Karl Ratzer, born July 4, 1950, in Vienna, Austria, is a guitarist and composer. He learned to play guitar autodidactically as a child of two Holocaust survivors. By age 12, he was performing live, quickly rising to prominence as one of the leading rock guitarists in the German-speaking world. His early bands included The Teenbeats, The Slaves, and The Charles Ryder Corporation. In 1971, Ratzer co-wrote the musical Gorilla Gorilla with Peter Wolf. From 1972 to 1980, he lived in the United States, collaborating with notable jazz musicians such as Joe Chambers, Jeremy Steig, and Eddie Gomez. Upon returning to Europe, he worked with artists like Fritz Pauer, Hans Koller, and Art Farmer. Ratzer received the Ehrenmedaille der Bundeshauptstadt Wien in 2002, the title of Professor in 2022, and the Goldene Verdienstzeichen des Landes Wien in 2022.
