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Ernst Bier

Ernst Bier studied drums with Billy Brooks, Charlie Persip, Vernell Fournier, and Elvin Jones. He lived and worked in New York City from 1982 through 1987. After his return to Germany he lived first in Cologne, and later in Berlin, where he leads a continually running series of jazz workshops. The list of musicians with whom he has worked reads like a "Who's Who" of jazz. With his dedication, his sensitive playing style, and his constructive approach, he is a highly valued drummer who is continually in demand.

"The way I see it musicians are a lot like doctors - people come to a concert to be treated by the music."

Ernst Bier, Matthias B: Live at the A-Trane

Read "Live at the A-Trane" reviewed by Elliott Simon

by Elliott Simon
June 12, 2007

Five extended compositions recorded Live at the A-Trane in Berlin, Germany over two nights in 2005 present altoist/flutist Sonny Fortune in the company of a soulful B3 trio. Fortune's alto is still searing, with a tone and style that work quite well in this context, exposing his Philly R&B roots. His career of over forty years and powerful harmonic wah-wahing technique has seen him hook up with the best: trumpeter Miles Davis, drummers Elvin Jones and Buddy Rich, pianist McCoy ...

Ernst Bier - Press Reviews

Ernst Bier was the other star of this evening. He handled the drums with cool, casual mastery.
Dresdener Neuste Nachrichten

Jazz drummer Ernst Bier, an interesting and melodic drummer Godehard Lutz / Jazzpodium

Ernst Bier is a masterful drummer with an appreciation of the diverse applications of his instrument as a means of expressing a range of voices; his solos exhibit a commanding understanding of the instrument.
Gerhard Hopfe / Jazzpodium

Ernst Bier used every possible means to entice a variety of tones out of his drum set.
Katri Zill / Kölner Stadtanzeiger

Ernst Bier - Press Reviews

Ernst Bier was the other star of this evening. He handled the drums with cool, casual mastery.
Dresdener Neuste Nachrichten

Jazz drummer Ernst Bier, an interesting and melodic drummer Godehard Lutz / Jazzpodium

Ernst Bier used every possible means to entice a variety of tones out of his drum set.
Katri Zill / Kölner Stadtanzeiger

Ernst Bier plays the rhythms, feels them, embodies them, while keeping in contact with the others, observing, listening, and feeling.
Bayrische Rundschau

The best word to describe Ernst Bier's drumming is to use that adjective so beloved by the English-speaking jazz critics: "crisp".
Peter Niklas Wilson / Jazzpodium

Ernst Bier is one of the few drummers who radiates joy when he plays. Even during the most complicated rhythms and deepest points of concentration, he is busting his buttons from the pleasure of playing.
Pforzheimer Zeitung

Bier's accompaniment is bubbling over with humor and musicality.
M. Laurentius / Bonner Rundschau

Drummer Ernst Bier deserves the highest praise; he thinks melodically, assures for lively rhythms, tonal surprises, and, when necessary, for unbridled drive.
Reiner Ruhl / Fuldaer Zeitung

Ernst Bier not only injects the compositions with life; he also stirs up dramatic and dynamic elements that leave listeners ears glued to the music.
Peter Stegmaier / Jazzpodium

Ernst Bier's drumming was infectiously exciting; he always provided the calm with an elastic groove.
Rainer Köhl / Frankfurter Rundschau

But there were also these reviews:

There was only one musician who seemed not to have understood the session's principal of give-and-take: drummer Ernst Bier, whose playing was a continual nerve-jangling, insensitive cacophony.
Thomas Wörtche / Jazzpodium

Co-leader Ernst Bier is definitely not one of the most agile and elegant players among German drummers; but he has sense enough to push the rest of his group into the forefront.
Arne Schumacher / Jazzthetik

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