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Manfred Schoof
Manfred Schoof (*1936 in Magdeburg, Germany), the "great romantic of the jazz avant-garde", is one of Germany's most famous trumpeters. He shaped the development of free jazz in Europe in groundbreaking ways with the Globe Unity Orchestra as well as with the Manfred Schoof Quintet and the Manfred Schoof Orchestra. In 1969, he released European Echoes, the first FMP record ever. As a composer, he wrote for all of the German and many European radio orchestras, penned numerous film and television scores and composed choral and orchestral works. Schoof taught as a professor at the College of Music in Cologne and has won numerous awards; in 2006, he was awarded the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany.