Miriam Klein: the journey of the Basel-based singer in the male-dominated world of jazz
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The Basel-based jazz singer Miriam Klein has died at the age of 89, her family has announced. As a woman, Klein was a pioneer of jazz in Europe and also made a name for herself internationally.
Miriam Klein began her career as a singer in Paris in the 1950s. After studying music in Vienna, where she worked with the pianist Joe Zawinul – a key figure in international jazz – she returned to Switzerland.
From the 1960s onwards, she performed with her then husband, the guitarist and trumpeter Oscar Klein, who died in 2006. She collaborated with several American jazz greats, including Dexter Gordon, Billy Cobham, Roy Eldridge, Mal Waldron and Roland Hanna.
An independent musician and entrepreneur
She achieved her international breakthrough in 1973 with the album Lady Like – Miriam Klein sings Billie Holiday – a unique tribute to her role model “Lady Day”. In the years that followed, the Basel-born singer performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival, recorded albums in New York and collaborated with the orchestra of what was then Swiss Radio DRS.
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Behind the scenes at Montreux
She made a late comeback in 2001 with the album My Marilyn, together with her son, the saxophonist David Klein. On this album, she performed songs from films starring the actress Marilyn Monroe. Most recently, Klein performed on stage with her partner and musical collaborator, the jazz pianist and composer Christian Gutfleisch.
“In an industry dominated by men, both artistically and commercially, she made her mark as an independent musician and entrepreneur in her own right, without professional representation,” wrote David Klein about his mother. During her musical career, she also raised four children, for whom she was solely responsible at times.
Klein was born on March 27, 1937, into a Jewish family in Basel. She grew up in modest circumstances. During the Second World War, her parents took in refugees who had escaped across the Swiss border by hiding under railway carriages, as her family wrote in a short biography about her. Miriam Klein died on October 2.
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Translated from German, reviewed by an English Department journalist.
