Zurich Jazz Orchestra

“To My Beloved Ones” concludes the CD trilogy with Steffen Schorn. The joint journey began seven years ago with “Eye of the Wind”, composed on Schorn’s train journey to Zurich for his first concert as musical director of the ZJO. Steffen Schorn once again pulls out all the stops that make his sound language and sound sculptures so unique. He skillfully operates between chamber music sounds and rich big band tradition. The music is dense, powerful and yet completely transparent. The CD begins with “Tango,” written one morning in a youth hostel in Porto Seguro, Bahia, Brazil. Not really a tango, but somehow it is, this tone poem oscillates between a miniature chamber music concerto for C-melody saxophone and a fast samba. With oriental flair and a feature for guitarist Theo Kapilidis, “Die Tochter des Tyrannen” continues – dedicated to a beauty in Crete. And as always with Schorn, you can hear the love of low notes and the fascination of the large ensemble sound and the groovy humor as well as the brilliant tuttis in this program. And in the last piece, “To My Beloved Ones,” a lyrical theme with a mystically luminous rapturous hue unfolds from the exact same C-melody saxophone upbeat as in “Eye of the Wind,” floating through the harmonies with orchestral blended sounds. “To My Beloved Ones” is, in a way, the parting gift of a wonderful collaboration.