Biography
Pepsi Auer, the German pianist and composer whose name might suggest a soft-drink-sponsored variety program, nevertheless supplied backing for the innovative jazz multi-instrumentalist Eric Dolphy. Auer’s industrious path on the European jazz scene opened with stage appearances at military clubs throughout the Second World War. After beginning keyboard studies with Hans Kray, Auer entered the Freddy Christmann quartet as pianist in the mid-1950s and later assumed complete control of the group via a maneuver labeled a “combo putsch,” an action possibly tied to his Munich origins.
During 1957 and 1958 Auer worked chiefly alongside Freddy Brocksieper, yet late in the period he also toured with the German All Stars. Among the ensemble’s personnel were saxophonists Emil Mangelsdorff and Joki Freund as well as Peter Trunk, whose command of trumpet, cello, and bass neatly sidestepped the odd distinction of being known solely for a surname suited to hauling gear. Albert Mangelsdorff, the celebrated German trombonist counted among his country’s foremost jazz exports, likewise participated in the group and employed the pianist on a sequence of late-1950s recordings that included several scarce EPs.
Beyond more than a dozen jazz sessions cut between 1954 and 1967, Auer established credentials as an arranger of material that extended to pop songs and became a regular presence on German radio broadcasts. Steering clear of the hectic modernism that later defined much German jazz of the 1960s and 1970s, Auer has remained a mainstream figure, anchored in territory lying between the contrasting idioms of Bud Powell and Horace Silver. The preserved encounter with Dolphy arose from a 1961 live date in Berlin that also featured expatriate trumpeter Benny Bailey, a solid swinger.
During 1957 and 1958 Auer worked chiefly alongside Freddy Brocksieper, yet late in the period he also toured with the German All Stars. Among the ensemble’s personnel were saxophonists Emil Mangelsdorff and Joki Freund as well as Peter Trunk, whose command of trumpet, cello, and bass neatly sidestepped the odd distinction of being known solely for a surname suited to hauling gear. Albert Mangelsdorff, the celebrated German trombonist counted among his country’s foremost jazz exports, likewise participated in the group and employed the pianist on a sequence of late-1950s recordings that included several scarce EPs.
Beyond more than a dozen jazz sessions cut between 1954 and 1967, Auer established credentials as an arranger of material that extended to pop songs and became a regular presence on German radio broadcasts. Steering clear of the hectic modernism that later defined much German jazz of the 1960s and 1970s, Auer has remained a mainstream figure, anchored in territory lying between the contrasting idioms of Bud Powell and Horace Silver. The preserved encounter with Dolphy arose from a 1961 live date in Berlin that also featured expatriate trumpeter Benny Bailey, a solid swinger.