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Guitarist, composer, arranger & Jazz club owner
I am a guitarist, composer, arranger and bandleader. A big Wes Montgomery and George Benson fan, I studied jazz guitar in Arnhem, Holland. Over the years I played in many bands and projects: Zwiebop, Tribehouse and Doña Guarapita, to mention a few. I have a beloved collection of vintage Gibson guitars, creating a distinct sound with a 1969 ES-150, my own special stoptail conversion with an interesting combination of pickups. Among other activities, I provide a vintage guitar YouTube channel with guitar and effect demos and run the informal jazz club "Klub der Töne" in Germany.
CD "For Minors Only"
My cd "For Minors Only" is a collection of various live recordings from
the Premium Lounge and Klub der Töne (Cologne, Germany).
All Tracks were recorded with my 1967 Gibson L5 - warm, smooth Jazz guitar
sound at its best!
The title song "For Minors Only" has always been one of my all time
favorites, now we recorded a really nice version of it.
There are also some other classics like "There Is No Greater Love" or "Song
For My Father" - all energetic live recordings with
great solos, a very special atmosphere and ... a lot of jazz guitar.
All tracks are from different nights, played with these great musicians:
Drums: Ulf Stricker / Hardy Fischötter
Bass: Fritz Roppel / Wally Böcker
Piano: Walter Fischbacher / Andreas Schnermann / Ernie Griffin
Sax: Lothar van Staa / Anton Fialko
Photos by Joanne Greenhalgh
What I do
A jazz show
The Orange Sunday is a monthly event - often with
spontaneous guests -
that takes place at the club Klub der Töne.
I created it as an informal Jazz club, especially for that show.
For every Orange Sunday (the first Sunday of every month),
I combine a new, high quality session band.
Join us for spontaneous musical adventures from Soul to Jazz at our funky
little venue with a unique atmosphere.
Sit back, get a glass of wine and listen so some high quality jazz in the
exciting atmosphere of the old industrial building.
A jazz Club
Klub der Töne
is my own jazz club in an old warehouse space in Cologne, Germany. I
literally built the entire club myself - the stage, the curtain, the
bathrooms,
the bar. Also, I did the interior design and outright every piece of
furniture or equipment was hand-selected by me.
The club can fit up to 190 people, has great acoustics and is perfectly set
up for
live gigs.The main room includes an open floor where you can sit up close to
the band,
and a small balcony level where you can relax in cozy couches while taking
in the scene below.
When we don't have shows, the club is rented out for weddings, birthdays and
cd releases.
A rehearsal room center
Two industrial warehouse spaces converted to rehearsal rooms for more than
250 bands: art
olive (Cologne,
Germany) is a music rehearsal room center that I built over many years. I
now run it with my wife Dana who joined the company in 2003.
I started the first building in 1993 when I couldn't find a rehearsal space
after moving back to Cologne at the end of my music studies in Holland.
There was an overwhelming demand for well-insulated, professionally built
rehearsal rooms, as it turned out. Over 20 years, art olive slowly grew from
a small basement with eight rooms into a huge rehearsal center for musicians
of all kinds and styles.
A vintage guitar channel
I love my vintage Gibson guitars and created a vintage guitar YouTube
channel with live demos.
At Vintage Guitars & Gear, I introduce and explain
many great guitars from the 50s and 60s. Over the years, a small guitarist
community with a lot of interesting guitar talk has formed.
In my videos, I combine high quality live recordings with information about
everything that was involved in the chain.
From the guitar over the PUs and strings to the FXs, the amp and the
speakers - you'll learn exactly what was used.
Interior Design
I always liked designing my own furniture, room deviders or light
installations.
Since I love loft living, I have converted several warehose spaces, some of
them for business, others as a personal
work and living space. In the course of the years I've worked on so many
projects, that I today design spaces
like Tonkunsthalle or
Klub der Töne without an architect or interior
designer.
At the club, we used an old crane as the bar, built bathrooms out of
recycled floor materials and machine parts,
created light installations out of industrial metal beams, used oil drums as
tables and basically made the entire venue a piece of art.
Web Design
I also make web design like this site and basically all others that are in
some way related. I learned programming - which as a musician doesn't seem
to
be the most likely thing to learn. Yet, as a design person, I think websites
are a great way to communicate and be creative at the same time.
