R.I.P.: Werner Burkhardt

Werner Burkhardt
(b: July 9, 1928, Hamburg/Germany;
d: Aug. 2008, Hamburg/Germany)

The German jazz critic Werner Burkhardt died in his hometown Hamburg, Germany, at the age of 80. Burkhardt was one of the major German cultural critics, writing mostly about opera, theatre, blues and jazz. He started his career writing a short notice about Count Basie for Die Welt in 1952. Later he worked for German public radio, translated Billie Holiday's autobiography as well as Nat Shapiro/Nat Hentoff's "Hear Me Talkin' To Ya" into German, wrote for Die Zeit, Stern and Süddeutsche Zeitung. He bequeathed his huge record collection to the Hochschule für Musik Hamburg 10 years ago on the occasion of his 70th birthday. Obituaries: Hamburger Abendblatt, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.