That’s clear Jazz Rush Big Band became famous for the techno-jazz she practically invented. However, it is often overlooked that the group is actually a jack of all trades. In her Christmas program, she goes through the classic big band styles, again and again she gets involved with models from composer friends, and also takes on commissioned themes, such as just recently at the “Jazz Summer” in the Bayerischer Hof. And last but not least, along with many other influences, classical music also plays an important role. Bandleader Roman Sladek and house composer Leonhard Kuhn also completed classical courses.
So very early in the band’s history, “Bruckner’s Breakdown” dealt with the great Austrian romantic of the 19th century. Brahms can also be found in the program list, and at the height of their wave of success, “Beethoven’s Breakdown” would probably have had a big impact in the Beethoven year of 2020 if everything hadn’t been swallowed up by the pandemic at the time. After two “homemade” techno-jazz albums, a classic is once again the inspiration: Gustav Mahler.
Unlike the earlier classical adaptations, the album “Mahler’s Breakdown”, which was released again by the Act label, is not a “best of” various compositions, but concentrates on one central work: the famous, tricky 5th Symphony, which Mahler himself revised several times in C sharp minor. If you have listened to their Jazzrausch big band version, you might think that this work has been waiting for this processing for 120 years.
As in the “funeral march” of the first movement, the heavy brass introduces the theme, the piano underscores a groove, then everyone makes the melody dance together, the saxophone intervenes improvisationally, the band culminates everything after a key change and finally with the opening -click to end – Kuhn could not have written a better original song than this arrangement for this band and their style. This is no less true of the brilliant second main movement of the symphony (“Stormy, moved. With the greatest vehemence” as Mahler describes it) or the dreamy fourth (“Adagietto. Very slow”).
In this respect, it is more than just a joke by Roman Sladek, known for his humorous moderation, when he says that this symphony was written for techno big bands, even though they didn’t even exist at the time. At his special request, a movement from the 3rd symphony ended up on the album as an encore – because of the outstanding trombone passages he had always loved.
Admittedly, the jazz rush method of techno jazzing is no longer new and remains a matter of taste. Indisputably, however, it is intelligent, virtuosic and rousingly staged – which can certainly be verified on Friday, September 15th in the Isarphilharmonie, when the new work is presented live together with a best-of selection from “United Bangers”. And just as the Jazzrausch Bigband succeeded in winning over a new, young club audience for jazz, they could also succeed in breaking into the segment of classical music listeners who are receptive to new things with “Mahler’s Breakdown”.
Jazzrausch Big Band: “Mahler’s Breakdown”, Act; live: Friday, September 15th, 8 p.m., Isarphilharmonie, Hans-Preißinger-Str. 8th., www.gasteig.de