Thomas Gansch and Ed Partyka have known each other for ages. They met in 1999 at the Vienna Art Orchestra, and later Ed Partyka also played in Thomas Gansch’s band “Gansch & Roses.” “We’ve known each other for so long, but until now I’ve never had the opportunity to arrange his music for jazz orchestra. […]

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In 1960, Duke Ellington and Billy Strayhorn arranged their own virtuoso adaptation of Tchaikovsky's ballet “The Nutcracker” for the Duke Ellington Orchestra. Klaus Henner Russius reads E. T. A. Hoffmann's “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.” more...

There has never been an organ at the Zurich Jazz Orchestra until now! For the traditional end-of-year concert of the Big Band, we are looking forward to the internationally renowned Munich jazz organist Barbara Dennerlein. Dennerlein’s career has been extremely straightforward and determined: at the age of 11 she got her first single-manual organ, and […]

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The ZJO is thrilled to be back at Mehrspur – and even more so as part of the inaugural “Mehrspur Jazz Week: Local Cats!” New York is home to some of the most important orchestras, composers and arrangers in the history of jazz. From Duke Ellington and his orchestra at the Cotton Club in 1927 […]

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The Zurich Jazz Orchestra stands for first-class big band jazz and skillfully varies between mainstream and avant-garde, orchestral big band sound and explosive improvisations by the soloists. Especially for this evening, the ZJO has selected pieces from the immense Band Book, which are perfectly designed for the joy of playing and the groove of the […]

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The Zurich Jazz Orchestra stands for first-class big band jazz and skillfully varies between mainstream and avant-garde. For this evening, the ZJO has selected pieces from the immense band book, which demonstrate the joy of playing and the groove of the big band. The audience can expect big band classics with a good pinch of […]

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Ed Partyka’s tenure as musical director of the ZJO begins with a program of his own compositions and arrangements, with a journey through 100 years of jazz and pop music history, with a mixture of genres, styles and source material, filtered and shaped by the new director as a person and as a musician. The […]

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The Zurich Jazz Orchestra stands for first-class big band jazz and skillfully varies between mainstream and avant-garde, orchestral big band sound and explosive improvisations by the soloists. Especially for this evening, the ZJO has selected pieces from the immense Band Book, which are perfectly designed for the joy of playing and the groove of the […]

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Nils Wogram is artist in residence at the jazz club Moods from July 4th – 6th 2021. On July 5th 2021 he will perform together with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra. The programme is called “Work Smoothly” and is a Swiss premiere. Wogram’s intensive study of the possibilities and history of the big band has another […]

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Linda Porter, scion of a very wealthy and distinguished family from Virginia, was married to the American composer and songwriter Cole Porter for 34 years. In the roughly three and a half decades of their life together, she lead a luxurious high society lifestyle as an elegant prominent sociali […] more...