Enrique Crespo (Trombone, Arranger)

Born: 1941 - Montevideo, Uruguay

Enrique Crespo is a trombonist, arranger and founding member of the German Brass Ensemble. He studied music and architecture in Montevideo and in Buenos Aires. He was was principal trombonist in the symphony orchestra there, as well as jazz soloist, arranger and bandleader for TV productions. He was awarded a grant which took the spirited, thoroughbred musician to the college of music in Berlin in 1967. There he studied trombone and composition, in which he graduated with a music degree in 1969. In the same year he became principal trombonist with the Bamberger Symphoniker and moved on in 1980 to the same position in the Radio Symphony Orchestra Stuttgart.

During this time Enrique Crespo was principally occupied with his own compositions, which he personally presented. He cooperated intensively with the Bavarian broadcasting company, and set up a private recording and film studio from which numerous record, film and television productions emerged.

For one of his productions, and a consequent tour of France, Enrique Crespo formed in 1974 the German Brass Quintet (Deutsche Blechbläserquintett), with some ex-fellow students from Berlin, all of them now soloists in leading orchestras in Germany. The other members were Konradin Groth and Martin Kretzer (trumpets), Wolfgang Gaag (French Horn) and Dieter Cichéwicz (tuba). In order to be able to arrange the music of Bach without compromise for the EMI Classics production, "BACH 300", he doubled the size of the quintet in 1985 and gave it the new name German Brass. It has become the most popular and successful professional Brass ensemble in Germany. The group has produced more than 20 CD recordings and it regularly tours around the world.

From the beginning he dedicated himself to jazz and folkore with the same passion and enthusiasm as to so-called serious music. Enrique Crespo's compositions are marked by this mixture of such diverse styles, and with his extensive knowledge of instruments he offers the brass players completely new scope. Their instruments, as a rule treated with some neglect by "classical" composers, are awarded the opportunity of entering into totally different dimensions of play. Crespo has also arranged a number of pieces in a variety of styles (including baroque, classical, jazz, folk and popular music from Latin and South America) for German Brass.

Source: Wikipedia Website (January 2010); German Brass Website
Contributed by Aryeh Oron (July 2010)

Enrique Crespo: Short Biography | German Brass | Recordings of Instrumental Works | Arrangements/Transcriptions: Works | Recordings

Links to other Sites

Enrique Crespo (Wikipedia)

German Brass (Official Website) [Multi-lingual]