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Gunter Hampel

Louis Armstrong came streaming from the radio of a US army truck (1945) in the backyard of Gunter Hampel's home in Germany, and young Gunter, already immersed in European classical music, became intrigued with this new sound.

A variety of instruments began to occupy his hands including clarinet, vibes, saxophone, accordion and flute. Soon he was composing. He toured Europe with many groups, including his own, and worked with Don Cherry, Cecil Taylor, Archie Shepp, Anthony Braxton, Steve McCall, Marion Brown, Lester Bowie, and his wife Jeanne Lee, to name just a few.

In 1969, he moved to New York, where Gunter founded his own recording label -- BIRTH RECORDS


Photo Credit: Hans Kumpf

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374
Album Review

Gunter Hampel: Vibes Vibes (Vibrafon Solos 2008)

Read "Vibes Vibes (Vibrafon Solos 2008)" reviewed by Marc Medwin


Glass, shimmer, impressionism and cool all vie for prominence throughout these excursions into the multiplicitous world multi-instrumentalist Gunter Hampel creates on every solo . Logical proportions are exposed only to disappear; tones glisten, swell and fade, either in rapid succession or in glacial dance. This is only the second solo release from the prolific improviser on his own label, a company which celebrates its 40th anniversary this year and a more fitting one would be hard to imagine.

193
Album Review

Gunter Hampel Group: Music From Europe

Read "Music From Europe" reviewed by Jerry D'Souza


Gunter Hampel (vibraphone, bass clarinet and flute) grew up studying German folk and European classical music. When he was eight he heard Louis Armstrong and jazz for the first time. Though he did not understand a word of English, he felt Armstrong communicating with him. This had an indelible influence and Hampel went on to win several jazz competitions. Hampel became a professional jazz musician in 1958 when he was 21. His ideas moved in a different direction ...

266
Album Review

Gunter Hampel Group: Music From Europe

Read "Music From Europe" reviewed by Raul d'Gama Rose


Although it is simply called Music From Europe, the Gunter Hampel Group's first foray into America in 1966, could well have joined the ranks of several early (1950s) recordings by MJQ or John Lewis and Dizzy Gillespie's Perceptions (Verve, 1961) as one of those earliest examples of where the musical cultures of classical Europe and jazz USA collide. Perhaps the title is even deliberate; a tongue-in-cheek reminder that jazz--although, in its absolute form a musical idiom evolved ...

122
Multiple Reviews

Dances; On Fire Hierseins-Erfahrungen; Emission

Read "Dances; On Fire Hierseins-Erfahrungen; Emission" reviewed by Javier AQ Ortiz


Musical vanguardist and multi-instrumentalist Gunter Hampel has been under the spell of jazz since the end of WWII. By the end of the '50s, he was already a full-fledged European professional jazz musician and by the '60s, he had made lasting inroads into the North American jazz scene. Operating out of Germany and the USA, after living in New York and several European cities throughout his life, Hampel continues to be active at jazz' leading edge. His notable career involves ...

238
Megaphone

Gunter Hampel: Bringing Music to the People

Read "Gunter Hampel: Bringing Music to the People" reviewed by AAJ Staff


Submitted on behalf of Gunter Hampel. As a composer, arranger, bandleader and now the owner of BIRTH Records, I have been undergoing changes in publishing my music on LPs, CDs, cassettes and video. As a new carrier, the DVD has arrived and seems to be the new way of bringing music to the people. Actually, in the '80s, when CDs were coming out, I didn't believe it as the successor to the the LP. The ...

215
Megaphone

Gunter Hampel: Bringing Music to the People

Read "Gunter Hampel: Bringing Music to the People" reviewed by AAJ Staff


By Gunter Hampel As a composer, arranger, bandleader and now the owner of BIRTH Records, I have been undergoing changes in publishing my music on LPs, CDs, cassettes and video. As a new carrier, the DVD has arrived and seems to be the new way of bringing music to the people. Actually, in the '80s, when CDs were coming out, I didn't believe it as the successor to the the LP. The CD did ...

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93

Performance / Tour

Gunter Hampel Vibes-BCL-Flute & Haitian Vodou Percussions Poets Club Bowery -New York

Gunter Hampel Vibes-BCL-Flute & Haitian Vodou Percussions Poets Club Bowery -New York

Source: All About Jazz

GUNTER HAMPEL IN NEW YORK march 1-april 7th performance update upcoming live performances

march 1st 5 pm Hunter College -black box-Room HN 543 performing SOLO on vibes, bassclarinet, flute in VARIETY , free admission hunter college 68 str betw par and lexington, northside

march 13 6 pm Hunter College -lang theatre 4th floor -MOVING IMAGES by ruomi lee hampel + father&son performance + many acts from hunter college-free admission

march 17 th 1o pm bowery poets club ESP-disk presents:GUNTER HAMPEL ...

107

Performance / Tour

The Vision Club presents Gunter Hampel w/ Perry Robinson 10pm + 11pm Kali Z. Fasteau Saturday, March 26

The Vision Club presents Gunter Hampel w/ Perry Robinson 10pm + 11pm Kali Z. Fasteau Saturday, March 26

Source: All About Jazz

March 16, 2005 To: Listings/Critics/Features From: The Vision Festival / www.visionfestival.org PRESS Contact: Jim Eigo [email protected] / 845.986.1677 Non-press inquiries, call 212.696.6681 or send email to [email protected] A R T S F O R A R T 508 East 6th Street #3, NYC 10009 Saturday March 26, 2005 THE VISION CLUB presents 10pm Gunter Hampel w/ Perry Robinson Barry Altschul, Herschel Silverman 11pm Kali Z. Fasteau w/ Sabir Mateen, Lewis Barnes Michael Thompson At Clemente Soto Velez - LES Gallery ...


"Musical vanguardist and multi-instrumentalist (bass clarinet, flute, and vibes), Gunter Hampel has been under the spell of jazz since the end of WWII. By the end of the ‘50s, he was already a full-fledged European professional jazz musician and by the ‘60s, he had made lasting inroads into the North American jazz scene. Operating out of Germany and the USA, after living in New York and several European cities throughout his life, Hampel continues to be active at jazz’ leading edge. His notable career involves encyclopedic collaboration with North American and continental jazz legends, as well as a much younger generation of players." ~~~ Javier Antonio Quiñones Ortiz, AAJ

Photos

Music

Recordings: As Leader | As Sideperson

Solo Concert -...

Pao Records
2012

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Lifer

Pao Records
2009

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Vibes'Vibes

Pao Records
2009

buy

Stellar Dust

Pao Records
2008

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Videos

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