Jutta Hipp

Pianist Jutta Hipp (1925-2003) had a sadly truncated career – her first recordings were in 1952, her last in 1956 – but her recorded output is well worth exploring, and its hard not to speculate what she might have achieved, had she stuck with it. She was born in Leipzig and grew up under Nazi rule, discovering, listening to, and learning to play jazz largely in secret. She studied art in Leipzig, before the extensive bombing of the city in the latter years of the Second World War forced her family to move to Munich. After the war, Hipp was a ‘displaced person’, living in poverty. She gave birth to a son in 1949, fathered by an African American GI, who she soon gave up for adoption, given her difficult circumstances.

By 1951, Hipp was playing jazz professionally, inspired by the ‘cool’ sounds of Lennie Tristano. She toured with the Austrian saxophonist Hans Koller, with whom she made her debut recordings. From 1953, Hipp led her own quintet in Frankfurt, featuring at times trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff, saxophonists Joki Freund and Koller, and guitarist Attila Zoller. A Blue Note release New Faces came in 1954, with the encouragement of Leonard Feather, who persuaded her to relocate to USA in 1956. An engagement at the Hickory House with Peter Ind on bass and Ed Thigpen on drums, led to two live album releases again on Blue Note, before she recorded with Zoot Sims an album which is the most readily available of her output. An appearance at Newport Jazz Festival followed in August of that year. It appears that despite this apparent success, Hipp was unhappy throughout this period, and she withdrew from professional music. She found a job at a clothing factory, where she remained for 35 years, and refocused her creative energies on her art. Increased interest in Hipp, since her death in 2003, means that much of what she recorded has been re-released.

Key Recordings:
The German Recordings 1952-1955 (Jazzhaus 2013)
Jutta Hipp with Zoot Sims (Blue Note 1956)