Zurich Jazz Orchestra feat. Brandy Butler

Following the successful last season's joint ZJO/Brandy Butler concert, the songstress has been invited for a second project.

Billy Strayhorn was 24 years old when he joined Duke Ellington and remained loyal for the entire duration of his short life. He was to a large part also responsible for the sound of the orchestra and was considered as one of the most prominent jazz composers and arrangers. The adjective «meaningful» without doubt also applies to his song texts, the majority of which he penned himself. In contrast to many not-so-deep jazz standard lyrics, Strayhorn's texts are intelligent, witty and often unconventional. So, for example, the track «Take the A-Train» is route information to Ellington's house wrapped up in a melody, which Duke explained to Strayhorn by telephone for their first encounter: «You must take the ‹A› train, to go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem».

Brandy Butler describes Strayhorn as one of her favourite composers and writers and during the evening will sing tracks like «Passion Flower» and «Satin Doll» in addition to «Take the A-Train». She grew up in America, studied music in Philadelphia Musik and in 2003 came to Switzerland as an au-pair. Soon she was singing with the greats such as Sophie Hunger, Florian Ast and the rapper Steff la Cheffe. She can also evidence a notable solo career with bands such as «Chamber Soul» or her current project «Brandy Butler and the Brokenhearted».