Hans Koller, 82; Austrian Played Sax With Top Jazz Musicians

Hans Koller, 82, an Austrian tenor saxophonist, composer and bandleader who played with some of the top U.S. jazz performers, died Monday after a battle with pneumonia, Austrian state radio reported.

Koller studied at the Academy of Music in Vienna before being drafted into the German army in 1941. He was later captured by the U.S. Army and, while a prisoner of war, set up a popular jazz band. After the war, he returned to Vienna and founded the group Hot Club of Vienna. Four years later he went to Germany to launch his international career.

Over the years, he played with leading American performers including Dizzy Gillespie, Lee Konitz, Zoot Sims, Stan Kenton and Benny Goodman.

Koller was the first European jazz musician to receive a five-star review from the U.S. music magazine Downbeat. He began composing and painting in the 1960s and ended his playing career in the 1980s.