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Biography
Attila Cornelius Zoller (born June 13, 1927 in Visegrád, Hungary; died January 25, 1998 in Townshend, Vermont) was the first guitarist to discover free jazz and is considered as one of the innovators of modern jazz guitar.
As a child, Zoller was taught classical violin by his father, a professional violinist. In his teens, he switched to flugelhorn, then jazz bass, and finally guitar. Zoller quit school during the Russian occupation of Hungary following World War II and began playing professionally in Budapest jazz clubs. He escaped Hungary in 1948 just before the permanent Soviet blockade of the country and began his serious music career after he moved to Vienna in 1948, He formed a jazz group with the accordionist and vibraphonist Vera Auer. Zoller moved to Germany in 1954, where he played with pianist Jutta Hipp, saxophonist Hans Koller and trombonist Albert Mangelsdorff. Visiting American musicians (notably Oscar Pettiford and Lee Konitz) admired Zoller's work and urged him to move to the U.S., which he did in 1959 after winning a scholarship to the Lenox School of Jazz. There he studied with Jim Hall and roomed with Ornette Coleman and Don Cherry, whose influence sparked Zoller's interest in free jazz.
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