Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Thomas Gansch

Regie

Flugelhorn

Flute

Bass Clarinet

Bassoon

Trumpet

Trombone

Bassposaune

Tuba

Harp

Bass

Drum Kit

Percussion

100 Jahre Miles Davis

To celebrate the centenary of Miles Davis&#x27; birth, the Zurich Jazz Orchestra performs a selection of pieces written by Gil Evans for Miles Davis and found on the legendary albums Sketches of Spain, Miles Ahead, Porgy &amp; Bess and Quiet Nights. The program is a true best of program, with highlights from each album performed by the original line-up and featuring the incomparable Thomas Gansch as soloist. The program will also include the final part of Ed Partyka&#x27;s composition for the ZJO&#x27;s 30th anniversary, orchestrated for the expanded line-up by Gil Evans and rarely heard in traditional big band music. This concert will end our 2025-2026 Mood Concerts on a high, showcasing yet another facet of the Zurich Jazz Orchestra&#x27;s stylistic breadth and depth.

Skyjack

Horn

Tenorsaxophon

Sopransaxophon

Piano

Album Release «Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet»

The award-winning jazz collective Skyjack, consisting of some of the most sought-after jazz musicians from South Africa and Switzerland, is currently on tour to promote their latest album, “Let The Sky Open Under Your Feet”. Their fourth record is set to be released in April 2026 on the legendary South African label As-Shams/The Sun Records and will further explore contemporary grooves and a modern understanding of jazz. The band consists of three members from South Africa and two from Switzerland. All are highly acclaimed critics in their own right, but Skyjack as a whole is as great as its individual parts. Shane Cooper and Kyle Shepherd have each won the coveted Standard Bank Young Artist for Jazz Award. Swiss musicians Marc Stucki and Andreas Tschopp are two of Switzerland&#x27;s most sought-after horn players, who have achieved dizzying creative and professional heights over the years. Jonno Sweetman joined the band in 2022 and is one of South Africa&#x27;s most sought-after drummers. Their sound is an absolute powerhouse, with all members bringing compositions written for the group. From deep African grooves, to heavy-hitting jazz rides and beautiful soundscapes, it’s all part of the incredible journey that is Skyjack.

Vali Mayers Gypsy Dynasty

Guitar

As the last surviving ensemble of their generation, Gypsy Dynasty embodies the authentic and unique aura of German Sinti music in its original form. Welcome to Gypsy Dynasty, the last living heirs of the Hot Club de France and German gypsy jazz. The musicians are directly descended from their former bandmates who shaped this famous musical tradition – the legends Stephane Grappelli, Schnuckenack Reinhardt, Häns&#x27;che Weiss, Martin Weiss and Titi Winterstein. Gypsy Dynasty are musicians of exceptional rarity. They play what they live: more than just a classical repertoire of timeless and popular melodies, this music celebrates their lifestyle – authentic, rousing and poetic. Three is the magic number that unites this trio of Gigi Reinhardt, Holzmanno Winterstein and Vali Mayer.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Song Yi Jeon

Leitung

Vocals

Altsaxophon

Baritone Saxophone

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Song Yi Jeon 

Female Composers Series

An evening dedicated to female composers and arrangers: The first part of the concert features music by Claudia Döffinger, Niki Illes, Cinzia Catania, Carla Köllner, and Ursula Reicher. The second part focuses on a composer and vocalist collaborating with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra for the very first time: South Korean artist Song Yi Jeon. Song Yi Jeon is not only the new vocal instructor at ZHdK, but is also renowned for her hypnotic voice—often compared to a malleable, wordless instrument—and for her incomparable improvisations. Her compositions will be performed with a jazz orchestra for the first time, presented in arrangements by Ed Partyka. This collaboration has the potential to become one of the artistic highlights of the season.

