Freddie Brocksieper

Who was Freddie Brocksieper?

Fritz "Freddie" Brocksieper was a German jazz-musician, drummer, and bandleader.

He played professionally in Nuremberg beginning in 1930. In 1939 he went to Berlin. There he made recordings with the Golden Seven, with Benny de Weille and Willy Berking, just as in the National-Socialist propaganda band Charlie and His Orchestra. His playing style on the drums was influenced above all by Gene Krupa.

The son of a Greek-speaking Jewish woman and a German engineer was able to get through National-Socialism as an essential swing musician. Freddie Brocksieper was considered a leading figure of early European big-band jazz. After the Second World War he led various bands in Stuttgart, Munich, and Berlin, and played also in American officers' clubs. With his bands he made it to the front page of Stars and Stripes. Beginning in 1957 Bavarian radio regularly broadcast live concerts from his studio in Munich.

From 1964 he played mainly in trios, and often with American soloists in Europe. In 1980 he received an award from the German Phonograph Academy.