Emil Mangelsdorff ([ˈɛmɪlˈmaŋl̩s.dɔʁf]; 11 April 1925 – 20 January 2022) was a German
jazz musician who played
alto saxophone,
soprano saxophone,
clarinet and flute. He was a jazz pioneer under the Nazi regime which led to his imprisonment. After World War II and years as a prisoner of war, he was a founding member of the jazz ensemble of
Hessischer Rundfunk in 1958. He played with several groups and was active, also as an educator, until old age.
Life and career
Mangelsdorff was born in
Frankfurt,[1] as the son of the bookbinder Emil Albert Joseph Mangelsdorff (1891–1963), born in Ingolstadt, and his wife Luise, née Becker (1896–1976), from Wertheim.[2] Mangelsdorff was introduced to jazz at age nine, when his mother switched to
Radio Luxemburg, and he heard the voice of
Louis Armstrong.[3] His first instrument was accordion.[3][4] In 1942 and 1943, Mangelsdorff studied clarinet at the
Hoch Conservatory in Frankfurt.[5] As a member of the Frankfurt
Hotclub Combo [
de], with trumpeter
Carlo Bohländer [
de], bassist
Hans Otto Jung and drummer
Hans Podehl [
de], he performed jazz and became a figurehead for
Swing Youth,[2] which led to his being imprisoned by the
Gestapo.[3][6] He was forced into the German army and was a Russian
prisoner of war for four years.[7] In 1949, he returned to Frankfurt and decided to become a professional jazz musician. He played in the groups of
Joe Klimm and
Jutta Hipp, and was also a member of the Frankfurt All Stars and of the jazz ensemble of the broadcaster
Hessischer Rundfunk from 1958.[8][9] In 1966, he founded Swinging Oil Drops, with
Joki Freund,
Volker Kriegel,
Fritz Hartschuh [
de] and
Günter Lenz.[5][10]
Mangelsdorff was influenced by
swing.[5] He continued to develop musically, playing
bebop,
fusion and
cool.[11][12] In 1964, Mangelsdorff wrote an instruction manual for jazz saxophone.[13] He played with
Charles Mingus in New York[5] and performed often in the
Jazzkeller (jazz cellar) in Kleine Bockenheimer Straße, Frankfurt, sometimes together with his brother, trombonist
Albert Mangelsdorff.[8][14] He gave his last concert in Frankfurt's
Holzhausenschlösschen on 1 November 2021.[5] He also informed in schools about the Nazi era as a witness of the time, continuing remembrance work until old age.[4]
His first wife
Simone [
de], an operatic
soprano, died in 1973.[5] Monique (died 2018[15]) was his second wife.[16] Mangelsdorff died in Frankfurt am Main on 20 January 2022, at the age of 96.[9][8]