Nik Bärtschs RONIN & Simone Felbers iheimisch – «Wätterglüüt»

Kontrabassklarinette

Cello

Accordion

Nik Bärtschs RONIN & Simone Felbers iheimisch – «Wätterglüüt»

Exil und Moods präsentieren Montags 1115

Live Ambient Guitar Support: Joel Gilardini Nik Bärtsch and Simone Felber were commissioned to compose a piece for the Alpentöne 2025 festival and decided to pursue a project together. This is how RONIN meets iheimisch with «Wätterglüüt». Customs and tradition become music and music becomes customs. Which came first, the custom or the music? Stories interweave with reality, grooves with rhymes. «Wätterglüüt» oscillates between archaic, contemporary and political influences, balancing the enduring and the new. The program pays tribute to important aspects and people of our tradition and at the same time puts new customs in front of them. With this composition, Nik Bärtsch&#x27;s RONIN and Simone Felber&#x27;s iheimisch move forward to the roots and thus back to the future. After performing at Moods in October 2025, the artists continued working and developing the program and in turn, will return for another performance.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Yasek Manzano Silva

Latin Night – Rompiendo La Rutina

We were very much looking forward to embarking on a musical journey to the Caribbean at the upcoming concert alongside Juan Munguía, the Cuban trumpet legend who lives in Spain. Unfortunately, due to health reasons, he is unable to come to Moods. Nevertheless, you don’t have to miss out on an exciting concert evening at Moods. Yasek Manzano Silva will be stepping in for the evening. Daniel Schenker met the Cuban trumpeter and composer in New York in 2002. He was introduced to the New York jazz audience there during a concert by his mentor, Roy Hargrove. As luck would have it, the Havana-born musician has been in Switzerland for a little over two weeks and, fortunately, agreed to join right away. Yasek Manzano Silva began his musical studies at the Alejandro García Caturla Conservatory in Marianao, where he played along to the music he heard on his parents’ LPs. In 1995, Manzano enrolled at the Amadeo Roldán Conservatory in Havana, where he developed an interest in jazz music. He later attended the Havana School of Arts and Music. In 1997, American jazz trumpeter Roy Hargrove gave him his first trumpet, and Silva began playing at various jam sessions around town. He later traveled to New York and received a scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music, where he studied under jazz trumpeter Wynton Marsalis and played in the Juilliard Jazz Orchestra. Since returning to Cuba in 2003, he has performed alongside Celia Cruz, Los Van Van, Irakere, Bobby Carcassés, and the British bands Manic Street Preachers and Simply Red. So you can look forward to a thrilling program: it’s quite possible that you’ll find it hard to sit still this evening. In addition to lively salsa numbers, you’re sure to hear a few Latin American-influenced arrangements by Ed Partyka.

Sc'ööf

Saxophon

Sc&#x27;ööf are tipped to be the next big thing in Europe. The experimental band has already won the Zenith Award from the European Jazz Network, among other accolades, and has developed its own radical sound that is refreshingly adventurous and provocative. With their fascination for strange grooves and exuberant live energy, Sc&#x27;ööf are an exciting surprise. The Swiss-based quartet consists of drums, a laptop, an electric guitar and two saxophones with electronics and sound design. They create acoustic glitch music using advanced instrumental techniques, weaving atonal melodies into dense, complex rhythms and blending a variety of musical ideas into a single piece. Their sound uniquely combines elements of jazz, rock, metal, punk and experimental music. Their technically impressive performances are based on strong individual musicality and years of collaboration. Thanks to their long, repetitive, highly rhythmic structures, their performances are hypnotic, and thanks to their physical energy, they are intense.

Antistatic

The Danish instrumental trio Antistatic creates complex soundscapes with just two guitars and drums. Their instruments intertwine effortlessly, combining percussive guitar lines and intricate polyrhythms to create hypnotic grooves that lie somewhere between post-punk and math rock. Their debut album, Relics, was released in 2024 on the renowned US label Cuneiform Records and received rave reviews worldwide. This year, the band will follow up with a new release. Antistatic is an experience, especially live. They build dynamics between controlled precision and cathartic outbursts. With their repetitive, driving rhythms, they put you in a trance, only to create new tension time and again with surprising twists.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Karin Meier

Horn (Cornet)

Karin Meier returns to continue her many years of great collaboration with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra. In addition to Karin&#x27;s own compositions, the program will also include new interpretations of jazz standards and pop classics, all arranged for the ZJO by Ed Partyka. The orchestra will perform with an expanded line-up, including French horn, tuba and a whole range of woodwind instruments to give the music additional textures and timbres. The orchestra will also play instrumental music by Ed Partyka, including the continuation and further development of the composition written for the orchestra&#x27;s 30th anniversary. The first movement of the work, There Will Be Another You, was premiered on October 2, and the piece will continue to evolve and grow until May 2026. As always, both the instrumental and vocal arrangements will be performed by the Zurich Jazz Orchestra&#x27;s outstanding soloists.

