Next week's project will be a tribute to German band leader Kurt Edelhagen, who would have turned 100 this year. We'll celebrate with a live stream from the Kölner Philharmonie, featuring a number of Edelhagen-alumni, next Friday, the 13th! In the meantime, here's an old chart from the Edelhagen book, Sammy Fain's "Secret Love", featuring Ludwig Nuss on trombone, conducted by Florian Ross. Recorded live (pre-pandemic) in Studio 4. Florian Ross - cond Billy Test - piano John Goldsby - bass Hans D

21K views · 784 reactions | One big thing that we've been working on...

We are very proud and happy to be able to present our new app, "WDR Big Band Play Along", giving you the opportunity to play along with us, featuring 5 (to begin with) original charts of various difficulty levels! Mix the individual tracks, play along or mute "your" instrument, read the music from the screen, or download it to print out. Have fun, and PLAY ALONG WITH US! Available today in the German App Store and Play Store. | WDR Big Band

3.3K views · 106 reactions | A quick look at the trumpet section... | WDR Big Band | Facebook

This week we're commencing to record new tracks for our WDR Big Band Play-Along App. One of the tracks we are doing is "Philadelphia" by our "Composer In Residence", the fantastic Vince Mendoza. Here's a clip with Vince conducting the band in the Kölner Philharmonie, featuring Ruud Breuls on trumpet, Andy Hunter on trombone and Karolina Strassmayer on alto sax. #publicservicelife | WDR Big Band

Last year we had the pleasure to premier a bran new format, the "WDR Big Band Jazz Club", our very own stage! The very first installation was our project "Big Band Bluegrass" with music by Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, artfully arranged and conducted by our "Principal Conductor" Bob Mintzer. This clip"Replace It All", is composed by Darol, featuring himself on the fiddle, Mike Marshall on mandolin and Jeremy Powell on tenor sax. Recorded live in Bocklemünd, conducted by Bob Mintzer. -----------

When it comes to Big Band repertoire, "The Atomic Mr. Basie" from 1958 is certainly one of the most classic albums of all time. The collaboration between The Count Basie Orchestra and composer/arranger Neal Hefti brought many musical gems into the world and one of the most well known is the classic "Splanky". Our version, from our recent Hefti celebration, is an arrangement by Jörg Achim Keller and features Billy Test on piano, Paul Heller on tenor sax and Raphael Klemm on trombone. Recorded liv

11K views · 408 reactions | Our "Studio 4 Sessions" series gives us...

55K views · 831 reactions | We're done rehearsing, we're done...