Saxophone & Clarinet player Rainer Theobald hails from Berlin, Germany and was raised in a little town called Alsfeld.
At the age of six he took flute lessons and was influenced early on by classical music, soul and later, jazz. Influenced by Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Wayne Shorter, Weather Report and Archie Shepp. He started playing clarinet in 1972 and a year later joined the local electric-jazz band “GRABHUND”. Intrigued by the saxophone, in 1975 he purchased one and began to craft his style. He toured and recorded with GRABHUND until 1981 and performed at the best jazz venues in Frankfurt.
In Berlin, he began to teach saxophone and clarinet. He played with artists such as bassist Jay Oliver, Steve Lacy, Pam Shiner, Peter Kowald and the best of the Free-Jazz scene. Forming his own Punk-Jazz group ‘COAL’ , winning awards with them and also was the opening act at the 14.Hofheimer Jazz Festival for Sun Ra Arkestra. Stayed busy with a steady flow of studio work with well known bands like ELEMENT OF CRIME and TV Shows with ALPHAVILLE. He also formed several other funk and jazz bands like The"O"s, BIG BLOW 7, ART BOLDEN QUARTET.
Rainer Theobald now lives in Berlin as a saxophone & clarinet player, composer, bandleader and manager who performs many high-end venues in the area. He is looking to find collaborations as a sideman, studio-work, live performance, recording and producing worldwide.