New Regency Orchestra

Keyboards

Director

Bongos

Congas

Spirit Music Society & Moods present

For the past four years, the New Regency Orchestra has been causing a sensation with its powerful twelve-piece horn section and well-rehearsed five-piece rhythm section. The orchestra&#x27;s dancers breathe new energy and arrangements into the heyday of Latin jazz and salsa. The orchestra is the brainchild of artistic director Lex Blondin, who is the man behind the Total Refreshment Centre and the co-founder of the Church of Sound. His longstanding passion for jazz led him to discover the explosive Afro-Cuban rhythms that were popular in 1940s New York thanks to Mario Bauzá, the godfather of Afro-Cuban jazz. This lively music was made for dancing and found a home at the New York Palladium, a place that was crucial to the development of the scene because it was a defining place of freedom and expression. The 18-piece Afro-Cuban jazz big band is one of London&#x27;s most exciting ensembles. It brings the New York of the 1950s to life, featuring the contemporary power and energy of some of London&#x27;s best Latin and jazz musicians. The NRO&#x27;s repertoire reinterprets some of the best pieces from this golden era. They perform pieces by René Hernández and Tito Puente from the early 1950s and salsa by Rafael Labastida and Orlando Marín from the 1970s with fresh London flair.

Chip Wickham

Fender-Rhodes E-Piano

Chip Wickham is a crossover artist between club culture and jazz, influenced by early collaborations with The Pharcyde, Nightmares on Wax and Matthew Halsall. His music thrives on emotional clarity, playful openness and stylistic diversity - carried by flute, saxophone and a top-class ensemble from the British jazz scene. At Moods, Wickham presents his new album The Eternal Now (2025, Gondwana Records), a homage to the creative moment beyond time - a journey into new sonic spaces with borrowings from Lonnie Liston Smith or David Axelrod. Co-produced by Matthew Halsall, it is Wickham&#x27;s most experimental work to date - an album that impresses with its playfulness, emotional depth and musical breadth.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra playing Rob McConnell

Rob McConnell (1935–2010) was a Canadian trombonist, composer, and arranger. He is best known for founding and leading the Grammy Award-winning big band The Boss Brass from 1967 to 1999. Rob McConnell&#x27;s big band music is firmly rooted in the jazz tradition, but offers clever interpretations of well-known jazz standards, challenging ensemble passages (for the musicians) and exciting ones (for the audience), as well as plenty of space for the orchestra&#x27;s soloists. Other hallmarks of Rob McConnell&#x27;s music are the expanded instrumentation (eleven brass instruments, including two French horns) and the subtle humor that runs through all his compositions. Ed Partyka met Rob in 1989, and the two remained in contact until Rob McConnell&#x27;s death. Partyka recalls: “He was an incredibly warm and funny person, which you can also hear in his compositions. In my opinion, he was also an underrated soloist on the valve trombone, surpassed in expression and virtuosity only by Bob Brookmeyer.”

Dumama

Kay Zhang – ANCESTRAL ROOTS

ANCESTRAL ROOTS invites people to a celebration that honors heritage and culture, living in and through the diaspora, and third culture identities through sound, storytelling or chanting, making the invitation wide, vibrant and inclusive. South African musician, sonic poet, and cultural researcher Gugulethu Duma (aka Dumama) criticizes and deconstructs archaic modes of representation of South African sonic and performance culture. As a storyteller and lyricist she weaves together childhood songs, stories and personal memories with electronic hues and gestures, experimenting with the divide between traditional oral culture and futuristic, globally oriented poetics in her embodiment of an African technological consciousness. For her performances and recordings, she predominantly works with voice, uHadi (a traditional Xhosa bow instrument), live vocal effected loops, processors, field recordings and distortions. This event was co-curated by Tracy September. Tracy September is a musician, performer, and music researcher born in South Africa and based in Zürich. Drawing from jazz, traditional Xhosa singing, and electronic experimentation, her work explores memory, spirit, and protest through improvisation. Tracy weaves voice, electronics, texts, archives, and field recordings into storytelling rooted in ritual and community. She also composes for film, theatre, and dance, performs with the band Black Pitch, and DJs under the alias youngseptember.

