Enjoy Jazz Schulbigband & Landesjugendjazzorchester Baden-Württemberg

Enjoy Jazz School Big Band

The Enjoy Jazz School Big Band unites highly talented young musicians from three schools in the three anchor cities of the festival to form a sound body of great mastery, passion and intensity: St. Raphael Gymnasium Heidelberg, Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Gymnasium Mannheim and Max-Planck-Gymnasium in Ludwigshafen. Three conductors take turns at the podium: Dr. Peer Hübel, Peter Jacob and Stefan Kirsch.

After a two-year break from Corona, the lighthouse project of EnjoyJazz youth promotion celebrated its tenth anniversary last year. Of course, in style with a sold-out concert, as every year, as part of Germany's largest jazz festival.

The Enjoy Jazz Schul-Bigband will once again be performing live at the 25th edition of the festival in the fall. Fortunately, you won't have to wait that long. You can look forward to a musical firework display of jazz classics such as "Mercy, Mery, Mercy" or Sonny Rollins' "St. Thomas". And, who knows, maybe you'll even get to hear a bit of Police and Metallica.

State Youth Jazz Orchestra Baden-Württemberg

The Baden-Württemberg selection orchestra for young musicians between the ages of 16 and 24 was founded in the early 1980s by Jiggs Whigham and Bernd Konrad as one of the first of its kind in Germany. Over 400 members have passed through the orchestra since then. The ensemble is sponsored by the Landesmusikrat BadenWürttemberg.

The aim of the Youth Jazz Orchestra is to bring outstanding young jazz musicians into contact with each other at an early stage and to promote their musical development in the long term. Numerous concerts in the state consolidate the level and also make the JJO an important ambassador for the music state of Baden-Württemberg.

The Jugendjazzorchester Baden-Württemberg plays a wide-ranging program from 80 years of big band history. Contemporary European music is just as much a part of it as the classic American music of bands like Count Basie, Duke Ellington or Thad Jones. Much improvisational space is also given to the young soloists of the ensemble, because jazz is communication, regardless of the musical context.

Of course, vocal arrangements are also part of the repertoire, so standards of the American Songbook are heard, but also legendary pop songs such as by Stevie Wonder or Billy Joel. Their garb ranges from classically "bigbandish" to sonically experimental.