Uni Big Band Siegen

In the artist's words:

The Uni Big Band Siegen

For many jazz fans, experiencing the full power and sonority, the dynamics and the drive of a big band "live" is still one of the most exciting and thrilling concert experiences of all. Unfortunately, these opportunities are becoming rarer and rarer these days, as the cohesion of such a multi-member formation often entails major organizational and, in the professional field, additional financial problems. In Siegerland, however, you can often enjoy such a spectacular musical event: Fortunately, a big band made up of students and amateur jazz musicians from the Siegerland has existed at the University of Siegen for more than 40 years now and has achieved a high level of recognition and popularity beyond the region through numerous concerts - including at the Siegen jazz club "Oase", in Kassel, at the universities of Cologne and Bonn or at WDR.
In its current form as a permanent institution at the University of Siegen, the band was founded in 1979. From 1980 to 1985, it was under the direction of the renowned American jazz trombonist, composer and arranger Jiggs Whigham, who worked under such legendary bandleaders as Count Basie, Stan Kenton and Kurt Edelhagen. Jiggs Whigham was head of the jazz department at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, the department of popular music at the "Hans Eisler" Hochschule für Musik in Berlin and is now conductor of the BBC Big Band (London) and director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra. He has managed to turn enthusiastic amateurs into a semi-professional ensemble. With a line-up of 16-20 musicians, the band was dedicated to the tradition of the swing era with arrangements from the band books of Count Basie, Duke Ellington and others.
From 1986 to 1991, the band was led by Bernhard Well, who further consolidated the musical level. After his departure for professional reasons, another musician from the band's own ranks, saxophonist Klaus Panten, took over as leader. This change was accompanied by a stylistic reorientation in which the previously more traditional swing-oriented repertoire was expanded to include arrangements of contemporary big band jazz with Latin, funk and rock sounds.
In the summer of 1998, the leadership of the big band was transferred to Hartmut Sperl, a very active pianist and teacher in the local scene and today managing director of the Oase Siegen jazz club. He did not significantly change the repertoire orientation of the ensemble, but added additional highlights by introducing rarely played original arrangements from the pen of Francy Boland (musical head of the legendary Clarke-Boland-Big Band). In addition, his good contacts with WDR ensured that the band was able to play some prestigious gigs, for example in 1999 as part of a live WDR concert recording for the 60th birthday of the internationally renowned saxophonist Gerd Dudek from Siegen in his home town.
At the beginning of the 2001 summer semester, another saxophonist from the orchestra's own ranks took over as conductor. Hans Christian Dörrscheidt was already a member of various jazz ensembles, including the BuJazzO (Bundesjugendjazzorchester, conducted by Peter Herbolzheimer), before he enrolled on the Business Informatics course at the University of Siegen in the winter of 1998 and immediately made contact with the university big band. In 2006, Hans Christian Dörrscheidt took his leave and moved to a new location for professional reasons.
In the 2006-2007 winter semester, trombonist Bjoern Strangmann took over as director. He studied with Jiggs Whigham in Cologne, was a member of the first season of the Bundesjazzorchester under the direction of Peter Herbolzheimer and is a co-founder of the GermanJazzOrchestra. He has played in numerous big band and jazz formations and runs the Morsbach Music School.
In the summer semester of 2010, Martin Reuthner became the new and current director of the Uni Big Band. Martin Reuthner studied jazz trumpet at the Cologne University of Music. The trumpeter and qualified music teacher lives there and plays with Udo Jürgens and the Pepe Lienhard Orchestra, the Paul Kuhn Big Band, the Heavytones (TV Total, Unser Star Für Oslo) and the WDR Big Band, among others. He is also regularly in demand as a studio musician in several Cologne recording studios, releases his own CDs, teaches with the Saxony-Anhalt Youth Jazz Orchestra and writes teaching literature, such as "Das Trompetenbuch". Under his direction, the Big Band has already recorded two CDs and presented various jazz musicians such as Andy Haderer, Ludwig Nuß and Dave Horler (WDR Big Band), Ingolf Burkhard (NDR Big Band) and, last but not least, Gerd Dudek as guest soloists.
Looking back, it can be said that the founding of the Uni Big Band Siegen was a kind of initial spark for the blossoming of a local and regional jazz scene that had hardly existed until then. In its function as a gathering place for the most talented local amateur jazz musicians, it soon contributed to the formation of numerous smaller jazz formations. Once infected with the jazz bug, some of the founding members also developed further activities, for example as co-initiators of the jazz club "OASE" and the now nationally renowned SI-JAZZ series of events, at whose first edition in 1981 the band gave its concert debut under Jiggs Whigham. In view of the fact that a number of school and music school big bands have also been set up since the university big band was founded, it is obvious that it also plays a pioneering role in music education when it comes to jazz and in this way constantly contributes to a further revitalization of the scene. Today, the Uni Big Band is an important cultural institution for the University and the city of Siegen and its public activities ensure the appropriate image transfer.