Zurich Jazz Orchestra & Steffen Schorn «To My Beloved Ones»

The album includes five original compositions, all composed and arranged by Steffen Schorn, and from a musical perspective continues from where “Dedications” left off.

TANGO
While not a true tango in the literal sense, this piece is more of a metaphor and declaration of love for the South American continent, its people, culture, and natural beauty. Tango features what can be described as a miniature concerto for C-melody saxophone in its intro and references several Latin styles featuring impressive solo work from René Mosele on bass trumpet and Raphael Kalt on trumpet.

DIE TOCHTER DES TYRANNEN (The tyrant’s daughter)
Inspired by the unapproachable beauty of the island of Crete, the following track titled “Die Tochter des Tyrannen” (The tyrant’s daughter) is a feature for guitarist Theo Kapillidis. This piece opens with a dark and mysterious intro and builds throughout before the final theme explodes in a brilliantly orchestrated big band tutti.

FOR ME IS JUST NOW ANYTIME
“For Me Is Just Now Anytime” truly fits with the theme of the album’s title and is dedicated to Steffen’s wife, cellist Ulrike Zavelberg. Steffen explained “For Me Is Just Now Anytime” was on my answering machine one day after our first meeting at a student concert with jazz band and string orchestra along with the words “… see you sometime …” It was like a bolt out of the blue, Ulli had entered my life. After 30 years together with its ups and downs, I thought it was high time that this piece finally appears on CD in a new big band version with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra.
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KÄPT’N BLAUBÄR (CaptainBlue Bear)
Käpt’n Blaubär is inspired by the book “The 13 1/2 Lives of Captain Blue Bear” by Walter Moers that was first published in Germany in 1999. This piece celebrates the unbroken art of living while mastering the most extreme challenges encountered on Käpt’n Blaubär’s adventurous journey to the legendary city of Atlantis. This track features the two alto saxophones of Reto Anneler and Lukas Heuss as well as Steffen Schorn’s baritone saxophone. In short it is declaration of love for the manifestations of the soul, the omnipresence of imagination and of universal possibilities.
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TO MY BELOVED ONES
The final tack on this album is not only the title track for this release but also the closing statement from the trilogy. The trilogy began with the opening piece on the album “Three Pictures” titled “Eye of the Wind”. The piece was finalised by by Schorn during the journey to his 1st concert with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra. “To my beloved ones” was premiered at the last concert the band performed with Steffen in the role as musical director and conductor and with special guest Dave Liebman. Steffen recalls “It was exactly 17:59 and 59 seconds when the sheet music for this piece was sent to the Moods jazz club office to have the parts printed, the band and Dave were already sitting ready for the 18:00 sound check. As always, the orchestra made the music sound brilliant in no time at all. In essence we can see this piece as one of the two bookends to the trilogy.

All Tracks composed & arranged by Steffen Schorn.