Summary: The first guitarist to discover free jazz, innovator of modern jazz guitar
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Full Name: Attila Cornelius Zoller
Description: Guitarist, Hungari
Known For: He patented a bi-directional pickup for guitars in 1971 and helped design his own signature line of guitars
Instruments: Guitar
Music Styles: Jazz
Location: United States of America
Date Born: 13th June 1927
Location Born: Visegrád,, Hungary
Date Died: 25th January 1998
Location Died: Townshend, Vermont, United States of America
CONTACT DETAILS
Web Site: http://www.allmusic.com/artist/p9291
Other Links: For other links about this entertainer click on the Links button above
YOUTUBE VIDEO
BIOGRAPHICAL PROFILE
Attila Zoller
A Hungarian born Jazz guitarist. He won Deutscher Filmpreis for Beste Filmmusik (best score) in Germany for the film Das Brot der frühen Jahre in 1962.
Born in Visegrád, Hungary, as a child Zoller was taught classical violin by his father, who was a professional violinist.
In his teens, he switched to flugelhorn, then bass, and finally guitar.
Zoller quit school during the Russian occupation of Hungary following World War II and began playing professionally in Budapest jazz clubs.
He escaped Hungary in 1948 just before the permanent Soviet blockade of the country and began his serious music career after he moved to Vienna in 1948. He formed a jazz group with the accordionist and vibraphonist Vera Auer.
Zoller left Austria for Germany in 1954, where he played with pianist Jutta Hipp, saxophonist Hans Koller and trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff.
Visiting American musicians Oscar Pettiford and Lee Konitz found Zoller’s work notable and they urged him to move to the US which he did in 1959, after winning a scholarship to the Lenox School of Jazz.
There he studied with Jim Hall and roomed with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, whose influence sparked Zoller’s interest in free jazz.
Zoller played in drummer Chico Hamilton’s group in 1960, with Benny Goodman and flautist Herbie Mann from 1962-1965.
Zoller was the founding president of the Vermont Jazz Center (1985) where he also taught music until 1998.
He died in Townshend, Vermont.
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