Jazz Articles

Our daily articles are carefully curated by the All About Jazz staff. You can find more articles by searching our website, see what's trending on our popular articles page or read articles ahead of their published dates on our future articles page. Read our daily album reviews.

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Album Review

Surprise Big Band: Big Band Surprise

by Jack Bowers
April 1, 1999

I hardly knew what kind of surprise to expect from Germany’s Surprise Big Band, as director Peter Stöhr said in an accompanying note that “this is an amateur big band with no professionals (except me).” I am happy to report that the “surprise” was far more agreeable than anticipated. Stöhr’s companions from Haslach may be amateurs, but they play like professionals. Which isn’t that surprising, as I’ve often found German musicians to be among the world’s best when it comes ...