Louis Matute Large Ensemble

Saxophon

Trumpet

Guitar

Piano

Fender-Rhodes E-Piano

Bass

Drum Kit

Festival

Louis Matute is an exceptional electric guitar player. He is involved in a whole series of major projects. Matute is inspired by current forms of jazz and mixes them with elements of Latin American music. The result is a sound that is warm and rhythmic, but at the same time mysterious and melancholic.

Nina Reiter MetaLogue

Vocals

Arrangement

Flugelhorn

Clarinet

Flute

Trombone

Album Release «evolving»

The newly formed 10-piece ensemble MetaLogue, led by singer Nina Reiter, is reviving the music of Lucerne composer Mani Planzer, who died in 1997 and was almost forgotten. As a musician, composer, organist, teacher, choirmaster and big band leader, Planzer had a decisive influence on the cultural landscape of Central Switzerland. He was awarded the Lucerne City Prize for Art and Culture in 1981 and the Lucerne Living Space Prize posthumously in 1998. The band name &quot;MetaLogue&quot; refers to Planzer&#x27;s penchant for wordplay and symbolises the symbiosis of the various elements that come together in this project. On the one hand, it is the young musicians who bring Planzer&#x27;s music into the light of the present and allow the audience to participate in a musical dialogue that takes place far away from the mainstream. On the other hand, it is the lyrics of singer Nina Reiter, who picks up on Planzer&#x27;s pioneering spirit in the synthesis of jazz and poetry, thus creating a meta-level to the previously instrumental compositions. On the occasion of the upcoming anniversary – Planzer would have celebrated his 85th birthday in 2024 – the Mani Planzer Big Band and the MorschAchBlasorCHester will pay tribute to the musical bridge-builder, trailblazer and pioneer with works arranged by Nina Reiter.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra

Regie

Best of: Arranging Jazz

The art of jazz arranging has been around for 100 years. The Zurich Jazz Orchestra will trace the development of this art form for big band - a best-of program as a look back at our season theme The Art of Arranging. The journey begins in the 1920s, continues with the swing and big band era of the 1930s and 1940s and leads into the post-war period. Influential arrangers such as Bob Brookmeyer, Gil Evans, Carla Bley, Billy Strayhorn, George Gruntz and Mathias Rüegg will be in the spotlight and show how &quot;The Art of Arranging&quot; has developed over the past 50 years.

Çiçek Taksi

Accordion

Album Release «Bin Dilde»

Even if you don&#x27;t understand the lyrics, the music of Çiçek Taksi goes straight to the heart. The band, which the Turkish-Kurdish-Swiss singer Selin Dettwiler founded with three musician friends in Bern, dedicates its new album to the love of poetry; a love that knows no language barriers. Bin Dilde - in a thousand languages – is about love, repression, pain and hope, all woven into the songs. The Turkish poems that the band members collected as the basis for the songs were written by people living in Switzerland. They provide touching insights into arriving in an unknown place and tell of the very different circumstances that led to a departure to new homes in the writers&#x27; country of origin.

Raphael Jost Quintett

Singer and pianist Raphael Jost sees himself as a modern-day crooner. His songs are snapshots of his life, catchy and always cleverly packaged, and he never fails to surprise with his powerful, warm voice. At Moods, Jost will be presenting his newly formed quintet for the first time, as well as lots of new music, including fresh original compositions that have been created and matured over the past few months. Jost will be joined by Bastien Rieser on trumpet and Alex Hendriksen on tenor saxophone, Raphael Walser on double bass and London drummer Luke Tomlinson. The five musicians are united by their boundless joy of playing and their love of the jazz tradition.

Golnar Quintet

Percussion

Moods & jazzhane present

Born and raised in Tehran, the Iranian-Canadian singer and multi-instrumentalist Golnar Shahyar understands music as a political act. Drawing equally from the traditions of Southwest Asian, North Africa, and contemporary music of Europe and America, she creates an extraordinary mixture of languages and styles. She dedicated her last tour to the slogan Woman* Life Freedom in the light of the ongoing revolution in Iran. With her current song &#x27;Tell my mother she has no daughter anymore&#x27; she touched thousands of Iranians at home and abroad. With the festival pass for CHF 80, you can visit both evenings of the Nowruz Festival 2024: https://discover.smeetz.com/de/product/b2b/nowruz-2024-festivalpass?referrer=preview&amp;productId=65277 Supported by the Südkulturfonds.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Thomas Gansch

Tuba

Almost exactly ten years have passed since Thomas Gansch&#x27;s first performance with the ZJO. Today he is a good friend of the band and a favorite of the ZJO audience. The basic concept of the evening therefore remains the same: musical fireworks, fun, unconventional. This year, the Austrian trumpeter will celebrate the music from his folk crossover album Alpen &amp; Glühen with the ZJO. Ed Partyka will enrich Thomas Gansch&#x27;s original compositions inspired by folk music, which were originally performed by a chamber ensemble, with jazz sounds and big band power.

