 Dauner
was brought up by his aunt, who was a piano teacher and gave him lessons from his fifth
year. He first worked as a mechanic, but took up music professionally in 1957 when he was
offered a tour with a commercial band. In 1958 he studied trumpet and piano briefly at
Stuttgart College of Music, but as a jazz musician he was largely self-taught. Initially,
Bill Evans was his main influence but Dauner's restless energy and interest in
experimentation and the theatrical side of performance soon led him to evolve his won
musical climate and method of procedure. In 1963 he formed his own trio, with Eberhard
Weber and Fred Braceful, and its unconventional performances caused a sensation at German
festivals.
He also worked with visiting American and
European jazz stars, and had begun composing not only music, but also some bizarre, even
outrageous events. In the second half of the 1960s e destroyed a violin and burned a piano
on stage on one occasion, and on another he covered the heads of one of Germany's most
renowned choirs in nylon stockings so that they could only emit noises. During this period
he devised and recorded Free Action, for a septet featuring Jean-Luc Ponty, Psalmus
Spei, for choir and jazz group for the 1968 Berlin festival , and Dauner-eschingen,
for jazz-soloists and choir for the 1970 Donaueschingen music festival. Since 1969 Dauner
has led the Stuttgart radio jazz group, doing at least one broadcast a month with guest
soloists such as Chick Corea, Ponty, Michal Urbaniak and Zbigniew Seifert. In 1970 he
formed the group Et Cetera which combined electronics with rock rhythms. He has conducted
many workshops for children, bringing out their creativity and helping them to improvise,
and in 1974 he had his own TV show, Glotzmusik, for children.
 In 1975 he founded the United Jazz +
Rock Orchestra (UJRE) to play on a Stuttgart TV show for young people directed by his
friend Werner Schretzmeier. The band became so popular that it began to tour regularly,
and to record it Dauner got together with three other members (Volker Kriegel, Albert
Mangelsdorff and Ack van Rooyen) and Schretzmeier, to form their own record company,
Mood Records. Dauner also composes music
for films, television and plays. In 1978 he collaborated with the composer Rolf Unkel in
creating new background music for F.W. Murnau's classic silent movie Faust (1926), Unkel
composing the acoustic score and Dauner the integrated electronic music. In the later
1970s he wrote The Primal Scream for symphony orchestra, choir, prepared tapes, solo voice
and solo violin (played by Seifert), which as premiered at the Berlin festival. In 1985 he
wrote Trans Tanz for symphony orchestra plus solo trombone (Mangelsdorff) and solo piano
(himself). He plays many solo piano concerts and he also often works with Mangelsdorff in
duo, trio and quartet formations. With the German All Stars he has toured South America
and Asia and with hi own groups and the UJRE he has played festivals all over Europe.
In 1986 he began working with the
singer/songwriter Konstantin Wecker for concert tours and recordings and in 1991 he and
Wecker did a South American Tour, during which Dauner played two solo concerts in Mexico
at Guadalajara and La Paz. The following year Dauner played a solo concert in Mexico City
and conducted a workshop in improvisation at the Guadajajara Conservatory. In 1994 Dauner
and Charlie Mariano played in duo at the Red Sea Festival. He has had many composing
commissions in recent years including Feuerwerksmusix (1985) for the UJRE to celebrate
twenty years of jazz on NDR (North German Radio) and for Baden-Wuertemberg a symphonic
poem for orchestra and soloists, When In Trouble Travel (1992).
His favourite pianist is Glenn Gould, and
other inspirations are Coltrane, Webern, Debussy and Ravel. Dauner is a massive talent
embracing (as both player and composer) every facet of contemporary music-making. His
hobbies of painting and the theatre have inspired and informed his music.
Q: Carr, Ian /
Fairweather, Digby / Priestley, Brian:
Jazz - The Rough Guide, 1995
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