Lea Lu & Juan Medina with Nils Wogram & Alejandra Lopez

«Vergel»

The Zurich singer-songwriter meets the flamenco guitarist Juan Medina - an encounter between the two musicians in which the musical worlds of folk, flamenco and jazz merge - something new is created. Already at their second meeting, Lea and Juan began to write songs and inspiration bubbled up. This resulted in their debut album Vergel, which means something like: It will be released in January on the Spanish label Satelite K and christened at Moods. The songs are about new beginnings, curiosity about life and the sun of January. Music that moves and touches the hearts of the audience. Juan&#x27;s virtuoso playing style meets Lea&#x27;s minimalist singer-songwriter arrangements: Her soft velvety voice flies over the raw energy of Juan&#x27;s guitar. Open harmonies between flamenco and jazz form the basic framework, above which Lea&#x27;s dancing, velvety voice floats. For the release concert, Lea and Juan will be joined by double bassist Alejandra Lopez from Madrid and jazz trombonist Nils Wogram.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Melissa Aldana

At the end of the year, the Zurich Jazz Orchestra presents the Grammy-nominated Blue Note artist Melissa Aldana - one of the most innovative and independent jazz musicians on the international scene. Born in Santiago de Chile, the saxophonist comes from a family of musicians: her father and grandfather were both saxophonists. She began playing the saxophone at the age of six under her father&#x27;s guidance. Initially influenced by Charlie Parker and Cannonball Adderley on the alto saxophone, she switched to the tenor saxophone after hearing Sonny Rollins. As a teenager, she played in jazz clubs in Santiago and was invited by pianist Danilo Pérez to perform at the Panama Jazz Festival in 2005. She later moved to the USA to study at Berklee College of Music. She released her debut album &quot;Free Fall“ in 2010. At the age of just 24, she was the first instrumentalist and first South American musician to win the prestigious Thelonious Monk International Jazz Saxophone Competition. The Washington Post praised her as representing a new sense of possibility and a new direction in jazz. Her album Visions (2019) earned her a Grammy nomination in the Best Improvised Jazz Solo category. Nate Chinen (NPR Music) called it one of the best jazz albums of the year and praised Aldana&#x27;s ability to combine technical brilliance with a rich emotional palette. The concert program she is presenting with the Zurich Jazz Orchestra at Moods was written entirely by her. One part was arranged by Jim McNeely for the HR Big Band, the other by Ed Partyka especially for the ZJO and its soloists.

Muriel Grossmann Quartet

Composition

Hammond organ

Album Release «Breakthrough»

Muriel Grossmann is considered a master of spiritual jazz and has created impressive works with albums such as Devotion (Third Man Records, 2023) and The Light Of the Mind (RR Gems Records, 2024). The Ibiza-based multi-instrumentalist interweaves modal jazz in the tradition of John Coltrane with spiritual post-bop, free improvisation and sonic depth. Her compositions are tailor-made for her fellow musicians and impressively showcase their individual strengths. Grossmann creates a dense, meditative atmosphere on stage, as can be heard most recently on the live album MGQ live at King Georg, Cologne. At Moods, the quartet will present their latest album Breaktrough, which will be released at the end of September 2025 - and prove that they play even more vividly live than in the studio. This concert recording was made with the support of Migros Culture Percentage.

