Daily Dose Of Jazz…

Fritz “Freddie” Brocksieper was born on August 24, 1912 in Constantinople, Turkey, the son of a Greek-speaking Jewish woman and a German engineer who was able to get through National-Socialism as an essential swing musician.

Considered a leading figure of early European big-band jazz, by 1930 was working in Nuremberg and Berlin in the 1930s. By World War II he was playing around Germany with different people, the Goldene Sieben (Golden Seven), Benny De Weille, Willy Berking, and the radio orchestra of Lutz Templin, just as in the National-Socialist propaganda band Charlie and His Orchestra.

After the war he led various bands in Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin, Germany and also played in American officers’ clubs. With his bands Freddie made it to the front page of Stars and Stripes. Beginning in 1957 Bavarian radio regularly broadcast live concerts from his studio in Munich.

Brocksieper continued performing into the 1960s and 1970s, and was awarded a Deutscher Schallplattenpreis in 1980. From 1964 he played mainly in trios, and often with American soloists in Europe. His drumming style was influenced by Gene Krupa. He recorded with his own ensembles, both large and small, in the late 1940s. From 1964 he played mainly in trios and with visiting American soloists. Drummer Freddie Brocksieper passed away on January 17, 1990.

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