Versatile, virtuoso and also Professor without a diploma: Jazz Guitarist Peter O'Mara.

The guitarist and composer Peter O'Mara presents a Big Band Project on his 65th birthday at the Munich Jazz Club Unterfahrt By Oliver Hochkeppel

Announcements always say "the Australian guitarist Peter O'Mara, which however is only half the truth. When the man from Sydney turns 65 on December 9th he will have spent 41 years, almost two-thirds of his life, in Munich. He has been a regular member of Klaus Doldinger´s Passport for 30 years and there is no jazz musician of note with whom he hasn't played. Since 1992 O'Mara has also been Lecturer of Jazz Guitar at the Munich University of Music and Theater, being awarded a Professorship in 2012, so one can rightfully call him a Munich native.

He came to the Isar in 1981, rather by chance, just as much of his astonishing career is based on remarkable coincidences, as he reports. It began with his elementary school teacher discovering his good voice and having him sing solo pieces in front of the class. A basic musical education that led to his successful request to his unmusical parents to buy him a guitar at the age of ten. The price included two free lessons but that soon ended because O'Mara was reluctant to work with the textbook that the teacher imposed on him: # "I wanted to learn chords and play the songs I heard on the radio." His mother found another teacher who also forced him to work from a textbook without showing him any chords. After six months, the teacher told O'Mara’s mother “the boy has no talent. You´re wasting your money if you continue paying for lessons.”

Experiences that were repeated later in his life. So much so! After graduating from high school in 1975, O'Mara failed the entrance exam to the Sydney Conservatorium twice, which is why he never studied at a university . In retrospect, he considers it a blessing: "I could do what 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, practicing became his university . First it was his best friend's school band ("without him, I would never have become a musician") then a small teaching job provided by his teacher George Golla and then his first gigs at clubs and pubs in Sydney , which had a vibrant music scene at the time. Soon O'Mara was playing regularly in Sydney's jazz clubs, at the "Pinball Wiz" for example, where a certain Tommy Emmanuel was also starting out. An important musician in Peter´s life at this time was bassist Jackie Orszaczky who became his mentor, introducing him to new music and involving him in a number of musical projects. As part of the scene he quickly gained all kinds of experience: through studio jobs, a disco cover band, as a theater musician, in big bands with international acclaim and with his own projects. In 1981 his first album was released, produced by Jackie Orszaczky , which not only received good reviews but also helped him secure a scholarship that would later prove important.

That same year, he set off for New York with all his savings and two colleagues. He practiced like crazy, went to jam sessions and as many concerts as possible and met Attila Zoller, who took him under his wing. When his tourist visa expired, his journey home was to take him via Europe, with Munich as the first stop “because I really liked some records on ECM and Enja and thought there must be something going on in Munich," he explains. "Attila Zoller then told me: 'Hey , I´ll be in Munich too starting my solo tournee, come with me!' Another incredible coincidence in my life!” On his first evening there he ended up at the Unterfahrt with pianist Werner Klausnitzer as his table neighbor – who promptly arranged for him to stay in a shared room of a mutual New Y ork acquaintance – "and that on his first evening in the city!" as O'Mara still emphasizes in disbelief. Three weeks turned into nine months, until his savings were exhausted and his return ticket to Australia was about to expire.

Thanks to the aforementioned scholarship, he was able to return after just three months. And establish himself in the jazz scene, including through Zoller's mediation, as a teacher at the Jazz School Munich. "There weren't many jazz guitarists in Munich at the time, so I had less competition than in Sydney or New York. I found a place, just through my talent, dedication and the help of some fellow musicians," he summarizes today. The best of the local scene, from Andi Unterreiner and Uli Wangenheim to Florian Triibsbach and Matthieu Bordenave to Gregor Burger and Eberhard Budziat, are naturally doing the honor of realizing his long cherished dream, which he created during the lockdown: a big band project with his own compositions and arrangements which will be performed on his 65th birthday, Friday 9th December, at the Jazz Club Unterfahrt. The reason that pianists Christian Elsasser und Matthias Bublath, bassists Henning Sieverts and Patrick Scales and drummers Matthias Gmelin, Guido May and Christian Lettner make up two complete rhythm sections is because of the two different halves of the program: one is more acoustic and "straight", the other more electric and “Funk-Fusion” which have always been the two sides of Peter O’Mara´s music. Peter O'Mara Big Band Project, Friday 9th December, Unterfahrt, Einsteinstrasse 42

WATCH THE LIVE CONCERT ON YouTube: Peter O'Mara Big Band Birthday Concert Live At The Unterfahrt