Helmut Brandt (musician)

Helmut Brandt (January 1, 1931, in Berlin – July 26, 2001, in Stuttgart) was a German jazz baritone saxophonist and bandleader.[1] His style was influenced by Stan Getz and Gil Evans.[1]

Brandt sang in a church choir as a boy, and played violin from age ten before learning saxophone and guitar at a conservatory.[1] He began playing professionally in 1950 and led his own group by 1954.[1] Initially a tenor saxophonist and clarinettist, he switched to baritone in 1954.[2] Through the end of the 1950s he worked in a Berlin radio dance band, and played in the orchestras of Lubo D'Orio and Kurt Widmann.[1] His Mainstream Orchestra was popular in Berlin in the 1970s.[1] Brandt died of a heart attack in 2001.[1]