a drummer-less Germany-based septet. In the liners, the leader states that ...
Continue ReadingZ-Country Paradise: Live in Lisbon
by Glenn Astarita
The multinational quintet revs up the audience on this wild and scruffy excursion that skirts a misty demarcation between punk jazz and avant-garde improvisation along with off-kilter jazz rock tendencies. Vocalist Jelena Kuljic's guileful and emotive iterations instill hip, Beat Generation-like narratives in concert with the band's jarring and edgy grooves via some recoiling breakouts and oscillating storylines. Indeed, the formidable frontline of esteemed reedman, Frank Gratkowski--a longtime Leo Records artist--and ace guitarist Kalle Kalima infuse their distinct ...
Continue ReadingNew Release Red Toucan: "Ardent Grass" by Jacob Anderskov and Frank Gratkowski
Source:
Passaretti
Here's the brand new release from Red Toucan Records: Ardent Grass (RT 9340) Jacob Anderskov: piano Frank Gratkowski: alto sax, clarinet, bass clarinet Every Red Toucan aficionado knows Frank Gratkowski, a regular on the label; here, he pairs with brilliant Danish pianist Jacob Anderskov. “Over the last decade or so, pianist Jacob Anderskov has emerged as one of the most exciting and original voices... deeply modern..." Peter Margasak, Downbeat Enjoy our last release for 2010!
Red ...
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Free Jazz Reedman Frank Gratkowski Interviewed at AAJ
Source:
All About Jazz
Virtuoso German reed specialist Frank Gratkowski enjoys a particularly fertile range of collaborations, settings and directional thrusts. He was back in New York in October, 2009 with a trio that has released three albums during the last six years: Kwast (Konnex, 2004), Unearth (Nuscope, 2005) and Palaë (Leo, 2006). Appearing at Roulette, Gratkowski was joined by pianist Achim Kaufmann and bassist Wilbert De Joode, both of whom hail from the Netherlands. The gig is billed as a session of “improvised ...
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