Advertisements always say “Australian guitarist Peter O’Mara”, which is only half the truth: When the man from Sydney turns 65 on December 9th, he will have 41 years, almost two-thirds of his life, in spent in Munich. He has been part of Klaus Doldingers’ regular cast for more than 30 years passport not a local jazzman of note he hasn’t played with, and for a number of years O’Mara has been, too Professor of jazz guitar at the Munich University of Music and Theater – one can rightly call him a Munich native.
In 1981 he came to the Isar, more or less by accident, just as much of his amazing career is based on remarkable coincidences, as he reports. It all started when his elementary school teacher discovered his good voice and made him sing solo pieces in front of the class. A basic musical education that led to the successful request to his unmusical parents to buy him a guitar at the age of ten.
Three lessons were included in the price, but that soon ended because O’Mara didn’t like working with the textbook his teacher forced on him: “I wanted to learn chords and play the songs I heard on the radio.” After six months, the teacher told O’Mara’s mother: “The boy is untalented, further lessons with me make no sense.”
Twice he failed the entrance exam at the conservatory
Experiences repeated later. After graduating from high school in 1975, O’Mara failed twice the entrance exam at the Sydney Conservatory, which is why he never went to college. Hopefully talent scouting will look different today. In retrospect, he himself considers it a blessing: “I could do whatever I wanted and wasn’t tied down.”
Apart from private lessons and workshops with stars like John Scofield, Dave Liebman, Randy Brecker, Adam Nussbaum and Steve Swallow, the practice became his university. First his best friend’s school band (“I would never have become a musician without him”), then small teaching jobs and first gigs, brokered by guitarist George Golla and bassist Jackie Orsacsky. O’Mara soon became a regular at Sydney’s jazz clubs, like Pinball Wiz, which was also where a certain Tommy Emmanuel was starting out.
O’Mara, who was already with Jimi Hendrix, Rory Gallagher, Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple or Black Sabbath grew up, i.e. came from rock before he found jazz through George Benson and John McLaughlin, quickly gained all kinds of experience as part of the scene. In studio jobs, in a disco cover band, as a theater musician, in big bands with international guests and with the first own projects. In 1981 his first album was released, which not only got good reviews, but also helped him to earn a scholarship that would later become important.
On the way home from New York he got stuck in Munich
In the same year he went to New York with all his savings and two colleagues. He practiced like crazy, attended jam sessions and as many concerts as possible, and met Attila Zoller, who took him under his wing. When the tourist visa expired, the journey home was to be via Europe, with Munich as the first stop: “Because I liked some records by ECM and Enja so much and thought there must be a lot going on in Munich,” he says.
“Zoller then said to me: ‘Hey, I’ll be on tour in Munich soon, come with me!’ Another incredible coincidence in my life.” Arrived here, he ended up in the Unterfahrt, with the pianist Werner Klausnitzer sitting next to him at the table – who promptly found him a room in a shared apartment shared by a mutual New York acquaintance – “and that was on his first evening in the city!”, as O’Mara still does today stressed in disbelief. Three weeks turned into nine months before the savings were gone and the return ticket to Australia was about to expire.
But thanks to the scholarship mentioned, he was able to return after three months. And – “without a visa, nobody was interested in that at the time” – established himself in the jazz scene, among other things thanks to Zoller as a teacher at the Jazz School in Munich. “There weren’t many guitarists in Munich back then, I had less competition than in Sydney or New York. I found a gap, without studying, just through my talent and the help of many fellow musicians,” he summarizes today.
The best of the local scene play with him in the Unterfahrt
Because self-expression is not one of his strengths, he has remained more of a “musicians musician” despite countless sideman appearances with big stars and many of his own projects – not as well known to the general public as it should be, but by his colleagues and the Critics valued as a kind of Munich John Scofield.
The best of the local scene, from Andi Unterreiner and Uli Wangenheim to Florian Trübsbach and Matthieu Bordenave to Gregor Bürger and Eberhard Budziat, naturally give themselves the honor of realizing their long-cherished dream, which was developed during the lockdown: a big band project with his own compositions, now on his birthday, December 9th, in the underpass premiered.
The fact that the pianists Christian Elsässer and Matthias Bublath, the bassists Henning Sieverts and Patrick Scales and the drummers Matthias Gmelin, Guido May and Christian Lettner have two over-complete rhythm groups is due to the two halves of the program: one more acoustic and “straight”, the other electric and “radio fusion”. Always the two sides of Peter O’Mara.
Peter O’Mara Bigband Project, Friday, December 9, 8:30 p.m., Unterfahrt, Einsteinstraße 42