Florian Favre

Euphonium

Violin

Cello

Composition

Album Release «Idantitâ # revisited»

After the success of his solo album Idantitâ, released in 2022, the Fribourg pianist continues to reshape his folklore, this time proposing a revised version in which he invites other musicians to mingle with this identity, to break down barriers even further and propose a musical crossover that multiplies imaginary potentials. This colourful project in chamber music format brings together artists with different influences: violinist Baiju Bhatt, singer Claire Huguenin, guitarist Louis Matute, cellist Lucie Gockel and euphonist Raphael Rossé.

Christoph Grab’s REFLECTIONS feat. Alex Sipiagin

Album Release «Oneness»

The Swiss jazz critic Peter Rüedi praises Christoph Grab&#x27;s ensemble REFLECTIONS as &quot;top-notch, both in the solo flights of all the participants and in the arranged passages&quot; – an ensemble whose interplay is now so harmonious that it has grown into a single organism. Hence the title of their latest album &quot;Oneness&quot; (2024 Lamento Rec), whose meaning also includes being one with the world, empathy and a model for constructive interaction with one another – all qualities that are particularly relevant in today&#x27;s world. As on the previous album &quot;Live at Haberhaus&quot; (Lamento Rec), the music on &quot;Oneness&quot; is based on compositions by Thelonious Monk, to which Christoph Grab adds his own twist through his arrangements. The result is a vibrant, inspired album that shows how iconic material from jazz history can be used to create something new and unheard of. As a special treat, the band has invited none other than Russian-American trumpeter Alex Sipiagin to join them at Moods. It promises to be a unique evening.

Quiet Tree

Synthesizer

Quiet Tree is a Swiss trio consisting of Simon Spiess (saxophone / reeds), Jonas Reuther (drums) and Marc Méan (piano &amp; synths). Their music is rooted in the rich, mercurial soil of this thing we tend to call jazz. Unpacking the tree metaphor a bit further: the crown of this elegant being reaches for, and opens up into, the sprawling cosmic dimensions of the unsound, all types of potential sonic after-futures and echoes of worlds beyond! The band describes their music as an 80s-pop-type sort of warmth, but with a space-jazz approach lifted and transported back somewhere around the year 2040. The project’s key focus is working with the song-form. Every member is responsible for submitting compositions and every piece that makes the final cut, gets a mild improv-based facelift every time it gets played. Their manifesto reads: To tell rich stories using sound, capture colour and energy with melodies. Make sure to leave ample space for every instrument to breathe! Everything is possible as long as it expresses a core unity. Transpose the awareness of space to listeners, because you can never go wrong with making extra space for others.

MISS C-LINE & The Rabidz

Keyboards

MISS C-LINE is an up-and-coming neo-soul singer, producer and multi-instrumentalist from Bern/Basel. Her music blends soul and groove with elements of hip-hop and jazz to create a unique and memorable style. Inspired by greats such as Erykah Badu, The Roots and Robert Glasper, MISS C-LINE writes and produces all her songs herself. This earned her a nomination for the Kick Ass Award in 2019, three appearances at the SRF Bounce Cypher, her debut album Surreal was included in international playlists and in 2021 she won the New Generation Jazz Lab Contest. The concert ticket is also valid for the party afterwards.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Matthias Knoche

Lieder von Georg Kreisler: von Jazz-Satire bis Schmäh-Tango

Unfortunately, Theo Bleckmann had to cancel his appearance on 9 February due to illness. Fortunately, Matthias Knoche from Berlin has agreed to interpret the Georg Kreisler songs. So it remains an evening full of fine humour, biting satire and fat big band sounds at the Moods Jazz Club. Many thanks to Matthias for stepping in! We wish Theo a speedy recovery and are doing everything we can to reschedule the concert with him as soon as possible. On some evenings, everything is extraordinary: a big band playing the songs of cabaret artist, composer and writer Georg Kreisler. A Grammy-nominated vocalist who pushes the boundaries of jazz. And who, in a poetic and lyrical way, gives Kreisler&#x27;s sometimes biting, sometimes furious lyrics, the best in class in the school of black humor (Die Zeit), a completely new character. Bleckmann, ZHdK lecturer in jazz singing, ECHO Award winner and the voice of the aliens in Men in Black, has already worked with greats such as Laurie Anderson and Philip Glass. As usual, the arrangements are by Ed Partyka.

