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United Women's Orchestra

Since its founding in 1992, The UNITED WOMEN'S ORCHESTRA established itself as one of the few European bigbands playing new music, and as one of the few all-women bigbands in Europe with an original repertoire. Led by Hazel Leach and Christina Fuchs, the band presented an exclusively original repertoire, composed by the two bandleaders.

However, after 17 years and 3 CDs it was time to move on, and the UWO was disbanded in 2009. They went out with a suitable flourish during the final concerts in the Loft in Cologne (16 Jan 2009) and the Jazzschmiede in Düsseldorf (17 Jan 2009)- and there was an additional goodbye-concert in Frankfurt/Main on 2 Oct 2009 as part of the 25th jubilee celebrations of the FrauenMusikBüro.

United Women's Orchestra: UWO

by Jack Bowers
August 1, 1999

This is the earlier of two CDs by Germany’s forward–leaning United Women’s Orchestra; for an appraisal of its more recent release (The Blue One), see the June ’99 big–band reviews. This is uncompromisingly sophisticated music in a Charles Mingus/Gil Evans/Maria Schneider groove, and not for the faint of heart. The compositions — by co–leaders Leach (four) and Fuchs (three) — are richly textured and absorbing tone poems, unsparingly swathed in polyrhythms and counterpoint, and the UWO unravels them flawlessly. Leach ...

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Album Review

United Women's Orchestra: The Blue One

by Jack Bowers
June 1, 1999

The Blue One is the debut recording by the well–schooled United Women’s Orchestra, a forward–leaning all–female ensemble from Cologne, Germany. Co–leaders Christina Fuchs (three) and Hazel Leach (four) composed and arranged all of the songs, and they shadow closely the groundbreaking endeavors of such respected contemporaries as Carla Bley and Maria Schneider. All of the musicians save Leach and guest vocalist Christine Duncan are from Germany; Leach came to the UWO from Arnhem in the Netherlands, while Duncan hails from ...

...”The music of the United Women's Orchestra is an important contribution to the strengthening of the the identity of European jazz.”.. Michael Naura NDR 1998

... “Any expectation you may have about an all woman band failing to produce the impact of the usual male-dominated group, you can forget right now. The music is original, composed and arranged by the co-leaders Hazel Leach and Christina Fuchs. The concept seems to radiate from the personal experiences of the writers interpreted musically. Although the band's configuration is traditional, the writing is not and the listener can expect the envelope to be stretched and his musical beliefs to be be challenged. If you can think about George Gruntz and perhaps Brookmeyer in advanced mode, you will be fairly close to the impact of this ensemble. For the most part, the unexpected turns of the writing are not too sharp and many outstanding lyrical moments soften the overall drama of the music. The performance often devolves to 'small group' and you are tempted to think of the rest of the ensemble as just another voice in that small group. The experience is of extreme emotions from the dramatic to the sublime and beautiful.
This remarkable ensemble would probably be a culture shock for most traditional listeners, but for those who live at the cutting edge, there is plenty to marvel at. These are muscular meaningful performances by musicians of extreme ability”... John Killoch, August 2000. "Mainly Big Bands"