Wolfgang Reisinger

Jazz drummer Wolfgang Reisinger was born on July 16, 1955, in Vienna, Austria. He began his musical education in the Vienna Boys’ Choir when he was five years old, eventually attending the Music and Arts University of the City of Vienna and studying piano. He also studied percussion at the University of Music and Performing Arts. Focusing on his skills as a drummer and percussionist, he specialized in contemporary and avant-garde jazz, free improvisation, and contemporary music. In 1973, he joined experimental outfit Erster Wiener Muzikzirkus, a group of musicians that created music for live dance performances. After collaborating with composer Thomas Pernes and the trio Medaya, Wolfgang Reisinger composed “Hippodrome” (1978) for the Vienna Burgtheater. From 1979 to 1989, Wolfgang Reisinger performed with jazz ensemble Vienna Art Orchestra, where he met Wolfgang Puschnig, Uli Scherer, Herbert Joos and Jürgen Wuchner, with whom he formed the group Part of Art. The jazz group recorded two albums – Moebius (1981) and Son Sauvage (1983) – and toured Germany, France, Switzerland, and Austria. In 1985, Wolfgang Reisinger formed a new group called Air Mail and recorded the albums Prayer for Peace (1985) and Light Blues (1988). In Between Air Mail releases, he formed The Pat Brothers and released the album The Pat Brothers No. 1 (1986). Wolfgang Reisinger began the 1990s by forming the group Passaggio - with Armand Angster, Françoise Kubler, François Couturier, and Jean-Paul Céléa – and released the albums Passagio (1990) and L’Ibere (1994). Remaining musically adventurous, he continued to perform with different groups including a trio that he led between 1997 and 2001 plus The Outland Quintet (2000), The Reform Art Orchestra (2009-2016), The Monika Lang Trio (2015) and The Sonic Fiction Orchestra (2020). Wolfgang Reisinger also recorded several solo albums as a leader including Matador (1994), Alone Again (1999) and Refusion (2006), which featured Dave Liebman, Marc Ducret, Matthew Garrison, Jean-Paul Celea and Wolfgang Mitterer. Over the course of his career, he participated in recording sessions with Sigi Finkel, Joachim Kühn, Rabi Abou-Khalil and Ken Vandermark. Wolfgang Reisinger died on June 8, 2022, at the age of 66.

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