Biography
Born in Poland, this avant-garde trombone master first encountered improvisation through the Dixieland jazz tradition at its most traditional extreme. Polio contracted in childhood later returned to curtail his touring schedule in later decades. Early childhood influences included the New Orleans jazz of Kid Ory and the earlier George Lewis, the two jazz figures sharing ironic connections to this German musician. Those players drew him toward their exuberant extrapolations through robust, swaggering tones. The younger George Lewis, the Chicago trombonist tied to that city’s Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians, numbered among the many emerging improvisers shaped by Christmann’s fluid command of fresh musical idioms on the unwieldy instrument. Christmann first grappled with the banjo, another New Orleans staple, before committing to the trombone. Recordings by John Coltrane and Ornette Coleman sparked his interest in what was then termed free jazz. During the late 1960s he joined European ensembles developing their own versions of this raucous, free-ranging music, occasionally labeled angry or hateful. The effects required on trombone mirrored the overblowing and fluid slides favored by New Orleans players and by soloists in later big bands led by Duke Ellington or Fletcher Henderson. Like those predecessors, Christmann deployed an array of mutes and plungers for varied timbres. He performed with Frankfurt multi-instrumentalist Rudiger Carl on tenor saxophone, clarinet, and accordion. Between 1972 and 1974 he participated in several quintets directed by bassist Peter Kowald, whose habit of driving straight home after the final tour date, regardless of distance or hour, earned the nickname “pulling a Kowaldski.” Those ensembles also marked early improvising work for Aachen drummer Paul Lovens, who later collaborated with Christmann across duo and larger formats. From 1972 to 1981 Christmann maintained a regular duo with percussionist Detlef Schonenberg; the pair collaborated with dancers and produced influential recordings such as We Play on FMP. The trombone proved especially suited to a music whose logic often rested on loosely related bleeps and splats. Initial electronic explorations occurred alongside synthesizer player Harald Boje. He joined the Globe Unity Orchestra, the expansive project loosely steered by pianist Alexander Schlippenbach that featured numerous European and American improvisers, among them the younger George Lewis. The orchestra recorded several compositions Christmann contributed, though not always with precise fidelity. In 1975 he launched unaccompanied solo performances at a time when many other brass players pursued similar paths, unsettling booking agents accustomed to full ensembles and audiences wary of the format. Within this demanding idiom Christmann ranked among the foremost exponents, deploying space and silence dramatically while unleashing forceful trombone sonorities. His plunger and mute techniques proved exemplary, inspiring many subsequent trombonists. Between 1978 and 1981 he performed and recorded with American expatriate cellist Tristan Honsinger, yielding some of his strongest work through the cellist’s florid, nearly hysterical approach that extended Christmann’s own boundaries. From the late 1970s onward he embraced the prevailing model of flexible player groupings capable of sustaining an entire evening through shifting combinations; his iteration, Vario, appeared at various European festivals and yielded recordings for Moers Music that featured Lovens alongside British vocalist Maggie Nichols and guitarist John Russell. In 1982 he created the multimedia presentation Deja Vu, combining trombone with film, electronic music, lighting effects, and bassist Torsten Muller; reception proved lukewarm, with critics urging a return to unadorned trombone performance. Since the late 1990s he has focused chiefly on special projects from his Hannover base while sharply restricting touring.