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Michael Griener
Born in Nuremberg, Germany in 1968, began playing drums in 1982, lives in Berlin since 1994. Under the influence of the HOHE-UFER-concerts initiated by Günter Christmann he became involved early on in the various forms of Jazztradition, Free Improvisation and New Music, which led to a longer collaboration with Christmann in his Vario-projects (a.o. C.I.M.-Festival Den Haag 1990, Moers-Festival 1992, Wittener Tage für Neue Kammermusik1993, Interplay FMP 2006).
His current projects include a.o.:
SQUAKK, Lacy Pool, TGW, Ulrich Gumpert Quartett, a Duo with Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky and Carl-Ludwig Hübsch' Primordial Soup
Played a.o. with
Tal Farlow, Herb Ellis, Mal Waldron, Evan Parker, Dave Liebman, John Zorn, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky , Barry Guy, Paul Lovens, Zeena Parkins, Keith Tippett, Butch Morris, Uli Gumpert, Aki Takase, Mats Gustafsson, Alexander v. Schlippenbach, Joelle Leandre, Günter Christmann, Conny Bauer, Johannes Bauer, Frank Gratkowski, Phil Minton, Tony Buck, Matthias Schubert, David Moss, Axel Dörner, Lu Hübsch, Claudio Puntin, Sirone, Joachim Kühn, John Butcher
CD-releases a.o. on Intakt, Moers Music, FMP, Ayler records, between the lines, Mons Records, Laika Records, Konnex, Hybrid
Awards
Received the 1. price as "most creative soloist" at the "New German Jazz Award" in 2006
His duo KIMMO ELOMAA with electronic wizard jayrope received a grant by the city of Berlin in 2002
Tags
Elastic Bricks: Oùat
by Mark Corroto
The Berlin-based piano trio Oùat releases their first album with the seemingly paradoxical title Elastic Bricks. If you listen closely, there is nothing incongruent nor oxymoronic about the music. The studio recording from 2021 by pianist Simon Sieger, bassist Joel Grip, and drummer Michael Griener is an all acoustic instrumental affair with a twist. The vinyl edition comes with individual texts, paragraphs from writer Erin Honeycutt accompanying each of the nine compositions. Although no voice is heard, the written word ...
read moreAki Takase: Auge
by John Sharpe
While it might be Aki Takase's name which grabs the attention thanks to her illustrious track record, the trio on Auge represents a true co-operative, as the Berlin-based Japanese pianist joins forces with Swiss bassist Christian Weber and German drummer Michael Griener in a perfectly balanced triumvirate. Takase draws on an ouevre which famously encompasses almost the entire history of jazz, stretching from projects reimagining Fats Waller, Duke Ellington, and Eric Dolphy all the way to freeform ...
read moreAki Takase / Christian Weber / Michael Griener: Auge
by Dan McClenaghan
Pianist Aki Takase had a hand in the creation of one of 2020's top jazz CDs: Slow Pieces For Aki (Intakt Records), by her husband and fellow pianist Alexander von Schlippenbach. She suggested a set less involved in the speed, volume and intensity that was Schlippenvach's customary avant-garde approach. He answered with a twenty-one tune recording of ever-shifting beauty and down tempo restraint. Takase--with partners Christian Weber, on bass, and Michael Griener playing drums--opens 2021 with an answer ...
read moreSquakk: Willisau & Berlin
by John Sharpe
Four Germans combine for a set that recalls some of the classic Anthony Braxton quartet sides with George Lewis or Ray Anderson from the 1970s. Common ground abounds in their free-bop structures and the delightful interplay as between reeds and trombone as they slip in and out of both tunes and time. There are also other precedents closer to home such as reedman Frank Gratkowski's combo with trombonist Wolter Wierbos. But whatever the inspiration, a palpable sense of fun allied ...
read moreUwe Oberg / Christof Thewes / Michael Griener: Lacy Pool
by Glenn Astarita
Three well-versed European progressive-jazz denizens impart a rather majestic blend of song-form and improvisation when covering the late, great soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's discography. Approaching this album from a mindset that eliminates comparisons to Lacy's original performances lent to a more appropriate route for the listening experience.
Without a saxophonist and bassist, the piano-trombone-drums format offers a penetrating and sometimes deviating musical climate, where more traditional propensities might prove the opposite. The musicians form the right blend here. ...
read moreUwe Oberg / Christof Thewes / Michael Griener: Lacy Pool
by Mark Corroto
Lacy Pool, by pianist Uwe Oberg, drummer Michael Griener, and trombonist Christof Thewes, demonstrates the circles within a circle" puzzle that mathematicians have riddled over for centuries. The piano covers of soprano saxophonist Steve Lacy's compositions were accomplished without the use of a saxophone, much like Lacy's interpretations of Thelonious Monk were made without a piano. Oberg's task of fitting a certain music (that of Lacy) within the circle of this trio, conjures multiple musical circles of jazz history.
read moreEric Mandel for the program of "JazzFest Berlin"
Primary Instrument
Drums
Willing to teach
Advanced only
Credentials/Background
Teaches jazz drumming at the University for Music “Carl Maria v. Weber” in Dresden.