The drums, more
than any other instrument, have developed significantly in recent years in
terms of playing technique and musical function. Jazz drummers have moved
beyond the role of the accompanist, to an equal musical partner. Indeed, now
they are often band leaders and composers. Their playing is not only defined by
the beat, but also through their sound. Extremely fast tempi, huge dynamic
range, as well as highly virtuosic poly-rhythmic playing are these days
generally a matter of course. German drummer, Oliver Steidle, “ who pulls all
the strings with sensitivity and efficiency “, “ an ace of dynamic and rhythmic
flexibility”, “ a drummer who has developed from rhythmic servitude into a
totally emancipated and unique musician”, has been influential in this
development. Not only German music critics, but also the international press
agrees that Oliver Steidle is “one of the most innovative young jazz
musicians”, “a like-minded collaborator for many renowned musicians, [he]
has admirably developed a distinctive style; he beats, whispers, and controls
his instrument so fabulously as if it were the easiest thing in the world”.
The latter, a comment from the British music magazine The Wire, perhaps
sums up the quintessence of Oliver Steidle’s accomplishments. Although he moves
for the most part between the musical worlds of free jazz and new music, he is
always focused on clarity of sound. He makes even the most complex rhythms
comprehensible, while playing uncomplicated music with intense expression is a
professed goal. Like so few, he succeeds in finding the right proportion of
sound and energy. Beneficial no doubt was the shaping of musical versatility
and variability from an early age. In his hometown Nürnberg, he started on
piano before changing to drums at the age of 11. At 14, he was a fan of
hardcore rock and punk bands the likes of Slayer, Mr. Bungle, or Napalm Death.
Even today he describes rock as his musical origin, reconnecting to these roots
in many of his recent projects.
This is carried out, of course, while incorporating knowledge of the
jazz tradition, and its harmonic and melodic foundations. Already at the age of
16, Steidle had experimented with the vibraphone. After which he played in
garage rock bands, as well as in jazz big bands before beginning a course of
study at the Music Conservatory Nürnberg, under Hans Günther Brodmann, jazz
drum teacher and jazz department head. Brodmann, a role model of stylistic
openness, remains to this day a close friend of Steidle. Via the music
conservatory, Steidle began to play in the Bavarian state youth jazz orchestra,
the top ensemble in Bavaria. From there, it was only a small step to the
first professional bands. Today, Steidle has performed with many of the great
players of jazz, including Tomasz Stanko, Louis Sclavis, Sean Bergin, Vincent
Courtouis, Ernst Reijseger, Josh Roseman, Simon Nabatov, Nils Wogram, Adam
Pieronzcyk and Walter Wierbos.
By the end of the nineties, Nürnberg had become too confining for
Steidle. He had won two music competitions, and was invited by pianist Ritschie
Beirach for an extended stay in New York. In the year 2000, Steidle moved to
Berlin, where he was immediately integrated into the jazz scene, the most
vibrant in Germany, and is now an integral member. In 2002, he was a
founding member of Klima Kalima, the trio led by Finish guitar player Kalle
Kalima. He also joined the band Der Rote Bereich, with Frank Möbus on guitar,
(one of Steidle’s former teachers, who also encouraged the move to Berlin), and
Rudi Mahall, bass clarinet, both Berliner emigrants from Nürnberg, like
himself. Der Rote Bereich would become immensely popular. Due to its unorthodox
orchestration and avant-garde approach, the trio is known as one of the most
prominent European jazz Trios. In 2005, it won the German record critic’s award
for the Album “Live in Montreux”. In 2006 the trio was awarded the prestigious
national Jazz award, the German Jazz Prize. Two years later with the band Klima
Kalima, Steidle not only repeated this feat, but he was also awarded the prize
for best soloist.
These are not the only prominent projects with which the tireless Oliver
Steidle plays. Since 2003, he belongs to guitar player John Schröder’s trio,
Uli Kempendorff’s Quartet Field, Aki Takase’s Tama Trio, the Hong Kong Quintet
with Alexander von Schlippenbach, Philipp Gropper’s Quartet Philm, and in the
collective band Outliers with Toby Delius, Haarard Wilk, and Clayton Thomas. In
each of these bands, Steidle plays an individual and slightly different role,
up to modern instant composition projects, such as those from Tristan Honsiger
and Axel Dörner. In this context, Steidle alters the sound character of
his drums with the use of objects ranging from cymbals to household appliances,
producing a sound quite unlike the conventional drum sound. He collaborated
with Ensemble Courage in the Maerz Musik Festival, performing the world
premiere of compositions of the Swiss drummer Michael Wertmüller, who like
Steidle has experimented over many years with various forms of New Music. With
his involvement in the Bikini Orchestra, Steidle makes a contribution to the
positive trend in which large ensembles experiment with new and unusual sounds.
Steidle also uses this versatility in diverse self-initiated projects,
among others the Duos ddAa with Antonis Anissegos, and Lenina in collaboration
with Daniel Erdmann, as well as the humorous Collective Band, Rowk Music (Ronny
Graupe, Wanja Slavin und again Kalle Kalima), which operates within rock and
jazz traditions. Also belonging to the category of collectively led bands is
the trio Die dicken Finger, with guitarist Olaf Rupp and bassist Jan Roder,
modelled after the hard rock styles of grindcore and metal. The athletic
competition, and self-serving ossified virtuosity of the originals, is
substituted with spirited improvisation and radical tempo changes. In 2014, the
trio completed an extended tour with Peter Brötzmann, saxophone legend, and
veteran of the German free jazz scene, with whom, somewhat logically, Steidle
has collaborated on occasion for many years.
Steidle´s blood, sweat, and tears flows not least into the band SoKo
Steidle, founded already in 2004. All sound colors and forms are intended to
emerge out of nowhere. “The important question here is how we can combine swing
and jazz traditions with modern sounds and rhythms, that is to say their
extended and abstracted treatment in the form of free improvisation”. The
development of the concept, together with Rudi Mahall, Henrik Walsdorff und Jan
Roder, has taken place exclusively during live concerts, through the conscious
exclusion of rehearsal. After over 100 concerts across Europe, and four CDs,
this concept functions not only extremely well, but an unmistakably original
band sound has also emerged in the process.
The newest of his many undertakings, initiated in 2013 is the Quartet
Oli Steidle & the killing Popes, with the line-up of Frank Gratkowski,
Kalle Kalima und Petter Eldh, where Steidle draws purposefully on his hardcore
and punk rock roots. The result of his intensive involvement with these aesthetics
is the translation of the immense energy of this music into the formal language
of jazz. For the first time, he wrote lyrics for his songs, an expression of
his growing interest in recent years in political themes. Concrete political
statements find their way into songs like “Monopoly Experiment”, or “Robin Hood
Index”, a continuation of the old and almost forgotten jazz tradition.
With such a multitude of activities, it is no wonder that Steidle is
constantly on tour, a veritable festival champion. For quite some time, he has
played in at least a dozen worldwide festivals each year, with increasing
tendency. Countless tours, among others initiated and sponsored from the German
Music Council, or the Goethe Institute, have taken him throughout Europe and
the USA, as well as to China, India, and Yemen. The globalized world is
increasingly able to hear the no less globalized music of Oliver Steidle. For
Steidle, this is only a beginning.
