A Duke Ellington best-of program In recent years, the Zurich Jazz Orchestra has specialized in the music of Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn and performed the original arrangements of the albums “Far East Suite”, “Such Sweet Thunder”, “The Nutcracker” and “And His Mother Called Him Bill”. Now the time has come and we present a […]

When we played the “Far East Suite” at the Kulturmarkt a year ago in June, the interest was huge. So we promised then that we would come back with a new Ellington program. We are now making good on that promise – with a program that we have never played before. “Billy Strayhorn was my […]

Yumi Ito, a Swiss singer with Polish-Japanese roots, moves effortlessly between genres and her roles as singer, pianist, composer and improviser. She has performed with the ZJO twice before, and this experience will benefit the third collaboration. Ed Partyka says: “I’m really looking forward to arranging some of Yumi’s brand new compositions. I now have […]

The art of jazz arranging has been around for 100 years, and the Zurich Jazz Orchestra will explore some of the most interesting and important arrangements written for big band in this first century of the art form’s development – a kind of best-of program as a retrospective of the season’s theme «The Art of […]

Almost exactly ten years have passed since Thomas Gansch’s first appearance 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, crazy. Gansch and the ZJO have already performed everything imaginable together: […]

*** Unfortunately, Theo Bleckmann had to cancel his performance on February 9 due to illness. Fortunately, Matthias Knoche from Berlin has agreed to interpret the Georg Kreisler songs. Many thanks to Matthias for standing in! We wish Theo a speedy recovery! So it remains an evening full of fine humor, biting satire and fat big […]

Gil Evans’ «New Bottle Old Wine» The Zurich Jazz Orchestra will present the complete program of the original arrangements of Gil Evans’ 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 […]

If little more than a year passes before the ZJO invites a guest for the 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, and now he’s visiting again. Especially since the collaboration between Ola and Ed […]

Klaus Henner Russius reads E. T. A. Hoffmann’s «Das Märchen vom Nussknacker» The Nutcracker Suite was Ellington’s first album-length project dedicated to the work of another composer – so it fits perfectly with our seasonal theme, the art of arranging. But that’s not the only thing that makes this recording special in his discography. Looking […]

«Joseph Bowie’s Big Band Funk – The Legendary Music of Defunkt» Joseph Bowie is the brother of big band musician Byron Bowie and Art Ensemble of Chicago co-founder Lester Bowie. Joe, who had previously worked as a sideman for various jazz musicians of the 1970s, formed the punk-funk-jazz group Defunkt in 1978. The band released […]