Vein Trio & Norbotten Big Band

Jazz, born in the Mississippi Delta in the early twentieth century, has blurred the minds of many classically educated composers. The influence of New Orleans jazz can be found in George Gershwin’s works. Being fascinated with the musical culture created on large plantations of South Carolina, he wrote the opera "Porgy and Bess". Also European composers eagerly reached for unusual rhythms and harmonic solutions proposed by African-American self-taught musicians. Among them was Maurice Ravel, the French composer with Basque roots, associated mainly with Impressionism.

Jazz inspirations can be found in his two piano concertos, and above all in the second violin sonata, whose middle movement was described by the composer as "Blues". Ravel developed his jazz fascinations during a trip to America in 1928 where he met Gershwin.

This time, however, jazz will be inspired by Ravel. The Swiss ensemble Vein Trio reached for compositions by the Impressionist – "Blues", "Bolero", "Pavane pour une infante défunte". They made their own jazz arrangements out of those pieces and included them in their album. The trio consists of Michael Arbenz (piano), Thomas Lähns (double bass) and Florian Arbenz (drums).

The Swiss musicians will be supported by one of the most professional ensembles of this type – the Swedish Norbotten Big Band, whose origins go back to the 1980s, and since 2000 has been cooperating with Swedish Radio, producing numerous compositions.