Frey, Tiepold, Thierfelder & Lang

Frey, Tiepold, Thierfelder were a German chamber-jazz/rock trio comprised of keyboardist Matthias Frey, cellist Wolfgang Tiepold, and percussionist Michael Thierfelder. The trio released the 1979 album Ziyada on Concept Records, then welcomed percussionist Stefan Lang for the 1981 album Colibry, released on veraBra Records.

Members: Matthias Frey (grand piano, synthesizer), Wolfgang Tiepold (cello), Michael Thierfelder (percussion), Stefan Lang (timbales, percussion)

Background

Frey–Tiepold–Thierfelder formed around a booked studio project with keyboardist Matthias Frey, cellist Wolfgang Tiepold, and percussionist Michael “Mick” Thierfelder.

Frey was born in 1956 in Wiesbaden and taught himself piano. He composed for a school band as a twelve-year-old pianist and led his own groups as a teenager. Frey played electric piano and Hammond organ in PSI and wrote the entirety of their 1977 Bacillus album Horizonte.

Thierfelder sang and played harmonica with the King Bees, a Sixities R&B/beat group. He then joined pysch-rockers Nosferatu for their 1970 album on Vogue. He later joined the Michael Sagmeister Trio for studio sessions and gigs on the Rhein-Main jazz scene.

Tiepold recorded with the Hessischer Rundfunk orchestra at Panne-Paulsen in Frankfurt. In 1978, he played on the Klaus Schulze album X. Tiepold played cello on “Heinrich von Kleist” and conducted the orchestra in time with the sequencer.

Frey and Thierfelder first rehearsed a merger with the Michael Sagmeister Trio, but existing contracts blocked the new band. Frey kept the studio booking for his originals and sought session players. He met Tiepold through that search, and the trio took shape in rehearsal. The trio entered The Cottage in Wiesbaden in June 1979 to record Ziyada.

Discography:

Ziyada (1979)
Colibry (1981)

References and notes

Michael “Mick” Thierfelder, “My Music.” Firsthand account of the King Bees, Nosferatu, Michael Sagmeister Trio, the aborted Frey/Sagmeister merger, Frey’s search for session players, the meeting with Tiepold, and the later recruitment of Lang. This is the principal formation source. (Mick Thierfelder — My Music)
Matthias Frey, official biography and discography. Gives Wiesbaden birth, self-taught piano background, teenage bands, PSI instrumentation, Horizonte, and the 1979 Ziyada personnel and label. (Matthias Frey)
Qobuz, PSI — Horizonte. Credits Matthias Frey as composer on each of the seven tracks and identifies Bacillus/Bellaphon. (Qobuz)
MIG Music, Klaus Schulze. Reproduces Schulze’s account of meeting Tiepold at Panne-Paulsen in summer 1978, Tiepold’s Hessischer Rundfunk orchestra connection, the X cello session, and his intervention with the orchestra and sequencer. (MIG Music)
German Rock e.V., Nosferatu. Independently confirms Thierfelder as the singer and English lyricist on the 1970 Nosferatu album. (German Rock e.V.)
ProgNotFrog, Ziyada. Gives the trio lineup and the specific Cottage, Wiesbaden, June 1979 recording date. I would treat the date as secondary evidence until a sleeve scan or studio document turns up. (ProgNotFrog)
Donostiako Jazzaldia archive, 1979. Lists Frey-Tiepold among the German competition entrants for July 20–24 and names Frey and Tiepold under the best-soloist award. The archive swaps their instruments, so I used only the participation and award data. (Jazzaldia)