David Virelles Trio

Cuban-born pianist and composer David Virelles grew up in a musical home. He began learning to play the piano at a young age, immersing himself in the diverse Cuban musical tradition and discovering jazz greats such as Bud Powell, Thelonious Monk and Andrew Hill. After recording with Juan Pablo Torres and Jane Bunnett in Cuba, Virelles graduated from Humber College in Toronto and moved to New York City in 2009, where he studied composition with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Henry Threadgill. Since then, he has collaborated with musicians as diverse as Andrew Cyrille, Bill Frisell, Chris Potter, Tomasz Stanko, Wadada Leo Smith, Hermeto Pascoal, Ravi Coltrane, Marcus Gilmore and many more. rrDavid Virelles has received various awards and prizes for his versatile, creative work, including the Oscar Peterson Prize. In 2023, his trio album Carta was released on Intakt Records: eight of the nine compositions were penned by David Virelles, all oscillating between composition and improvisation and opening doors to free interpretation and development.

Dan Nicholls

Electronics

Dan Nicholls is a keyboardist, producer and curator who uses improvisation and sound with heart and rare artistry to explore everything. From the most intimate listening concerts to the communal, political and ecstatic space of the dance floor. He has collaborated with some of the world&#x27;s most influential electronic music pioneers, as well as artists from the European jazz and improvisational music scene, and has explored dance, film and visual art. For Dan, instruments such as the keyboard, piano, modular synthesizer and computer are intimate tools that are integrated into a playful approach that pays attention to space and connection. 

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Karolina Strassmayer

Gil Evans' «New Bottle Old Wine»

The Zurich Jazz Orchestra will present the complete program of the original arrangements of Gil Evans&#x27; classic album New Bottle Old Wine from 1958, with alto saxophone soloist Karolina Strassmayer interpreting the parts originally played by Cannonball Adderley. Compositions such as King Porter Stomp, St. Louis Blues and Round Midnight will be heard. Before Strassmayer became the first woman to join the WDR Big Band in 2004, she was part of the New York jazz scene for over 15 years and played with Chico Hamilton and the Diva Jazz Orchestra. Today she is a professor of jazz saxophone at the Folkwang University in Essen, where she founded and still directs an empowerment program for women in jazz. The second set of the concert features jazz standards arranged by Ed Partyka for the outstanding soloists of the ZJO and orchestrated for the same unique instrumentation as Gil Evans: Trumpets and trombones are reduced from four to three each, with horn and tuba used instead. The piano is missing entirely and the saxophones are largely replaced by flutes and clarinets.

Emilio Giovanoli Quintet

The project was initiated by Emilio Giovanoli, a double bass player and composer from Ticino who is already well-known in the Swiss music scene as a versatile sideman. His aim is to bring together musicians with a shared vision whom he met during their studies at the renowned Jazzcampus in Basel. The resonant, earthy sound of Emilio Giovanoli&#x27;s double bass blends with the soundscapes created by the brilliant touch of Alexandre Cahen on piano (France), the reactive groove of drummer Max Liebenberg (South Africa), the immersive playing of guitarist Martin Theurillat (Chile/Switzerland) and the airy lines of saxophonist Lennard Fiehn (Germany). Their imagination is fed by the broad tradition of jazz filtered through the meditative landscapes of the Alps. These omnipresent natural obstacles with their peaks, lakes and forests provide a meditative source of inspiration, creating music that is radiant, vulnerable and communicative. The project&#x27;s first self-produced EP is planned for the end of 2023.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Ola Onabulé

Director

Horn

Vocal Artistry Series

If little more than a year passes before the ZJO invites a guest for a second time, the premiere must have been a complete success: In November 2022, British-Nigerian vocalist and songwriter Ola Onabulé performed with the ZJO for the first time. He is a virtuoso, self-effacing singer and a lyricist with today&#x27;s world in mind and history in the back of his mind. The topics of his songs hardly leave anything out, from basic human love of life to political content. In doing so, he refrains from stereotyping, which makes his work more elaborate, but his songs all the more authentic.

