Gunter Hampel (31 August 1937 â 18 May 2026) was a German jazz multiâinstrumentalist and composer from Göttingen. By sixteen he had mastered several instruments and founded jazz bands as a teenager. In 1964 he moved to Paris, where a quintet with Manfred Schoof produced the 1965 album Heartplants. After marrying vocalist Jeanne Lee, he founded Birth Records in 1969 and released The 8th of July 1969 with Lee, Anthony Braxton, and Steve McCall. He later formed the Galaxie Dream Band, released Oasis (1979) and Celestial Glory (1992), and continued touring until weeks before his death in Berlin. He received the Albert Mangelsdorff Prize in 2007 and the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in 2009.