Last Friday evening just before 11:00 PM, Swedish/Irish saxophonist, Finn Martin, plunged to his death while performing his famous Vertigo tour in Leipzig, Germany.
Source: myspace.com/finnmartinarte
Finn Martin was a staple on the European festival circuit, with his vertical climbs down the facades of buildings—such as the 110 metre high Gasometer in Oberhausen, and the nearly 150 metre high Cologne Tower—while playing his saxophone. (Yes, he was actually playing during the climb.)
His climbs were sometimes simultaneously transmitted to the audience via 2 cameras. One he wore one his head, while the other was held by a cameraman on the ground.
However, according to his websites, the spectacular aspects of Martin’s performance were never meant to be the centrepiece of his work. Rather, the emotional content of his work was what was important. This is what he stressed on both his Vertigo site, as well as his regular site.
Finn Martin had been walking down the facades of buildings around the world since 1993, and had done it successfully thousands of times.
That fateful night in Leipzig he was to do 4 walks down the facade of Speck’s Hof. All went well twice, but it was on the third time that things went terribly wrong, and the world lost a very talented performer as Finn Martin fell 20 metres to his death.
I’ve opted not to embed the Vertigo promo video. If you want to see it, I’m sure you’ll find it. It isn’t hard.
Let me just go on record by saying I can’t believe some of the shit I have read online in the last few days, as people have commented on Martin’s tragic death. However, the most offensive comments were made by some idiot sax players, on a lame-ass discussion board that I won’t even dignify with a link to.
To suggest the man was not a talented saxophonist, musician, or an accomplished performer, and to state he was worthy of a Darwin award, speaks more to your own worthiness of the award.
You hide behind the anonymity of your screen names, and bash people you don’t know, or may not have heard of, just because you know nothing beyond your own frame of reference. Grow the f@#! up. There is a family grieving. There are friends grieving. I’d ask if you’ve ever given them any thought, but that would be pointless. You can’t think of anyone but yourselves.
Finn Martin was much more than a saxophonist who played smooth jazz while walking down the facades of buildings around the world. He was a very accomplished musician. He was a humanitarian; a philanthropist. Let’s let him take this article out with his performance of My Funny Valentine.
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Written in part with information from the following articles:
Performer plunges to death at Leipzig festival, from The Local, September 5, 2011 edition. (The only English source.) I didn’t really use it, but I list it here only because this is the only European-based, English newspaper I came across that wrote about the incident.
Finn Martin: Ein Erdenbürger spielte in Leipzig sein letztes Lied, from Leipziger Internet Zeitung, September 4, 2011 edition.
Unterschätzte Finn Martin (†49) die tödliche Gefahr?, from Bild.de, September 4, 2011 edition. This is a typical European tabloid that sensationalizes everything. I really hated the paper when I lived in Germany, and I don’t like it anymore now. I just used it for some background details.
La famille Pointis est atrister de cette nouvelle .. finn a enregistré un album ” sans frontieres ” avec mon oncle Lionel Pointis … Nous laprennons malheureusement très tard
Salut Finn. Tes notes continues de résonner au Cap Ferret ou nous avions tant de joie à t’écouter avec Do Harson au piano… Tu nous manque à tous.
We´re still looking for the reasons of the accident of my husband…
There were not alcohol or drugs in the tests.
Yes… a lot of questions about that, and more…
Thank so much for the respect and the tender words to the one who wrote the note about Finn.
I´m a dancer, I can understand the “taste” of some of the conversations about if Finn was having a good “sound” or not…
I can understand it, for sure…
But “art”, “success”, “to be known”, “to perform here or there”… it´s not really important…
Life must be something else…
“Wherever you are, and whatever you do, be in love.”
It was the last message that Finn wrote (from Rumi, Persian poet).
with love…
Dear Alejandra.
My heartfelt condolences on the loss of Finn.
Your husband was a very talented man whose generosity will be missed by all those whose lives he enriched.
Be well Alejandra. Be well.
Warmest regards,
Helen Kahlke
I met Finn several times in late 2006 and early 2007 in Dakar, Senegal. It sounds silly but in just a few days in Dakar I made a liftime friend. We communicated a lot over the first few years when I moved back to Montreal, but even recently we stayed in touch every few months and swore we would meet up again one day. I even made a few attempts to get him into the Montreal Jazz Fest. I played some of Finn’s music at CKUT-FM 90.3FM in Montreal recently, and emailed him to tell him that.
He responded, on January 6th, “Thank you for thinking of me and my music, I feel very honoured that you haven’t forgotten my “message”….” I never will, Finn!!
He went on to tell me all about his travels, his work, his romance with his beautiful wife, Alejandra, and he signed his message as always, “Love and Light”.