Akku Quintet

Visuals

Album Release «Kinema»

Akku Quintet is the long-term project of drummer Manuel Pasquinelli from Bern. With a lot of joy in playing, the band ravishingly celebrates the pleasure of repetition, stretching space and time in unexcited movements. After their live album released in 2022, the quintet now presents its fifth studio album KINEMA. The five musicians play pulsating, driving minimal jazz with rock and spherical elements. It sounds like a dive into unfathomable depths. Whenever you think this sea can&#x27;t go any lower, you&#x27;re already sinking down to the next level. Live visuals support the musical diving excursion. In 2020 Akku Quintet was awarded the Cantonal Music Prize of Bern.

Crossing Bosporus

Alex Wilson, Heiri Känzig, Burhan Öçal

In this trio, cultural idiosyncrasies and cosmopolitanism come together with great skill and inspiration: Burhan Öçal&#x27;s Turkish rhythms combine with the melodic, poetic jazz of Europe and the powerful pulsating beat of London&#x27;s cultural melting pot of Heiri Känzig and Alex Wilson. Three extraordinary musicians have found each other! Courageous, full of relish and with joy in experimenting, they explore boundaries and create something new. Inspiration, improvisation and creation from three cultures meet and lead to a unique music and listening experience. Music becomes a world language!

Zurich Jazz Orchestra Funk Night

Joseph Bowie’s Big Band Funk - The Legendary Music of Defunkt

Joseph Bowie is the brother of the big band musician Byron Bowie and the co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie. Joe himself founded the punk-funk-jazz group Defunkt in 1978. The band released several genre-bending albums in the 1980s, and their music has been called one of the most adventurous sounds of the last quarter of the 20th century. Over the past 20 years, Joe Bowie has also worked to adapt this music for big band. One of the arrangers Joe has worked with since 2011 is Ed Partyka. The ZJO is looking forward to an energetic evening of danceable hits from the long history of Defunkt.

Dominique Fils-Aimé

Dominique Fils-Aimé is back with a new album and after several attempts finally plays the Moods stage for the first time. Following her successful trilogy of albums that traced the history of African-American culture and history and even earned her a JUNO for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2020, comes her latest record, &quot;Our Roots Run Deep,&quot; which will be released in September 2023 on Ensoul Records. Inspired by soul icons such as Billie Holiday, Etta James and Nina Simone, the Canadian with Haitian roots tells of the wellspring of her soul and holds the audience with her voice in a soothing sonic embrace.

The long-standing and very fruitful partnership between Thomas Gansch and the Zurich Jazz Orchestra will continue this year. In addition to repertoire from the past, there will also be new arrangements written by Ed Partyka especially for this concert, presenting Thomas Gansch as a composer and multi-instrumental soloist, but also as an amiable &#x27;enfant terrible&#x27;. One thing is certain: the wonderful musicians of the ZJO will provide some musical surprises. It is also certain that the band and the audience will experience an unforgettable evening.

Elina Duni Trio feat. Rabih Abou-Khalil

Jurykonzert

Born in 1981 as the daughter of a writer and a director in the Albanian capital Tirana, Elina Duni first appeared on stage at the age of just five. A lot has happened since her first musical steps on radio and television: today, Elina Duni is an ECM artist and, since 2017, a laureate of the Swiss Music Prize. In this ZKB Jazz Prize Special, the oud virtuoso Rabih Abou-Khalil meets the Elina Duni Trio with Marc Méan and Matthieu Michel. A unique constellation that will probably bring some golden moments. Festival pass (qualifying rounds, final and jury concert) for CHF 70.- available via https://discover.smeetz.com/de/product/b2b/zkb-jazzpreis-festival-2023?referrer=preview&amp;productId=63456

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Efrat Alony

«Vocal Artistry Series»

Efrat Alony and Ed Partyka have been working together for almost 20 years and have recorded with the Sunday Night Orchestra and the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra. They have also performed together with the UMO Helsinki Jazz Orchestra and the HR Big Band. The singer, bandleader and composer, who now lives in Germany, began her music studies in Haifa and completed them in Boston. This night&#x27;s programme is just as international. It consists of modern Jewish folk songs and original compositions by Efrat Alony, arranged by Ed Partyka for jazz orchestra and the warm, sometimes gentle-melancholic, sometimes determined voice of Efrat Alony.

Jazz

Rap / R'n'B / Brass

Experimental

Jazz Experimental

Soul / Blues / Funk

Rap / R'n'B

Pop / Rock / Singer / Songwriter

Jazz Modern Creative

Global Sounds

Electronic / Party

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Louis Matute Large Ensemble

Festival

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