History
Members of the Big Band of theOrganization
One of the reasons this anniversary can be celebrated is also thanks to the roots that the Bernese surgeon and jazz insider Ulrich Althaus planted for this orchestra: He founded the Association Swiss Jazz Orchestra (Verein Swiss Jazz Orchestra (VSJO)) on February 9, 2004. The purpose of the association is to lay a financial and administrative basis for the SJO. Althaus caught attention and support for that project from the public. Following Ulrich Althaus, Hans Rudolf Isliker took on the role as president of the Association Swiss Jazz Orchestra (VSJO) until in 2012 Peter Knutti was elected president of the VSJO. For many years, musicians from the band did the management themselves (Till Grünewald, Klaus Widmer, Johannes Walter, Thomas Knuchel), until in 2012 Angela Schenker was hired as part-time manager. With Peter Knutti and the musician's deputies they form the business administration.Monday Big Band Jazz Nights
Monday Big Band Jazz Nights are a series of concerts that take place every Monday night at the Bierhübeli in Bern. The series has a rotation of different themes (Latin, Tribute, Gala, and Groove Night), which give the orchestra the opportunity to practice its skills in different styles. The Swiss Jazz Orchestra is the only big band in Switzerland that performs a series of concerts on a regular basis. It means great effort to work on an at least partially new repertoire each week. The Monday Big Band Jazz Nights form the backbone and help realize other advanced projects that include CD productions and touring in Switzerland and abroad. The program of the Monday Big Band Jazz Nights contains a rotation of four different themes: Groove-Night focusses on tricky and unusual rhythms. Latin Night takes the audience to Latin-American spheres. Furthermore, the SJO has obtained a diverse repertoire of the most different stylistics by all kinds of well-known composers. Once each month, a particular artist or a more general subject that derives from the history of jazz is featured in Tribute-Night. The fourth category of concerts is the Gala Night. For these concerts, a guest is invited who enriches the program through his or her own music, expertise, and personality.Musical direction
It is very unusual for an orchestra to have not one, but multiple leaders who derive from the orchestra itself. Philip Henzi explains the reasons for that as follows: "Why there is not only one musical leader goes back to the early days of its foundation: The orchestra has been founded by three people. Because we appreciate and depend on the impetus, the motivation and ideals of each band member, we try to have all interests of the band represented democratically amongst the musical leaders. Presumably that is the reason for the consistency in the line-up of our musicians. Furthermore, the large number of tasks (concerning the preparation of programs, the communication with guest-soloists and also the coordination of the rehearsals) makes it almost impossible for one person alone to manage it." * Leaders: Stefan Schlegel, Johannes Walter, Philip Henzi , Lukas Thöni , Dave Blaser , Andreas Tschopp , Jürg Bucher * Former leaders: George Robert, Stephan Geiser, Daniel WoodtliAlbums
Different musical leaders contributed to the making of different albums, ranging from live concerts conducted by the Swiss Jazz legendCultural award
