WINTER 2011

R.I.P. Hans Reichel
(May 10, 1949 - November 22, 2011)

Hans was a true original - brilliant musician/improvisor, designer/inventor of the daxophone and many unique guitars as well as a beautiful line of fonts. I first saw him at Soundscape in NYC, I'm guessing in 1982, on a double-bill of solo sets with Steve Lacy. I went to see the more famous Lacy, but it was Hans who astonished me, playing a nylon-string guitar with frets mounted all the way up to the opening and using 10 fingers to play in virtuosic hammer-on manner. This was well before Stanley Jordan made such techniques well known. This music is captured on a beautiul disc which I believe is still available from FMP - "The Death of the Rare Bird Amir".
I wish I had played with Hans more but we had a wonderful set of duo concerts in Japan in the late 1980s. Also a trio concert at Roulette with Fred Frith that I have a copy of somewhere - will have to find it as I remember it was excellent. Hans went on to invent the daxophone, an instrument utilizing a clamp integrated with a pickup, to which are attached various gorgeously fashioned pieces of wood. The wood is then bowed or struck, resulting in unique, often moaning vocal tones. Hans was a supreme autodidact. Shortly after the World Wide Web appeared, starting with no computer experience, he began creating www.daxo.de, which is simply the most original website anyone I know has created. When you have some time (I'd say 20 minutes is a minimum) take a trip there. You will discover the sounds of the daxophone, Hans' beautiful fonts, his guitar designs and many interactive sonic/visual games with cute things like meerkats.

I have enjoyed playing alongside the daxophone in my work with Kazu Uchihashi, who was Hans' close friend and in my opinion the instruments' most brilliant practitioner.

Kazu's official website

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