Jaki Liebezeit

Jaki Liebezeit
Background information
Born	26 May 1938 (age 75) Dresden, Germany
Genres	Krautrock, electronic, free jazz
Occupation(s)	Musician
Instrument(s)	Drums
Years active	1961–present

Jaki Liebezeit (born 26 May 1938 in Dresden, Germany) is a drummer probably best known as a founding member of Can who has been called "one of the few drummers to convincingly meld the funky and the cerebral".

In the mid-1960s, he was part of Manfred Schoof's quintet, who were early exponents of European free jazz.

He subsequently moved towards the new possibilities being opened by psychedelic music as a member of Can. His drumming was prominent in the band's sound, particularly in his much-admired contribution to the side-long "Halleluhwah" on Tago Mago. Liebezeit is best known for his exceptional "metronome" style of playing; other members of Can have suggested that he sounds as though he is "half man, half machine".

Liebezeit provided drums, in his patented "Motorik beat," for Michael Rother's late-1970s solo albums.

In 1980, he became a member of Phantomband, and has formed drum ensembles such as Drums off Chaos and Club off Chaos. Later he recorded with numerous musicians, such as Jah Wobble and Philip Jeck, with whom he produced an album for Jah Wobble's 30 Hertz Records, and has contributed drums and percussion to many albums as a guest throughout the years, such as the Depeche Mode album Ultra and Brian Eno's album Before and After Science. Recently, he has worked with Burnt Friedman on the Secret Rhythms albums and with Schiller on the Atemlos album.