Jaki Liebezeit

Jaki Liebezeit
Background information
Born	(1938-05-26) 26 May 1938 Dresden, Germany
Genres	Krautrock, electronic, European free jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instruments	Drums, percussion, double bass, piano, saxophone
Years active	1961–present
Associated acts	Manfred Schoof, Can, Brian Eno, Phantomband, Jah Wobble, Phew, Philip Jeck, Depeche Mode, Bernd Friedmann

Jaki Liebezeit (born 26 May 1938 in Dresden, Germany^[1][2]) is a drummer best known as a founding member of Can, who has been called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral".^[3]

In the mid-1960s, he was part of Manfred Schoof's quintet, who were early exponents of European free jazz.^[4]

He subsequently moved towards the new possibilities being opened by psychedelic music as a member of Can. His drumming was prominent in the band's sound, particularly in his much-admired contribution to the side-long "Halleluhwah" on Tago Mago. Liebezeit is best known for his exceptional "metronome" style of playing; other members of Can have suggested that he sounds as though he is "half-man, half machine".

Liebezeit provided drums, in the form of the distinctive "Motorik beat", for Michael Rother's late-1970s solo albums.^[5]

In 1980, he became a member of Phantomband,^[4] and has formed drum ensembles such as Drums off Chaos and Club off Chaos.^[4] Later he recorded with numerous musicians, such as Jah Wobble^[4] and Philip Jeck, with whom he produced an album for Jah Wobble's 30 Hertz Records, and has contributed drums and percussion to many albums as a guest throughout the years, such as the Depeche Mode album Ultra and Brian Eno's album Before and After Science. Recently, he has worked with Burnt Friedman on the Secret Rhythms^[6] albums and with Schiller on the Atemlos album.

References

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