gregor schaefer

double bass

ûd

composition

world music and jazz

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Biography

Gregor Schaefer plays acoustic music in many styles, pure or crossover. He is a double bass player with a big sound, strong rhythm and smooth lyricism. That makes him a remarkable performer of jazz and world music styles such as klezmer, balkan styles and latin music.

He studied at the jazz department of the Royal Conservatory in The Hague (Netherlands). In addition to swing and bebop he started playing folklore and world music with the band Csokolom, touring internationally. Besides jazz he now focuses on klezmer, Eastern European, Oriental and Latin American music.

In his playing he combines elements from all the styles that he is familiar with. He is able to vary his sound by not only plucking and bowing but also slapping and using various percussion techniques on the bass. He also discovered the ud, the Turkish/Arab fretless lute, that he now regularly uses in concerts.

Currently, Gregor is a member of the bands Shtetl Band Amsterdam (klezmer), Misterios (Sephardic and Armenian songs) and Solveig Borgen Trio (jazz and Scandinavian songs). He is also a freelancer for jazz & world music projects. He has performed in Europe, Australia and the USA and recorded about twenty CD's.

He has performed in Europe, Australia and the USA and recorded about twenty CD's.
For examples of his playing on both the double bass and the ud, visit the Audio/Video page.

Groups

Shtetl Band Amsterdam Klezmer with 2 violins, accordion, bassetl and poik. Playing the klezmer rhythms with a two violin line-up, this group fits in the emancipation of the klezmer violinists that started a decade or so. The bassetl (small bass or large cello) and the poik (one drum, one cymbal) add to the village feeling of this very pure klezmer style.
Misterios Songs close to and further from the Mediterranean Sea: Sephardic-Jewish songs and songs from Armenia, Portugal, Azerbejan, Iran.
Jazz project: A new, exciting group with tenor saxophone player Lior Kuperberg, guitarist Christiaan Brester and drummer Roberto Haliffi. This is hard swinging jazz! More info will be provided later...
Guest appearances with Musicians Without Borders (international music projects), Lollo Meier Quartet (Gypsy jazz, Django Reinhardt style) and Nikitov (Yiddish songs).
From 2001-2008 he played double bass and ud in Mazzeltov. This Dutch group played and sang Yiddish and Sephardic songs, klezmer instrumentals, original compositions, Yiddish translations of well-known songs, crossover experiments. The group performed at festivals, theater shows, weddings.
From 2003-2005 he was the first bassist of Di Fidl Kapelye. This string group explored the sound and music of old klezmer groups from Eastern Europe. Gregors gut string sound on the bass and his improvisations and melodies on the ud added much to the distinctive sound of the first years of that band.
From 1993-2004 he played in Csókolom, the German/Dutch group that played world music based on traditional Hungarian and Rumanian folk music and songs, beautifully arranged by Anti von Klewitz. The band toured international and recorded two CDs for the legendary Arhoolie label.

For photos of Gregor playing with various groups, visit the Photo galleries page.

Some highlights

In 2006 he performed with the group Mazzeltov & Ronlinha Kross at the Grote Zaal of The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam. It was a wonderful evening, superb playing, good atmosphere, excellent sound, for a full house. The concert was recorded and broadcast by the Dutch Concertzender.
In 2005 the CD 'Mishpoge' by Mazzeltov was nominated for the Edison Award (that's the Dutch version of the Grammy Awards). During the summer he played frequent guest appearances with Nikitov (Yiddish songs).
In 2004 he performed in Berlin, Weimar and New York, plus at many main stages in The Netherlands: The Concertgebouw, Panama (all in Amsterdam), RASA (Utrecht).
Recorded CD with Stefka: Latin American songs with an oriental touch plus poems by Pablo Neruda and Frederico Garcia Lorca with original music.
In 2002 and 2003, he performed at important stages in The Netherlands: The Concertgebouw, Carré, De Melkweg, Paradiso, Tuschinski (all in Amsterdam), Frits Philips Zaal (Eindhoven), Terra Festival (Alkmaar), Tivoli (Utrecht), Festival Mundial (Tilburg).
In 1999 and 2001 he toured Australia, playing at major festivals, such as Womad in Adelaide and Port Fairy, and at many jazz and world music venues.
In the summer of 2000 he participated in the Musicians Without Borders project, playing goodwill concerts in Macedonia and Bosnia and meeting local musicians. A big event that they organized in cooperation with local peace group CIVIL was the first multi-ethnic concert ever being held in Skopje, Macedonia's capital.
With the group Csókolom, he recorded two CD's with mainly Hungarian music for the Arhoolie label, famous for its releases of American roots music. The first CD was recorded in 1998 in the legendary Sun Studio in Memphis, Tennessee. During one 3 hour session 14 tunes were recorded directly to stereo tape.
In 1995 he performed at the North Sea Jazz Festival with the Big Band of the Royal Conservatory from Den Haag. The music being played was originally composed and arranged in the 1930's and 1940's by alto saxophonist, trumpeter, arranger and bandleader Benny Carter (1907-2003). It turned out that Benny Carter was in the audience and immediately after the concert he came especially to Gregor to congratulate him with his sound and playing.

Played with

In many years of being active as a professional musician, Gregor Schaefer has had the pleasure to perform with the following wonderful musicians.

Jazz: Fay (Fee) Claassen, John Ruocco, Kristina Fuchs, Jarmo Hoogendijk, Michael Erian, Marco Kegel, Tilmar Junius, Juraj Stanik, Peter Beets, Wim Kegel, Sanna van Vliet, Simon Rigter, Paul Stark.
World Music: Shura Lipovsky (Yiddish songs), Kálmán Balogh (cimbalom), Slobodan Trkulja (wind instruments), Jamil Al Asadi (qanun), Latif Saad Al Obaidi (percussion and ud), Marcel Salomon (Yiddish clarinet+singing), Monique Lansdorp (violin), Merima Kljuco (accordion), Michel Marang (clarinet), Rolinha Kross (Yiddish songs), René Gosse (balkan percussion), Bart Lelivelt (accordion), Anti von Klewitz (violin) & Csókolom.
Jazz Manouche / Hot Club Swing / Gipsy Jazz: Lollo Meier, Robin Nolan, John Friedrichs, John Ligthart, Jan Limberger, Reinier Voet & Jan Brouwer & Pigalle44, Hadi Mouallem, Tim Kliphuis, Tolga Emilio During, Rino van Hooijdonk.