Patrick Sommer Sextet – Rhythm Creature

Guembri

E-Bass

Patrick Sommer

With Rhythm Creature, Patrick Sommer has created an ensemble that behaves like a pulsating organism. The band as a creature is only marginally tamed and indulges its instincts with relish. The musical ideas for this mostly originate from Patrick Sommer&#x27;s preoccupation with the Moroccan guembri, a lute-like, three-stringed instrument from the Western Sahara. The resulting creative output has also had a lasting influence on his approach to his other bass instruments, rhythms, and phrasing. The resulting pieces are characterised by interwoven rhythms, intense moods and captivating melodies. The band members are all groove specialists: Patrick has been working closely with guitarist Michael Bucher for countless years, and he has been playing in various formations with drummer Kaspar Rast, keyboardist Peter Wagner, saxophonist Dave Feusi and percussionist David Stauffacher for almost as long. Rhythm Creature now breathes life into these pieces and releases them into the wild.

MKZ Big Band Summit

Big Band Summit 2025 Once again: “Three Bands — One Event!” Every three years, Moods hosts the spectacular summit meeting of three big bands. The matinee will open with the Big Band MKZ under the direction of Zurich saxophonist Christoph Irniger. Next up, the SJMUZ BigBand, led by trombonist Lukas Reinert, will take to the already fired-up stage. For the third set, the two bandleaders will join 14 fellow teachers from the Zurich Music School and Conservatory (MKZ) as performers in the teachers@mkz.big.band , under the direction of pianist Andreas Christoph Szalatnay. The three ensembles present a wide stylistic range of compositions and arrangements, captivating the audience with their shared passion for orchestral jazz.

Den Dala

Synthesizer

Album Release «Say Hi to the Storks»

When you think of storks, you quickly think of offspring and new beginnings. They also flutter into Moods with Zurich band Den Dala for a record launch when they present their new album ‘Say Hi to the Storks’. Den Dala remains true to their roots. In their songs, they blend jazz, indie and psychedelic rock into a groovy mixture that makes it nearly impossible to stand still. The band is not alone - Junes, Rye (Chestnut Bakery) and Tim Bond, who are also featured on the album, will also be taking part. Not only can you say hi to the storks, but also do something good for them with your ticket. You have the option of making a donation to the Swiss Stork Society with your purchase. And a real record launch always includes a bit of mischief. What do a razor, the guitarist and 200 sold tickets have in common? You&#x27;ll find out at the concert.

Gansch & Roses

50 Jahre Thomas Gansch Anniversary Band

Thomas Gansch needs little introduction. The Austrian trumpeter, composer and mastermind behind Mnozil Brass has already graced Moods several times - and he loved it. So much so that he is playing one of his only four shows with Gansch &amp; Roses here for his 50th birthday - the only one outside Austria and at his own request. He gave himself a birthday present: a band that will make you go into raptures. Greats such as Randy Brecker, James Morrison, Peter Erskine and Wolfgang Puschnig pay their respects to Gansch and play together with Michael Hornek, Albert Wieder, Florian Trübsbach, Fabian Rucker, Robert Hedemann - and of course the birthday boy himself. This concert was made possible in cooperation with JAM MUSIC LAB University. Thomas Gansch is professor, Peter Erskine and Randy Brecker are guest artists at JAM University. The concert is sold out; there will be no box office sales.

Elina Duni Trio feat. Rabih Abou-Khalil

Jurykonzert

Born in 1981 as the daughter of a writer and a director in the Albanian capital Tirana, Elina Duni first appeared on stage at the age of just five. A lot has happened since her first musical steps on radio and television: today, Elina Duni is an ECM artist and, since 2017, a laureate of the Swiss Music Prize. In this ZKB Jazz Prize Special, the oud virtuoso Rabih Abou-Khalil meets the Elina Duni Trio with Marc Méan and Matthieu Michel. A unique constellation that will probably bring some golden moments. The concert took place as part of the ZKB Jazz Prize.

The long-standing and very fruitful partnership between Thomas Gansch and the Zurich Jazz Orchestra will continue this year. In addition to repertoire from the past, there will also be new arrangements written by Ed Partyka especially for this concert, presenting Thomas Gansch as a composer and multi-instrumental soloist, but also as an amiable &#x27;enfant terrible&#x27;. One thing is certain: the wonderful musicians of the ZJO will provide some musical surprises. It is also certain that the band and the audience will experience an unforgettable evening.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra Funk Night

Joseph Bowie’s Big Band Funk - The Legendary Music of Defunkt

Joseph Bowie is the brother of the big band musician Byron Bowie and the co-founder of the Art Ensemble of Chicago, Lester Bowie. Joe himself founded the punk-funk-jazz group Defunkt in 1978. The band released several genre-bending albums in the 1980s, and their music has been called one of the most adventurous sounds of the last quarter of the 20th century. Over the past 20 years, Joe Bowie has also worked to adapt this music for big band. One of the arrangers Joe has worked with since 2011 is Ed Partyka. The ZJO is looking forward to an energetic evening of danceable hits from the long history of Defunkt.

