George Gruntz

George Gruntz (June 24, 1932 — Jan. 10 2013) was a Swiss pianist, composer, arranger, and bandleader active for six decades from the late 1940s. Between 1971 and 2006, his namesake Concert Big Band recorded under multiple configurations, releasing over fifteen live and studio albums on MSB, TCB, and other labels.

Background

George Paul Gruntz was born June 24, 1932, in Basel, Switzerland, the son of violinist Georges Gruntz and Marie-Louise Stöckli. His father played violin and sang in a men’s choir. He also took George to classical concerts and jazz matinees at Basel’s Café Java. Gruntz began piano lessons at six and organized student orchestras from childhood. 

On a 1948 trip to Paris, Gruntz joined a Left Bank jam session. In 1949, he began piano study with Eduard Henneberger at Musikschule Basel. He also made private shellac recordings with the George Gruntz Septet at Max Lussi’s studio in Riehen. By 1950, Gruntz attended Saturday jam sessions in Basel led by jazz trumpeter and vibraphonist Hazy Osterwald.

Gruntz completed an apprenticeship as an electrical-machine draftsman with Brown, Boveri & Cie. in 1951 and moved to Baden near Zürich for a company post. He then enrolled in music-theory courses at Zürich Conservatory.

Early Activity

Gruntz recorded his arrangement of “Le Vieux Chalet” at a May 1952 Basel session with the Cool Star Octet. He received the solo-piano prize at the 1954 Zürich Amateur Jazz Festival.

In 1955, Gruntz met alto saxophonist Flavio Ambrosetti and soon joined the Flavio Ambrosetti All Stars. He appeared with Ambrosetti at the 1956 San Remo Jazz Festival and secured a piano engagement the next year at Basel’s Jazz-Café Atlantis.

Gruntz auditioned in Milan for Marshall Brown’s International Youth Band and won the Swiss piano position for an American tour. The band recorded for Columbia at the 1958 Newport Jazz Festival, where Gruntz also accompanied Louis Armstrong on “On the Sunny Side of the Street.” He returned to Europe for concerts with Ambrosetti ensembles and his own small groups.

His trio with bassist Eric Peter and drummer Pierre Favre appeared at the 1960 Comblain-la-Tour festival, where they recorded “Hard Joe.” Gruntz recorded the score for Hannes Schmidhauser’s film Seelische Grausamkeit (Mental Cruelty) at an October 1961 Zürich session with trumpeter Raymond Court, bassist Karl Theodor Geier, drummer Kenny Clarke, and saxophonists Barney Wilen and Marcel Peeters. The session appeared as Jazz Sound-Track on Telefunken-Decca.

In 1963, Gruntz left automobile sales and became a full-time musician. He toured Japan early that year with singer Helen Merrill and later toured Europe with reedist Roland Kirk. Gruntz also collaborated in Basel with harpsichordist Antoinette Vischer.

Producer Siegfried E. Loch then proposed a Philips album built from Gruntz arrangements of Baroque repertory. Loch booked Gruntz on harpsichord with flutist Emil Mangelsdorff, reedist Klaus Doldinger, bassist Peter Trunk, and drummer Klaus Weiss for the West Berlin sessions that became Jazz Goes Baroque.

Discography:

• From Sticksland With Love (1967)
• Noon in Tunisia (1967)
• St. Peter Power (1968)
• 2001 Keys Piano Conclave (1974)
• Eternal Baroque (1974)
• Percussion Profiles (1978 • Jack DeJohnette, Pierre Favre, Fredy Studer, Dom Um Romão, David Friedman & George Gruntz)
• Fairytale (1979 • Jasper van’t Hof & George Gruntz)

Sources

• George Gruntz official chronology — birth, lessons, apprenticeship, Paris, Osterwald, Brown Boveri, Cool Star Octet, Ambrosetti, Atlantis, Newport, early tours, Helen Merrill, Roland Kirk, Vischer and Loch. (George Gruntz)
• George Gruntz official discography — Mental Cruelty session, Jazz Goes Baroque personnel and recording dates, early recordings. (George Gruntz)
• Personenlexikon des Kantons Basel-Landschaft — family, education, Café Java, Henneberger, Brown Boveri, 1954 Zurich prize and early career chronology. (Personenlexikon des Kantons Basel-Landschaft)
• Bruno Spoerri, European Journal of Musicology — eyewitness history of Swiss jazz and the 1952 Basel octet modeled on Birth of the Cool. (European Journal of Musicology)
• Swiss Jazz Discography II — May 1952 “Le Vieux Chalet,” Ambrosetti sessions and early Gruntz recordings. (Ordie Cole)
• European Music Council, Snapshots on Music and Heritage — Marshall Brown International Youth Band formation and documented 1958 personnel. (European Music Council)
• FILMO press booklet for Seelische Grausamkeit — film date, Gruntz music credit and February 1962 Zurich premiere. (FILMO)
• ACT Music — Siggi Loch retrospective identifying Jazz Goes Baroque as Gruntz’s first album under his own name. (ACT Music)