Kulturpreis 2010 der Burgergemeinde Bern The cultural prize of the Burgergemeinde (engl. Inherited Citizen Community) of the city of Bern is awarded once a year to a group or an organization or a cultural institution for outstanding contribution to the welfare of cultural life in Bern. In 2010 the prize was awarded to the ''Swiss Jazz Orchestra''. The committee especially honored the success story of the ''SJO'', which is founded on the ''Monday Big Band Nights'' at the venue Bierhübeli in Bern. During a period of eight months of each year, these concerts are performed in a unique frequency and quality. Two other aspects were honored: first the international reputation of the orchestra, resulting from the long lasting cooperation with famous bandleaders, composers and musicians, second the fact that the musicians – despite earning a humble salary – play top-class concerts, a sign for their commitment. The cultural award also influenced the ''Swiss Jazz Orchestra'' itself, planning an ambitious future. On one hand, the prize can be considered as a reward, on the other hand the orchestra is bound to invest in a sustainable future. The ''SJO'' wants to increase its offering of being a platform for the very best young Jazz-musicians, so that they can demonstrate their abilities as artists in a segment, that has gained a higher reputation by the modern system. Also, the orchestra makes the invitation of more special guests of sounding name their business to attract more people. Future projects are planned to strengthen the role of the orchestra in the top league.Members
The lineup of the ''Swiss Jazz Orchestras'' changed a lot throughout the ten years since it was founded: While some chairs still bare the original musicians that started the band in the first place, some positions had quick changes. The list of former band members is therefore pretty diversified:Saxophones
*Lead Alto: George Robert (until 2006), Adrian Pflugshaupt *2. Alto: Phil Stöckli (until 2004), Adrian Pflugshaupt (2004-2006), Jürg Bucher (2007-2010), Reto Suhner (since 2011) *1. Tenor: Till Grünewald *2. Tenor: Klaus Widmer (until 2011), Jürg Bucher *Baritone: Daniel Durrer (until 2004), Neta Noren (2004 bis 2007), Marc SchödlerTrumpets
*Lead: Stephan Geiser (until 2011), David Blaser *2. tp: Johannes Walter *3. tp: Daniel Woodtli (until 2012), Lukas Thoeni *4. tp: Thomas KnuchelTrombones
*Lead: Vincent Lachat *2. tb: René Mosele (until 2007), Stefan Schlegel (seit 2008) *3. tb: Samuel Blaser (until 2004), Bernhard Bamert (2004-2007), Andreas Tschopp *Bass tb: Bernhard Bamert (until 2004), Reto ZumsteinRhythm section
* Piano: Philip Henzi * Guitar: Nick Perrin (since 2006), Nikolay Karageorgiev (2010-2012) * Double Bass: Lorenz Beyeler * E-Bass: Wolfgang Zwiauer (2004-2008), Antonio Schiavano * Drums: Tobias Friedli (since 2003), Fabian Kuratli (2004-2007), Rico Baumann (since 2007) * Percussion: Roland Wäger (since 2010)Substitutes
* Following musicians have played as subs for one or more concerts of the SJO, some of them for entire projects: * Saxes: Reto Anneler, Florian Egli, Dave Feusi, Thomi Geiger, Cédric Gschwind, Rolf Häsler, Matthias Kohler, Simon Stirnimann, Corinne Windler * Trumpets: Sandro Häsler, Julian Hesse, Linus Hunkeler, Nolan Quinn, Balthasar Streit * Trombones: Dirk Amrein, Lukas Briggen, Justin Clark, Dave Montreuil, Pavel Pisanko, Jan Schreiner, Nina Thöni, Adrian Weber, Maro Widmer, Lukas Wyss * Piano: Stefan Aeby, Florian Favre, Oliver Friedli, Andy Harder * Guitar: Marco Figini, Max Frankl, Fabio Pinto, Thomas Sauter * Double Bass/E-Bass: Giorgos Antoniou, Hans Ermel, André Pousaz, Christoph Utzinger * Drums/Percussion: Pius Baschnagel, Peter Haas, Christoph Mohler, David StauffacherEngineers
* Michael Fink, Kaspar Hochuli, Marco Jeger, Raphael Ochsenbein, Martin Ruch, Jan Stehle, Christoph UtzingerDiscography
* ''Live mit Pepe Lienhard'' ( Mons, 2005) * ''Paul Klee'' (Mons, 2006) * ''Buebetroeim Vol. 1'' (Musikvertrieb, 2007) * ''Tanzendes Licht'' (Aktivraum, 2008) * ''Close Encounter'' (Mons, 2009) * ''Buebetroeim Vol. 2'' (Musikvertrieb AG, 2009) * ''Lucidity'' (Mons, 2011) * ''Live@Jazzfestival Bern'' (Mons, 2014) * ''Sincerely Yours'' (2014) * ''Pools'' (Mons, 2016) D-Publikationen in: Swiss Jazz Orchestra: Saison 2013/2014 Bern 2013 S. 10/11 ./ref>References
External links