Cologne Concert Big Band»My, my, my, what a great band!« (Marlena Shaw)The Cologne Concert Big Band was founded in 1992 at the Cologne Philharmonie.
The Orchestra is set up as a classical big band with five saxophones, five trumpets, four trombones, piano, bass and drums.
The musicians of the Cologne Concert Big Band are all renowned jazz musicians, who influenced the European music-scene of the Sixties, as well as young musicians, who have already found world wide recognition in various musical formations.
The Cologne Concert Big Band performs in the tradition of the great jazz orchestras. The repertoire consists of contemporary compositions as well as legendary swing titles.
What people have to say about theCologne Concert Big Band: »Only a big band with uncompromising musicians tries to resist commercial madness.
It so happened in Cologne's Gloria Theatre. Of all cities it could actually only happen in Cologne!«(Sven Ferchow | Musicoutlook) »Forty years ago the Kenny Clarke-Francy Boland-Big Band showed how to gain a big fan community not only through top musicians, but also through an individual line of arrangements, which were of a quality and standard of its own. In the same manner the Cologne Concert Big Band has achieved - in just a few years - to find its own profile.
The Cologne Concert Big Band stands for a musical program line unmistakably of its own, like one could find in the big bands of Duke Ellington, like they came into existence in the orchestras of Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, like they moulded the orchestras of Artie Shaw.
The big sounding names of the »History Of Jazz« are gathered together whenever the Cologne Concert Big Band goes on stage. With the orchestra's own soundand a number of arrangements especially written for them, the musicians represent a steady dimension in the landscape of the jazz orchestras!«(Dr. Robert von Zahn | Joseph Haydn-Institut) »A lot of fans will still vividly remember January 15, 1993. On this day the widely observed debut of a jazz orchestra took place, that in the meantime has established itself among the best-known bands in Germany's concert halls. Years of continual work with a lot of concerts have paid its dues. The Cologne Concert Big Band is a trade name, most of all in its place of origin, the Cologne Philharmonie. Annually the concerts of the Cologne Concert Big Band are an event in its own concert hall, to which the jazz fans are looking forward. Under the direction of Jerry van Rooyen the ensemble matured into an orchestra with a definite sound of its own.
«Accompanying well-known jazz vocalists has become a cherished tradition for the CCBB. Whether Greetje Kauffeld, Madeline Bell, Sylvia Vrethammar, Bill Ramsey, Georgie Fame, Marlena Shaw at the 1997 Cologne Triennale, or the New York Voices - the soloist could always rely on an orchestra that would support them in their own individual style, with keen arrangements and precise interaction with the soloists. Tradition obliges.
Uli Launhardt, leader and bass-trombonist of the orchestra guarantees that the element of entertainment will not be lost. 'Our aim is, and always will be, to play jazz, but this can be at the same time entertaining, although this still a contradiction for some people. Music should always be entertaining. We play for the audience - not for ourselves.
'Another characteristic element of the Cologne Concert Big Band is their special feeling of belonging and fitting together. This is a point that Launhardt stresses definitely. 'We musician have known each other for years which is very important to develop a mutual band feeling. We are always happy to meet for concerts, because for each of us this gives us the opportunity to make music together just with those fellow musicians in the band. Launhardt stresses: » We are not an orchestra of only soloists, where each musician is a star, but we move in the best tradition of the big bands, who always strived for an in
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