HANS HARTMANN Capmanstick / Bass Hans Hartmann, born 1942 in St. Gallen, Switzerland, started playing traditional jazz bass at his canton school. Later, at Zürich conservatory, he was awarded a prize as Switzerland’s best bassist. During this time he played bass for blues singer Champion Jack Dupree and in bands with Remo Rau, Jürg Grau and Peter Canidiotto. For a while Hartmann toured Northern Europe with pianist Marcel Bernasconi and drummer Beat Kennel. In 1968 he took up a position as regular bass player at the Schauspielhaus in Hamburg in a sextet with Hans Koller, Frank St. Peter, and Peter Herbholzheimer. Thereupon, Hartmann formed his own band with Udo Lindenberg on drums and became a member of the German rock band “Guru Guru” between 1973 and 1974. He played and recorded with Polish trumpet player Tomasz Stanko and violinist Zbigniew Seiffert and toured the US with them. A change took place in Hans Hartmann’s life when in New York he discovered the Chapmanstick. Immediately he integrated his new instrument into new projects and simultaneously played as a member in songwriter Hannes Waders band. Henceforth Hartmann lived in Berlin Kreuzberg, to him a place of perfect muslticulturalism. Here he formed the group „Stickstoff“ in 1984 and became a founding member of the contemporary jazz quartet “For Free Hands”. Throughout all these years, Hartmann made his mark as an internationally renowned bassist and as one of the world’s best Chapmanstick players. His musical colleagues are spread all over the world.