Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchester Berlin

ca. 60 min

Hannes Zerbe Jazz Orchester Berlin

Since 1979, pianist and composer Hannes Zerbe formed the Blech Band, drawing upon many of Berlin’s most skilled and creative instrumentalists to bring his theatrical conceptions to life. In his earliest days he played in small groups like FEZ with Connie Bauer and Osiris with Joe Sachse, but his big band afforded him the opportunity to perform more extravagant arrangements, often with a strong political bent and in collaboration with actors who read or sang texts in front of his ebullient arrangements. Over the years, he has created orchestral settings for the work of writers such as Bertolt Brecht, Ingeborg Bachmann, and Kurt Schwitters, and he has also written music for theatre and radio. His current line-up is among the best groups he has ever led, spiking his lush, multi-layered compositions with improvisations that take on a thrilling inner life within the group’s precise roar. As with the late Dutch reedist, composer, and bandleader Willem Breuker, Zerbe maintains a deep ardour for Hanns Eisler, and the big band evokes his legacy in a thoroughly contemporary context.

Jürgen Kupke – clarinet
Friedemann Matzeit – alto saxophone, bass clarinet
Nico Lohmann – alto saxophone, flute
Dirk Engelhardt – tenor saxophone
Gebhard Ullmann – bass clarinet, flute
Alexander Beierbach – saxophone
Damir Bacikin – trumpet
Nikolaus Neuser – trumpet, fluegelhorn
Fritz Moshammer – trumpet
Morris Kliphuis – horn
Gerhard Gschlössl – trombone
Jörg Huke – trombone
Philipp Krüger – tuba
Sören Fischer – guitar
Horst Nonnenmacher – bass
Christian Marien – drums
Taiko Saito – xylophone
Heide Bartolomäus – voice
Hannes Zerbe – piano, composition, arrangements

This concert is part of To Jazzfest Berlin – Radio Edition