Well I can honestly say that I loved, Finn. I am so happy that after our last correspondence he went to New York and met my brother Rob at his jazz club, and the two developed a friendship.
To all those who write about Finn without knowing him, yes, he made all types of music and some of it was not ‘pure’ jazz. Finn was obviously concerned with pure jazz. He spent two years in a rural cabin in France disecting and transposing John Coltrane solos when he was young. When I saw him in Dakar he was absolutely SHREDDING his sax, and frankly all the instruments he played. But Finn was also concerned with connecting to his audience and maintaining a broad appeal, so he did theatre shows, choreography, recitals, mixed media events, and Vertigo.
Finn played all over the world. He was so ‘human’. He told stories on stage. He never gave handshakes, only hugs. He seemed to play around 15 instruments. He spoke several languages, including a lot of Wolof (West Africa). Finn lived a lot in his 49 years, and I will not cry for him for a second. He was a gentleman, a scholar, a traveler, a musician, a lover, a fighter, and an egalitarian. He treated everyone with love and respect.
I will always regret I could not spend more time with Finn, he truly made me feel alive when I talked to him on the phone or even got an email from him. I will miss him so much.
Love and Light.
Hello Philip. Welcome to my site.
Thank you for dropping in and sharing a bit of your experiences and friendship with Finn Martin. It is easy to forget that behind the public figures we see, there are the private people who just have regular, everyday lives. You managed to bring that across very nicely in your comment.
Finn Martin was a phenomenal talent, and it’s a shame that he didn’t get to perform in Montreal. I think sometimes performers get so pigeon-holed that it difficult for them to be thought of as anything other than X. In this case, it is difficult to think of Finn as anything other than his Vertigo performance. Sadly, since he passed away doing just that, those that didn’t know his music before, will likely only think of him this way. 🙁
Thank you again for the visit. Your life was brighter because of your friendship with Finn, and through sharing a bit of your story here, you have created a bit of love and light here as well.
Be well…Warm regards,
Helen
He was very happy to be in contact with you again, and very thankful for the time in New York.
Thank you Philip…
looking up finn martin ,i could not find anything that comes close to your posting,man it sounded so much like art pepper i had to investigate hope i can find more,so far though the posting by you is the best i have found.the intro was indeed the closest i have heard to art wish i could find more and not the circus acts i know that was his forte what a talent,speaking of talent bennett and wine comes out on the 14th her birthday.wow cant wait
Hello my friend. How are you doing?
Yes, Finn Martin had a great talent. I found him to be very versatile in what he did, and what he could sound like. His death is a tragedy for the music community, but I would think especially to his philanthropic efforts. His Vertigo act in part funded his work in Africa.
I think because he had his foot in some many camps—smooth jazz, mainstream jazz, World music, just to name a few—he was hard to pin down. This may have lead in part to the lack of name recognition—especially here in North America.
In the video I posted, I found his vocal impression of a trumpet solo very convincing. It was a very unique, and out of the box, way to do a solo. Yes, definitely the world lost an incredible musical talent on September 2, 2011.
finn martin?thank you for posting this,once again in your debt to clue me in on outstanding mus.another loss no matter what bthe factors are.doing great here ,still here so thats great.i did not know of this man,great mus and i will get more .looking foreward to more of your blog.thank you.your sax bud sam
Talk about taking a swan dive, what a way to go. One of the articles I read indicated there may have be alcohol involved.
I don’t know where you read that Gandalfe. The only mention in the German papers about alcohol that I came across, was that the police were investigating whether or not the crowd had been drinking.
BTW, besides the 2 German online papers I noted here, I also scanned and read lots of others. They all said the same thing. Also, it was today (Tuesday) that the police might be releasing their findings about possible causes. I haven’t gone to any sites to check this yet. I’ve been up to my elbows in potting soil transplanting my house plants. 🙁
I take that back Gandalfe. I’ve checked back and I see where you could have read that. I’ve also seen references for it in the German papers.
However, it is at this point only typical media-induced, speculative-hype. The media reported that one area that the police inquiry into Martin’s death will explore, is whether alcohol or drugs were consumed by either the performer, or any of his staff.
ANY of his staff? I don’t think it’ll be hard to find one who had a beer or two that day — but what would his sax tech (or someone else not involved with his physical safety) drinking have to do with his fall? (And what about people who drink EVERY DAY and function at their best this way?)
I suspect it’ll just turn out to be equipment failure, and a bit of inattention on the part of multiple people (including Martin himself) for not spotting it in time. It seems like an easy mistake to make after 17 years of everything going just fine. Still, legal authorities are compelled by their very nature to find a scapegoat, and I bet they will.
I’ve not seen anything yet in the European papers that points to the cause. To date I don’t believe the police have released any of their findings.