Sites I created that are publicly available are
orangesunday.de
klub-der-toene.de
art-olive.com
art-olive.com/english
oliverdoering.com
Above: Tonkunsthalle, a rehearsal room center with hundreds of practice rooms, several recording studios and the club.
Klub der Töne - my own jazz club, entirely self-designed, built especialy for my monthly show Orange Sunday.
The Orange Sunday takes place the first sunday of every month with changing
musicians and spontaneous guests.
Guitars
I love my vintage Gibsons!
I have been playing vintage Gibsons since many years. No new (or somewhat newer)
guitar can compare with the
vibe and sound of a 50+ year old instrument that is broken in like your favorite
leather jacket.
Once you have found the perfect guitar, you know it! When you stop tweaking
sounds or even thinking
about replacing pickups and other appointments, you will forget about all of
this and simply express yourself
in music. You know how great the guitar is when you actually forgot you were
playing one and the music comes to life.
I by now have a collection of fine vintage Gibsons, some of them shown here for
you to enjoy.
If you are interested check out my Youtube channel
Vintage Guitars & Gear.
Looking for a vintage guitar to buy? Feel free to email me.!
1956 Gibson Super 400 CES
This is a gorgeous 1956 Super 400 with Alnico Staples, only made for a very
short time.
It sounds airy and open with the typical single coil sound those pickups
produce.
It is all original with no modifications (except my personal Barney Kessel style
knobs for better
visibilty of the setting).
Of course it has the 1" 11/16th nut and an ebony fingerboard, nitrocellulose
lacquer,
split-parallelogram mother of pearl inlays and the classic S400 trapeze
tailpiece.
The parallel braced carved top in combination with the single coils makes the
voice of
this instrument so clear, open and articulated!
I am a big Doug Raney fan and love the sound he had with his P-90 equipped
ES-350.
This Super 400 often reminds me somewhat of his recordings, e.g. his solos on
Chet Baker's "Daybreak".
1967 Gibson L5 CES
For many years I wanted a vintage L5 (Wes's guitar) which was not easy to
find:
The good ones that sound great, have been treated well, are unmodified and -
when you're lucky -
also look beautiful are hardly ever for sale.
My 1967 L5 C-ES had everything I ever dreamed of: Atypical for that year, it
has a round cutaway, 1" 11/16th nut and medium neck.
When I first played it at a store in London it was love at first sight. From
there, it got better. Playing hundreds of gigs with it,
I learned how versatile and powerful it is. It has every beautilful jazz
guitar sound you could possibly want for.
The original Pat# sticker PUs sound warm and rich.
1" 11/16th nut, ebony fingerboard, waffle back tuners, tune-o-matic bridge,
beveled 5-ply tortoise shell pickguard,
original amber top hat knobs and 3 way switch, block mother of pearl inlays,
L5 gold tailpiece.
1968 Gibson L-5 CES
This is a beautiful 1968 L-5 with a Florentine cutaway,
custom ordered in the color black -
which makes it a unique and impressive masterpiece.
With its pattern number sticker PUs, it sounds midrangy, warm and compressed, great
for single line soloing and octaves.
It is all original with no modifications and looks absolutely stunning in the stage lights.
Of course it has the 1" 11/16th nut and an ebony fingerboard, nitrocellulose lacquer,
mother of pearl block inlays, flower pot headstock inlay and the classic L-5 trapeze tailpiece.
This is a real Bebop guitar, reminding me of the sound on some Pat Martino or Bruce
Forman recordings.
1960 Gibson Super 400 CC
This is a beautiful sounding Super 400 from the early 60s when Gibson made
them
with the comfortable medium D neck profile that is my favorite of all times.
The Charlie Christian pickup by Pete Biltoft produces an incredibly rich,
smooth, open tone -
you never want to put down this guitar.
The pickguard was custom made to fit the shape of the CC perfectly and is
fitted with a Bumblebee capacitor for smooth tone transistion.
All original with no modifications other than the pickguard/pickup
combination and no flaws this is a rare find!
It has vibrant sunburst finish with a nitrocellulose lacquer
that lets the wood breath and sound.
1" 11/16th nut with an ebony fingerboard.
Kluson waffleback tuners, original compensated adjustable rosewood bridge,
split-parallelogram mother of pearl inlays,
trapeze gold tailpiece.
The X-braced carved top in combination with the CC pickup makes the voice of
this instrument so powerful and deep yet clear and nuanced!
