Background
Joachim-Ernst Berendt was born on July 20, 1922, in Berlin, Germany. He was a son of Ernst Berendt, a Protestant pastor, who belonged to the Confessing Church and was imprisoned and died in the Dachau concentration camp.
producer author music journalist
Joachim-Ernst Berendt was born on July 20, 1922, in Berlin, Germany. He was a son of Ernst Berendt, a Protestant pastor, who belonged to the Confessing Church and was imprisoned and died in the Dachau concentration camp.
In his early years, Joachim-Ernst studied Physics, but his studies were interrupted by his enlistment to the Wehrmacht, the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945.
During World War II, Berendt served in the Panzer Division of the German Army. It was at that time, that he developed his interest in jazz. After an injury cut his military career short, Berendt helped to found the Sudwestfunk (SWF) radio and television network in Baden-Baden in 1945. Beginning in 1950 until his retirement in 1987, Joachim-Ernst Berendt headed the jazz department of the SWF.
From 1954 to 1972, the "Pope of Jazz", as Joachim-Ernst Berendt was known, hosted the television show, "Jazz: Heard and Seen", and helped to found numerous music festivals, including Jazztime Baden-Baden, the American Folk Blues Festival and Jazzfest Berlin.
In 1967, he directed the very first World Music Festival in Berlin. In 1970, Berendt organized the World Jazz Festival in Osaka, followed by the Olympia Jazz Festival in 1972 in Munich.
In the late 1970's, Joachim-Ernst Berendt distinguished himself above all through his works on the "acoustic character of the world" and "the significance of hearing" - particularly in his books "The World is Sound", "The Third Ear" and "I Hear, Therefore I Am", and the workshops, seminars and lectures he held worldwide.
Berendt's other books include "Blues", "Jazzlife", "Ein Fenster aus Jazz" and "Photo Story des Jazz". His most famous book, "The Jazz Book", was published in 1952. That work, translated into sixteen languages, was sold close to two million copies.
In his later years, Berendt focused on world music and was one of its early promoters. Moreover, he produced many records, mainly for MPS Records, a German jazz record company, and supported the Jazz & Lyrik project, combining jazz performances with readings of poetry.
Joachim-Ernst Berendt was a prominent German music journalist, author and producer, who specialized in jazz. Berendt's most popular work, ''The Jazz Book,'' written in 1952, went through several editions. The Independent Publishers Group, his American distributor, said, that the book sold almost two million copies worldwide. This work is the most widely used textbook on jazz at colleges and universities in the United States.
In addition, Berendt was known for his works on the "acoustic character of the world" and "the significance of hearing".
During his lifetime, Berendt received several awards, including the Critic's Award of German Television (Kritikerpreis des Deutschen Fernsehens) in 1962, the Culture Award of Poland (Polnischer Kulturpreis) in 1970 and twice the Bundesfilmpreis (present-day Der Deutsche Filmpreis). Also, in 1984, Joachim-Ernst attained the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany (1st Class).
His large collection of records, books, magazines and photos is kept in the archive of the Jazzinstitut Darmstadt.
(Scientists have only recently learned, that the particles...)
1991(For fifty years, "The Jazz Book" has been the most encycl...)
2009
Quotations:
"At the root of all power and motion, there is music and rhythm, the play of patterned frequencies against the matrix of time. We know that every particle in the physical universe takes its characteristics from the pitch and pattern and overtones of its particular frequencies, its singing. Before we make music, music makes us."
"Since the one thing we can say about fundamental matter is, that it is vibrating. And since all vibrations are theoretically sound, then it is not unreasonable to suggest that the universe is music and should be perceived as such."
"Listening begins with being silent."
Berendt was often called "Pope of Jazz".
Berendt was married to Jadranka Marijan-Berendt.
