Dietrich Schulz-Köhn was born on 28 December 1912 in Sonneberg, Thuringia, Germany. As a child he learned to play the violin and piano, and from 1929 - as a high school student in Magdeburg - he learned the drums and trumpet in a school band. He studied music, economics and languages at the Universities of Freiburg, Frankfurt and Königsberg (1934-1939), and at Exeter, England, where he experienced Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong for the first time.
In Germany, in the early-1930s he attended a lecture on jazz - rare in the country at this time. In 1934 he founded the first German Jazz Club (Swing Club) in Königsberg, and from 1935 he was working for Deutsche Grammophon. He also issued the music of Brunswick Records. In 1936 and 1937 he visited France, and also in 1936 he completed his training as a graduate economist. In 1939 he was awarded his doctorate at the University of Königsberg.
Schulz-Köhn held on to his French contacts during the Second World War, and during his war service he rose to the rank of Lieutenant in the German Luftwaffe. He was in Paris briefly during the war and was stationed on the French coast initially in northern France, then on the Mediterranean coast, and by the end of thwar in Normandy at the end of the war in Normandy.
Schulz-Köhn had been able to travel across Europe visiting the outlawed jazz scene in cities conquered by Germany. Indeed, from 1935 he was a member of the Parisian jazz club owned by Charles Delaunay. He published an illegal underground newsletter, penning them under the name, 'Dr. Jazz', and also met Django Reinhardt during the German occupation of France. After the allied invasion of Normandy in 1944, Schulz-Köhn was held as a prisoner-of-war and was not released until 1947.
On release, he returned to Germany working in the field of music with the British military government. He also co-founded the club venues 'Hot Club Hannover' and 'Hot Club Düsseldorf', as well as the German Jazz Federation. Between 1949 and 1953 he managed the Decca label in Germany, and produced records with Hans Koller, Jutta Hipp and Albert Mangelsdorff. He became famed as a radio host first with Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (Northwest German Broadcasting - NWDR) from 1948 - as 'Dr. Jazz'. With Westdeutscher Rundfunk Köln (WDR) he produced more than 20 jazz broadcasts. In 1957, on behalf of the American Embassy, he helped organise the exhibition 'Jazz in the USA'. In 1969 he co-founded the International Society for Jazz Research in Graz, Austria.
Schulz-Köhn was also active as an author. He translated into German 'This is Jazz' by Ken Williamson. He also wrote on 'Stan Kenton'. Between 1958 and 1961 he lectured on the History of Jazz at the Cologne University of Music, and committed to lecturing at the Hoechschule der Kuenste Berlin in the capacity of Honorary Professor. ed and has been committed in 1990 to keep at the Höchschule der Künste Berlin as an honorary professor lectures. Dietrich Schulz-Köhn died on 7 December 1999 in Erftstadt, Germany.
Schulz-Köhn had written on Stan Kenton (1911-1979), the pianist, composer, and arranger. Kenton was born in Wichita, Kansas. As a child he learned piano, and while still a teenager toured with various bands. In June 1941 he formed his own band, which developed into one of the best-known West Coast ensembles of the 1940s. In the mid-1940s, Kenton's band and style became known as 'The Wall of Sound', a term used later by Phil Spector.
