Eupen Big Band
The Eupen Big Band, or previously the East Belgian Swing Band , is a Belgian big band ; it was founded in 1985 in Eupen , in the German-speaking Community of Belgium , and was renamed Eupen Big Band at the end of 2011 .
description
The style of music moves between swing , fusion , funk and Latin and touches all facets of big band music from the 40s of the last century until today. The repertoire includes works by Duke Ellington , Red Garland , Sal Nistico , Count Basie , Benny Goodman , Herbie Hancock , Joe Zawinul , Woody Herman , Billy Strayhorn , Antônio Carlos Jobim , Peter Herbolzheimer , Bob Mintzer , John Coltrane , Sonny Rollins , Oliver Nelson , Arturo Sandoval , George Gershwin and others.
The musicians of the Eupen Swing Band are all graduates from music colleges or music academies. With the line-up of five saxophones, four trombones, five trumpets and a rhythm section and, depending on the program, also with vocals, the band corresponds to the typical configuration for big bands.
As a big band she has played in Belgium, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Spain. The special highlights in the orchestra's history include a tour of the Costa Brava at the end of the 1980s, the release of the first CD “Just for Fun” in 1993 and concerts as the official representative of the German-speaking Community of Belgium, e. B. in the Belgian Embassy in Germany and for the German Federal President in Munich in 1999. It is worth mentioning the collaboration with a string orchestra on the occasion of the project "My Way - A Tribute to Frank Sinatra", which is unusual for a big band.
Since 1992 it has been awarded the title “Amateur Art Association with Special Artistic Distinction” by the government of the German-speaking Community. This rating obliges the orchestra to take part in a competition, the so-called "classification", before an international jury every four years. To receive the title, the result of the evaluation must be over 90%.
Individual evidence
- ^ Grenz-Echo , concert announcement in the edition of September 14, 2012, p. 8