Christian Lillinger (born 21 April 1984) is a German drummer, composer and percussionist. He was born in Lübben, grew up in the German village of Kuschkow, and has been living in Berlin since 2003 working as a musician and composer.[1][2] Christian has performed in concerts and at festivals in Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and the US. He has played with Joachim Kühn, Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Beat Furrer, Miroslav Vitouš, Dave Liebman, Wadada Leo Smith, William Parker, Evan Parker, Louis Sclavis, Joe Lovano, Peter Brötzmann and Tony Malaby.

History edit

Christian Lillinger studied with Günter Sommer at Hochschule für Musik Carl Maria von Weber in Dresden from 2000 to 2004.[1] In 2000, he won the International Improvisation Contest in Leipzig.[3] From 2001 to 2003, he was a member of the Bundesjazzorchester (BuJazzO), the German federal youth jazz orchestra.[4]

Since 2004 he has constantly contributing to projects of the EUPHORIUM_freakestra, particularly working in trios and quintets with Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky.[5] Joining Oliver Schwerdt (alias Elan Pauer) his corporate recording of the late work of the German free jazz saxophonist and clarinetist coming along with the albums Tumult!, Krawall!, Rabatz! released on EUPHORIUM Records attracted vast attention.[6]

In 2008, Lillinger formed the band Grund. Their first release, First Reason was released in September 2009 with Second Reason, the second release, following in 2013. Both appeared on Clean Feed. The third album Grund was released on Pirouet Records in 2015. The latest album COR was released in 2018 on his own Plaist label.[citation needed] It was among the best reviewed albums of Downbeat Magazine in 2018.[7]

In 2014, he co-founded the band Amok Amor with Peter Evans, Petter Eldh and Wanja Slavin. Amok Amor released their self-titled debut in 2015 on Boomslang Records.[8] In 2017 they followed up with We know not what we do, which was released on Intakt Records.[9][10][11][unreliable source?] In April 2017 Amok Amor played at the Cheltenham Festival, which was broadcast on BBC.[12][13]

Between August 2016 and March 2017, Lillinger was a scholar of the Bartels Fondation in Basel.[14] In 2016, the German TV Network 3sat produced a documentary about his life and musical passion.[15][16][17] In 2017, he founded his music label Plaist-Music. In the same year Christian was awarded the SWR Jazzpreis 2017.[18][19] He plays in the trio Punkt.Vrt.Plastik with Swedish bassist Petter Eldh and Slovenian pianist Kaja Draksler, with whom he released a self titled album in 2018, which was released on Intakt Records.[20][21]

Honors edit

2017: SWR-Jazzpreis [de] 2017[22]

Discography edit

  • Christian Lillingers Grund First Reason (Clean Feed, 2009) with Tobias Delius, Wanja Slavin, Robert Landfermann, Jonas Westergaard and Joachim Kühn
  • Tumult! (Euphorium Records, 2015) with New Old Luten Quintet featuring Ernst-Ludwig Petrowsky, Elan Pauer, Robert Landfermann and John Edwards
  • Karacho! (Euphorium Records, 2017) with Big Bad Brötzmann Quintet featuring Peter Brötzmann, Oliver Schwerdt, John Edwards and John Eckhardt
  • Open Form for Society (Plaist, 2019) with Antonis Anissegos, Kaja Draksler, Elias Stemeseder, Lucy Railton, Robert Landfermann, Petter Eldh, Christopher Dell and Roland Neffe

References edit

  1. ^ a b Peter Margasak (October 2011). "Christian Lillinger: Berlin's Changing Face of Jazz". Downbeat. 78 (10). Frank Alkyer: 15. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Die Energiemaschine". Der Tagesspiegel Online (in German). 6 December 2016. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  3. ^ Schwerdt, Oliver; Pohle, Steffen (25 August 2009). "Improvisation pur in Leipzig – 10 Jahre Projektensembles EUPHORIUM_freakestra" (in German). ConBrio Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. Retrieved 3 September 2019. {{cite magazine}}: Cite magazine requires |magazine= (help); Unknown parameter |agency= ignored (help)
  4. ^ "BujazzO - 30 Jahre Bundesjazzorchester". Fono Forum (in German). Retrieved 19 March 2019.[dead link]
  5. ^ Ute Van der Sanden: Ein Konzertabend der Laut gewordenen Illusionslosigkeit In: Mitteldeutsche Zeitung, 22. Januar 2009.
  6. ^ "Bestenliste 1. Quartal 2018". Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik.
  7. ^ "2018: The Year's Top-Rated Albums". Downbeat. 2018-12-28. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  8. ^ Mike Collins (2015-11-13). "CD REVIEW: Amok Amor (Eldh/Lillinger/Slavin/Evans) - Amok Amor". London Jazz news. Archived from the original on 2015-11-24.
  9. ^ Glenn Astarita (2017-07-21). "Amok Amor: We Know Not What We Do". All About Jazz.
  10. ^ Broomer, Stuart (September 2017). "We Know Not What We Do - Amok Amor (Intakt)" (PDF) (185): 21. Retrieved 26 March 2019. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  11. ^ Rui Eduardo Paes (2017-08-24). "Amok Amor: "We Know Not What We Do" (Intakt)". jazz.pt (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  12. ^ "Jazz Now: Amok Amor". BBC Radio 3. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  13. ^ "Soweto Meets Petter Eldh and Peter Evans Backstage at the Cheltenham Jazz Festival, together they discuss the band 'Amok Amor'". BBC Radio 3. 2017-07-20. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  14. ^ "List of scholars at Im Kleinen Markgräflerhof". markgraeflerhof-basel.net. Archived from the original on 2019-01-11. Retrieved 2018-12-11.
  15. ^ "Gegen den Beat Christian Lillinger und die JazzBaltica". ARD HOME (in German). Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  16. ^ Stock, Ulrich (23 September 2016). "Christian Lillinger: Mit Sticks ins Bett". Die Zeit (in German).
  17. ^ "Christian Lillinger trommelt gegen den Beat". Lausitzer Rundschau. 22 September 2016.
  18. ^ Martin Laurentius. "Jazz 2017 Taking a stand - Jazz Oddity". Goethe Institut. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  19. ^ "SWR Jazzpreis 2017 für Christian Lillinger Deutschlands fiebrigster Schlagzeuger". Südwestrundfunk (in German). 2017-10-09. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
  20. ^ Robert Ham (February 2019). "Draksler/Eldh/Lillinger Punkt.Vrt.Plastik (Intakt)". Downbeat. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  21. ^ Yahvé M. de la Cavada (2018-12-25). "Mágica confluencia de voces jóvenes". El País (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  22. ^ "Schlagzeuger Christian Lillinger erhält SWR Jazzpreis 2017". Südwestrundfunk (in German). 2017-10-09. Retrieved 2018-12-11.