Jazzrausch Bigband
Dancing Wittgenstein

"A meltdown of big band sound with house and techno music." (Süddeutsche Zeitung) With an average of 120 concerts per year, the Jazzrausch Bigband is one of the busiest big bands in Europe. Through their concerts in Europe, America, Asia, and Africa, they bring together jazz enthusiasts and dance enthusiasts with "sonic power, groove, and tremendous stage presence" (FAZ) like no other ensemble currently does. Groove with intellect, electronic music with brass, jazz in a frenzy. The driving forces behind the project are Munich-based trombonist and music manager Roman Sladek and guitarist and composer Leonhard Kuhn, who also resides in Munich. The musical journey's nucleus and starting point is a Munich institution: the "Harry Klein," one of the most renowned electronic clubs in Europe. In 2015, just one year after its formation, the Jazzrausch Bigband became the Artist in Residence at "Harry Klein," and the young Munich audience went wild. A big band in a techno club. Truly unique. For Munich and the world. Quickly, the stages grew larger, and the band filled venues like the Muffathalle as well as high-culture temples like the Munich Philharmonic, and they performed at renowned festivals across Germany. The circles the band moves in continue to expand: concert tours have taken them to the Lincoln Center in New York, the JZ Festival in Shanghai, the Safaricom International Jazz Festival in Nairobi, the Ural Music Night in Yekaterinburg, and the SXSW Music Festival in Austin. It is not an exaggeration to call the band a phenomenon. One that, in its own unique way, demonstrates what has been simmering and working in this music called "jazz" for a long time: it is more than ever the label for what doesn't fit into any box. And everyone, both musicians and the audience, enjoys tearing down boundaries with delight. The music of the Jazzrausch Bigband, it seems, fulfills several desires in this context: the desires of clubgoers for something more authentic, handmade, fresh, and original. And the desires of jazz and classical music listeners for more punch, entertainment, big sound, and a fat groove.