Biography
Two separate ensembles have shared the name Jazz-O-Maniacs across the decades. One operated as an American unit in St. Louis, MO throughout the 1920s and was directed by trumpeter/saxophonist Charles Creath. The German ensemble examined here arose well after Creath’s group had already disbanded. Cornetist/trumpeter Roland Pilz launched the Jazz-O-Maniacs in Hamburg, Germany in 1966. Although the band concentrates chiefly on Dixieland revival material, it also performs classic jazz, the idiom that followed Dixieland and preceded the Swing Era and that some regard as an early manifestation of swing. The seminal recordings of trumpeter/singer Louis Armstrong, particularly the Hot Five and Hot Seven sessions of the 1920s, have exerted a decisive influence, as has the pioneering cornet style of King Oliver, one of Armstrong’s chief inspirations. Pilz’s expansive tone clearly reflects both Armstrong and Oliver, and on the occasional vocal he employs a gruff, gravelly delivery that recalls Armstrong’s own distinctive singing. Over the years the ensemble has remained faithful to the New Orleans and Chicago jazz idioms of the 1910s and 1920s, showing no trace of bop or post-swing developments.
Pilz was eighteen when he founded the group and brought in, among others, trombonist Ullo Bela and banjoist Owe Hanson. Although personnel changed from time to time, Bela and Hanson remained members through most of the band’s history, aside from intervals when work or family obligations required temporary absences. In the mid-2000s the lineup consisted of Pilz as leader, Bela, Hanson, clarinetist Claus Jürgen Möller (who has been heavily influenced by Johnny Dodds), alto and tenor saxophonist Cristoph Ditting, pianist Andreas Clement, tuba player Dietrich Kleine-Horst, and washboard player Gunther Andernach. Chicago-based Delmark Records issued CD and DVD editions of the live album Sunset Café Stomp in 2007; the performances had been recorded two years earlier in Racine, WI and Chicago. The year 2008 marked the Jazz-O-Maniacs’ 42nd anniversary.
Pilz was eighteen when he founded the group and brought in, among others, trombonist Ullo Bela and banjoist Owe Hanson. Although personnel changed from time to time, Bela and Hanson remained members through most of the band’s history, aside from intervals when work or family obligations required temporary absences. In the mid-2000s the lineup consisted of Pilz as leader, Bela, Hanson, clarinetist Claus Jürgen Möller (who has been heavily influenced by Johnny Dodds), alto and tenor saxophonist Cristoph Ditting, pianist Andreas Clement, tuba player Dietrich Kleine-Horst, and washboard player Gunther Andernach. Chicago-based Delmark Records issued CD and DVD editions of the live album Sunset Café Stomp in 2007; the performances had been recorded two years earlier in Racine, WI and Chicago. The year 2008 marked the Jazz-O-Maniacs’ 42nd anniversary.
Albums