Wolfgang Dauner was brought up by his aunt, who was a piano teacher and gave him lessons from his fifth year. He first worked as a mechanic, but took up music professionally in 1957 when he was offered a tour with a commercial band. In 1958 he studied trumpet and piano briefly at Stuttgart College of Music, but as a jazz musician he was largely self-taught. Initially, Bill Evans was his main influence but Dauner’s restless energy and interest in experimentation and the theatrical side of performance soon led him to evolve his won musical climate and method of procedure. In 1963 he formed his own trio, with Eberhard Weber and Fred Braceful, and its unconventional performances caused a sensation at German festivals. He also worked with visiting American and European jazz stars, and had begun composing not only music, but also some bizarre, even outrageous events. In the second half of the 1960s e destroyed a violin and burned a piano on stage on one occasion, and on another he covered the heads of one of Germany’s most renowned choirs in nylon stockings so that they could only emit noises. During this period he devised and recorded Free Action, for a septet featuring Jean-Luc Ponty, Psalmus Spei, for choir and jazz group for the 1968 Berlin festival , and Dauner-eschingen, for jazz-soloists and choir for the 1970 Donaueschingen music festival. Since 1969 Dauner has led the Stuttgart radio jazz group, doing at least one broadcast a month with guest soloists such as Chick Corea, Ponty, Michal Urbaniak and Zbigniew Seifert. In 1970 he formed the group Et Cetera which combined electronics with rock rhythms.
For progressive rock enthusiasts we particularly recommend the albums RISCHKAS’S SOUL (recorded in 1969, published on Brain in 1972)
Personnel:
Fred Braceful (drums)
Wolfgang Dauner (keyboards, flute)
Siegfried Schwab (guitar)
Eberhard Weber (bass, cello)
Roland Wittich (drums)
Tracklist:
01. Reading Machine (Dauner) 5.04
02. Kamasutram (Dauner/Manus) 3.50
03. Blues Far Out (Dauner/Manus) 3.40
04. Jive Samba (Adderly) 7.28
05. Flute-Woman (Dauner) 5.42
06. Just Bring It Out (Schwab) 4.18
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