Dominique Fils-Aimé

Dominique Fils-Aimé is back with a new album and after several attempts finally plays the Moods stage for the first time. Following her successful trilogy of albums that traced the history of African-American culture and history and even earned her a JUNO for Vocal Jazz Album of the Year in 2020, comes her latest record, &quot;Our Roots Run Deep,&quot; which will be released in September 2023 on Ensoul Records. Inspired by soul icons such as Billie Holiday, Etta James and Nina Simone, the Canadian with Haitian roots tells of the wellspring of her soul and holds the audience with her voice in a soothing sonic embrace.

Nubiyan Twist

Acclaimed by the press and critics, celebrated by fans, part of the crème de la crème of British jazz, Nubiyan Twist from Leeds bring together virtuoso musicians, experienced producers and inspired composers under the direction of Tom Excell. Together they create an unmistakable, infectious big band sound with influences from jazz, hip hop, Afrobeat, Latin, soul, reggae and dance music – a captivating, powerful musical experience.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra

Best of: Arranging Jazz

The art of jazz arranging has been around for 100 years. The Zurich Jazz Orchestra will trace the development of this art form for big band - a best-of program as a look back at our season theme The Art of Arranging. The journey begins in the 1920s, continues with the swing and big band era of the 1930s and 1940s and leads into the post-war period. Influential arrangers such as Bob Brookmeyer, Gil Evans, Carla Bley, Billy Strayhorn, George Gruntz and Mathias Rüegg will be in the spotlight and show how &quot;The Art of Arranging&quot; has developed over the past 50 years.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Ola Onabulé

Vocal Artistry Series

If little more than a year passes before the ZJO invites a guest for a second time, the premiere must have been a complete success: In November 2022, British-Nigerian vocalist and songwriter Ola Onabulé performed with the ZJO for the first time. He is a virtuoso, self-effacing singer and a lyricist with today&#x27;s world in mind and history in the back of his mind. The topics of his songs hardly leave anything out, from basic human love of life to political content. In doing so, he refrains from stereotyping, which makes his work more elaborate, but his songs all the more authentic.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Karolina Strassmayer

Gil Evans' «New Bottle Old Wine»

The Zurich Jazz Orchestra will present the complete program of the original arrangements of Gil Evans&#x27; classic album New Bottle Old Wine from 1958, with alto saxophone soloist Karolina Strassmayer interpreting the parts originally played by Cannonball Adderley. Compositions such as King Porter Stomp, St. Louis Blues and Round Midnight will be heard. Before Strassmayer became the first woman to join the WDR Big Band in 2004, she was part of the New York jazz scene for over 15 years and played with Chico Hamilton and the Diva Jazz Orchestra. Today she is a professor of jazz saxophone at the Folkwang University in Essen, where she founded and still directs an empowerment program for women in jazz. The second set of the concert features jazz standards arranged by Ed Partyka for the outstanding soloists of the ZJO and orchestrated for the same unique instrumentation as Gil Evans: Trumpets and trombones are reduced from four to three each, with horn and tuba used instead. The piano is missing entirely and the saxophones are largely replaced by flutes and clarinets.

Jazz

Rap / R'n'B / Brass

Experimental

Jazz Experimental

Soul / Blues / Funk

Rap / R'n'B

Pop / Rock / Singer / Songwriter

Jazz Modern Creative

Global Sounds

Electronic / Party

Over 700 video-on-demand and 40 live streams per year from jazz, global, blues, funk, soul and rap await you. Curated with playlists and recommendations from our program team. In addition, 70% of the subscription revenue goes directly to the musicians. With a subscription you support the artists and this project.

Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Thomas Gansch

100 Jahre Miles Davis

further links

More streams