SWR Big Band and Fola Dada have been successful collaborators for many years and with their new studio album As We Speak they broaden their swing repertoire to include the 1960s. In addition, there are swing classics like You Go to my Head. This way the multi-Grammy-nominated SWR Big Band is able to confirm their reputation as a fantastically swinging formation that manages to underline new aspects of traditional pieces again and again. The long, fruitful colaboration between the SWR Big Band and the jazz singer Fola Dada has already resulted in three, very successful albums: Kings of S wing (1 & 2) and SWR Big Band live at the Elbphilharmonie. Fola Dada was awared in 2022 the German Jazz Award for the best German jazz singer.
Sammy Nestico, the composer-arranger known for his contributions to the Count Basie Orchestra library and whose name is familiar to anyone who’s played in a big band since the 1960s, recently has gone through a highly creative and productive phase. The rise of Nestico’s international profile has been sparked by a period of collaboration with the SWR Big Band of Germany that has produced several masterful albums, including No Time Like The Present (2004), Basie-Cally Sammy (2005), Fun Time (2009) and Fun Time And More (2011). The productive streak continues with this year’s A Cool Breeze, which finds the perpetually developing, 93-year-old orchestrator combining swing, soul, funk, fusion and symphonic expressions in a stylistic manner that’s distinctly modern yet undeniably Nestico. Unlike his previous SWR collaborations, Nestico (who’s based in San Diego) wasn’t able to travel to Germany for these recording sessions, but digital technology allowed him to participate via Skype and high-speed audio file transfer. His signature syncopations, volleying counterpoint passages, tensely stacked fourths, dramatic dynamics and tasteful manner of combining instrumental timbres are all manifest in the SWR Big Band’s impeccable, inspired performance. These dedicated musicians have become so adept at finessing and interpreting Nestico’s work that they actually transcend what’s on the printed page. They turn his carefully crafted charts into memorable works of art that will have toes tappin’ and fingers snappin’ for decades to come. - DownBeat Magazine Editors' Pick
More than just a collection of delightful tunes, the track list of Kings of Swing Opus 2 takes us on a journey through the golden age of swing. After the positive reception of Kings of Swing Opus 1, the SWR Big Band presents a new list of classics, including Satin Doll, Love Me or Leave Me, One O’Clock Jump, and many more. Under the direction of Pierre Paquette, the SWR Big Band is one of the most acclaimed big bands in Germany. Vocalist Fola Dada is featured on this album, and is widely recognized as one of the most versatile vocalists of our time.
Since his breakthrough at the Eurovision Song Contest in 2004 with 'Can't Wait Until Tonight', Max Mutzke has been regarded as one of the most versatile voices on the German music scene. Whether it's soul, funk, pop or jazz, Mutzke moves effortlessly between genres while always remaining his distinctive self. With his latest album Soul Viel Mehr, he elevates his artistry to a new level. Together with the award-winning SWR Big Band, he presents a work full of energy, emotion and musical sophistication. Opulent arrangements lend fresh brilliance to Mutzke's own songs, such as 'Welt hinter Glas' and 'Marie', while giving classics a radiant new shine. Following it's initial release as a CD (SWR19169CD) in November 2025 - which sold out within just a few weeks and after several reprints - a curated selection of tracks is now being reissued as an exclusive heavyweight LP.
SWR Big Band plays the music of Sammy Nestico - More Than Ju
SWR
CD
$20.99May 09, 2025
Founded in 1951 by Erwin Lehn, The SWR Big Band has been nominated for a Grammy several times and received the German Jazz Award (Gold) in 2015. Over the course of the years, it collaborated with artists like Quincy Jones, Pat Metheny, George Benson, Gary Burton, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Curtis Stigers, Jacob Collier, Patti Austin, Roy Hargrove, Sammy Nestico, Ivan Lins, Paula Morelenbaum, Joo Kraus, Toshiko Akiyoshi, Bob Florence, Rob McConnell, Slide Hampton, Maria Schneider, Frank Foster, Bill Holman and Bob Mintzer. The album SWR Big Band live at the Elbphilharmonie from 2018 is one of the longest running bestsellers of the label. The collaboration between Sammy Nestico and The SWR Big Band began 2004, when the composer was already 80 years old. Soon it developed into a real friendship. No less than five albums have been released in the years until his death, all of them bestsellers of the SWRmusic catalogue. They additionaly made a key contribution to raising international awareness of Nestico's late creative phase. The music he wrote for The SWR Big Band sports both funky sounds and elements of fusion, combining swing, a pinch of soul and an emotional orchestral expression. The music moves artfully between reduced combo sounds and opulent textures. This sense of mutual understanding was created during the decade-plus period of collaboration between the composer and the orchestra, a collaboration built not only on notes, but also on intuition.
Let Freedom Swing / Toshiko Akiyoshi & The Swr Big Band
SWR
CD
$28.99Feb 14, 2008
The orchestra leader, composer, arranger and pianist of world renown recorded 13 of her own pieces with the SWR Big Band, covering a broad spectrum from bebop powerplay to soft yearning ballads. Akiyoshi's compositional style is unmistakable. She mixes bebop, & big band jazz with Japanese elements of music. In May 2007 she had her first opportunity to work with the SWR Big Band.
Fun Time And More Live / Sammy Nestico, Swr Big Band
SWR
CD
$20.99Feb 22, 2011
Hänssler Classic/SWR Music is proud to announce the latest release of jazz great Sammy Nestico in performance with the SWR Big Band. Sammy Nestico is widely considered to be one of the most important American composers and arrangers in the world. He returns once again, to collaborate with the multi-Grammy nominated SWR Big Band on a program featuring entirely his own compositions.
While renowned for his thrilling arrangements of jazz standards, Sammy Nestico is also one of the great jazz composers, as you will hear for yourself on this new recording. In addition to scintillating new arrangements of tunes from the Grammy-nominated "Fun Time," Maestro Nestico adds a sheath of other originals in new charts especially created for the jazz virtuosos of the SWR Big Band.
The result of this latest meeting of the Grand Old man of Swing, with the SWR Big Band will continue to delight jazz collectors everywhere.
"Nestico’s arrangements are mostly about eruptive brass and life-affirming energy, but in the occasional slow piece, like “A Song for Sarah” and “Samantha,” there are rich colors and subtle sonorities which this recording beautifully renders and arrays across a lifelike sound stage." -- Thomas Conrad, JazzTimes.com
Concerts with Maria Schneider are something special. They are stylistically not only out of the ordinary, they also manage to bring large orchestras to perform artistically at high voltage, with an energy and at a creative level which is otherwise known only in much smaller ensembles. It is not the music alone that drives the participants, but rather the serene seriousness of a band leader who demands a maximum of intensity from her compositions and passes this premise on to their interpretation. It is impossible to conceive of compositions for jazz orchestras more stringently. The instrumentalists know this too, and therefore feel called upon not only to reproduce the charts accurately but to work out all the contained hints, implications, and visions of sound down to the deepest levels. This original recording was made in May 2000 when Schneider appeared alongside the SWR Big Band. And for the SWR Big Band, those days in May 2000 are some of the highlights of their orchestral history.
