In 2023, Torsten Zwingenberger will celebrate his 50th stage anniversary! At the age of 14, he made his first appearance in Hamburg on February 3, 1973, playing a washboard, and in December 1974, he played his first gigs as a drummer, including live performances on NDR television. He received the German Record Critics’ Award in 1986.
Drummer Torsten Zwingenberger is one of the most prolific figures on the German jazz scene. His schedule includes over 100 concerts a year, international tours, and numerous projects as a bandleader and sideman. Already in his mid-twenties, he worked with jazz legends such as Buddy Tate, Harry “Sweets” Edison, and Joe Pass.
He also developed a special drumming technique called Drumming 5.1, for which he expanded the classic drum set with a variety of percussion instruments and played all four limbs with artistic precision.
Torsten Zwingenberger first became known with his brother Axel Zwingenberger and his Torsten Zwingenberger Trio, then as an accompanist of jazz heroes such as Buddy Tate and Harry “Sweets” Edison, Joe Pass, Jay McShann, and Plas Johnson. He later caused a sensation with the band Lyambiko until 2006. He can usually be found in jazz clubs, on concert stages, and at festivals. His playing technique and musicality at the highest level allow him to immediately translate every idea into reality on the drum kit. Because curiosity and passion drive him ever forward in his search for new forms of expression and technical finesse, he consistently succeeds in creating new sounds, combining old and new jazz styles with blues, boogie-woogie, rhythm and blues, swing, bebop, hard bob, Latin jazz, Afro- and Cuban music, and funky lounge jazz.
His original music is jazz. On his own albums and performances, he therefore often plays with his TORSTEN ZWINGENBERGER 4TET, founded in 2020 with saxophonist Patrick Braun, pianist Kenneth Berkel and bassist Carmelo Leotta, as well as with pianist Lionel Haas and bassist Martin Lillich, with whom he founded the formation BERLIN 21, and with clarinettist Thomas L’Etienne, with whom he founded the NEW ORLEANS SHAKERS in 1976. He is also currently performing with pianists such as his brother Axel Zwingenberger, Marc Lowenthal and the two International Blues Challenge winners Georg Schroeter and Marc Breitfelder, together with the young guitarist and singer Kalle Reuters from Kiel and the Hamburg blues legend Abi Wallenstein. Another new band project, born out of the indoor performance bans during the coronavirus pandemic—because Torsten and many of his bandmates busked in public spaces in Berlin in spring 2021 to preserve the chops for live performances—is the formation “BERLIN 21 STREETWORKERS,” featuring the magnificent singer Emil Wahlgren (born 1999), guitarist Alexey Wagner, pianist Lionel Haas, and bassist Martin Lillich, plus (of course) Torsten Zwingenberger. This band interprets popular funk, soul, and jazz classics that are very popular (and not only) with the urban baby boomer generation.
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Torsten Zwingenberger worked with the following musicians:
Jazz:
Trumpeters: Harry “Sweets” Edison, Doc Cheatham, Benny Bailey, Jon Faddis, Joe Newman, Ingrid Jensen, Till Broenner
Saxophone and clarinet players: Buddy Tate, Plas Johnson, Buddy De Franco, Red Holloway, Danny Moss, Thomas l’Etienne, John Defrey, Peter Mueller, Fiete Felsch, Helmar Marczinski, David Beecroft, Finn Wiesner, Ralf Reichert, Matthias Seuffert, Patrick Braun
Piano players: Jay McShann, Ray Bryant, Kenneth Berkel, Lionel Haas, Lorenz Boesche, Jan Luley, David Gazarov, Tommy Weiss, Matthias Baetzel, Ekkehard Woelk, Jan-Hendrik Ehlers, Michael Kaeshammer, Dave Ruosch, Marque Lowenthal, Thibault Falk
Guitar players: Joe Pass, Peter Bernstein, Al Casey, Karl Ratzer, Costa Lukacz, Patrick Farrant, Giovanni Weiss, Torsten Goods, Giorgio Crobu, Tim Seier, Kalle Reuter, Alexey Wagner, Thomas Hopf, Jan Mohr
Bass players: Kalli Gerhards, Martin Lillich, Giorgi Kiknadze, Axel Burkhardt, Robin Draganic, Carmelo Leotta, Oliver Karstens, Thomas Stabenow, Lindy Hupertsberg, Paul G. Ulrich, Franz Blumenthal
Singers: Lila Ammons, Jocelyn B. Smith, Lyambiko, Regina Tischer, Iris Romen, Brenda Boykin, CLEO, Denise Gordon
Blues and Boogie Woogie:
Singers: Big Joe Turner, Guitar Crusher, Lillette Jenkins, Big Time Sarah, Jo Ann Kelly, Chris Jagger
Piano players: Axel Zwingenberger, Vince Weber, Champion Jack Dupree, Martin Pyrker, Hans Georg Möller, Big Joe Duskin, Memphis Slim Jools Holland, Georg Schroeter, Michael Pewny, Gregor Kilian, Jo Schumacher, Daniel Ecklbauer, Christian Rannenberg
Harp players: Charly Musselwhite, Marc Breitfelder, Henry Heggen
Crossover artists: Sideman for drag queen Romy Haag
Concerts in Germany, USA, Austria, Switzerland, France, Holland, Belgium, England, Scotland, Ireland, Czech Republic, Poland, Bulgaria, Italy, Monaco, Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Togo, Nigeria, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Central African Republic
Major venues: Berlin Philharmonie, New York Pace Downtown Theater, Vienna Konzerthaus, Hamburg Laeiszhalle and Fabrik, Munich Prinz Regent Theater and Brunnenhof der Residenz, Frankfurt Alte Oper
International festivals: Elbjazz Hamburg, Jazz in the Garden Berlin, Villingen Swingt, Jazz an der Donau, Bonn Beethoven Fest, Düsseldorf Jazzrally, Stuttgart Theaterhaus Jazz Festival, Jazz Days Ingolstadt, Rottweil
