The Trombonists Conrad and Johannes Bauer

A remarkable thing: two brothers, eleven years apart, become involved in music by different routes, learn the same instrument and devote themselves almost exclusively to improvised music.

When Conrad Bauer was already a professional musician, he advised his younger brother Johannes to study an instrument other than the trombone so that they would later be able to play in a band together. Johannes stuck with the trombone, but later they did play together after all — though with a line-up no-one could have imagined at the time: two trombones and two guitars.

Each appears as a performer in his own right, and occasionally they appear together. They do not compete. Each has an unmistakable musical personality. Mutual respect enables them to get on with one another. Their personalities are strong enough that they need neither minimise nor emphasise the differences.

Conrad

Over the years Conrad has arrived at a rather complex trombone style, drawing on all he has learnt. His playing has to do with maturity and maturity has to do with age. When young the brothers were used to hearing songs and music at home (their father was a minister). But Conrad’s real fascination was with the music he heard on the radio and in dance halls. With this in mind he started to teach himself various instruments, played the guitar for a while and sang. He bought a trumpet at the age of sixteen with money earned working in the mines during the holidays. The opportunity of lessons with a good teacher led him to change to trombone. After studying at the Dresden College of Music he played dance music, rock and soul at first, often interspersed with elements of jazz.

The living flow of his music defies all categorisation. The rhythmic tension, drive and instrumental intensity obviously come from the world of jazz. But Conrad’s music is rooted in the present and the many resources he draws on extend beyond jazz and its laws. A strenuous course of study and practice has led him to extend the instrument’s technical possibilities to an almost unimaginable degree. By means of a combination of different techniques — circular breathing and multiphonics, for example — and constant refinement of them he has succeeded in developing an individual vocabulary. For Conrad, however, virtuosity never becomes an end in itself; it is only one of many means of communicating his ideas and emotions.