Description
Syrian-born and New York-based clarinetist Kinan Azmeh and the NDR Bigband have been linked for a long time, and after several joint productions they released the album “Flow” in autumn 2021. The album presents Kinan’s music in fantastic arrangements by Wolf Kerschek, played by the NDR Bigband. “For me, the NDR Bigband is not just a jazz ensemble. I see it as a great, flexible collective of composers, arrangers, instrumentalists and people,” describes Azmeh.
Kinan Azmeh – from Damascus to New York
Kinan Azmeh was born in Damascus in June 1976 and grew up in Syria, where Arabic and Levantine sounds were unmistakably in the air. But early on, he pursued a straightforward education in Western “classical” music and made a point of not being tied down as a musician to his geographical origins. After studying electrical engineering in Damascus alongside music, he graduated from the Juilliard School in New York (where Miles Davis had studied decades earlier) and remained true to his profession: music. Without confinement.
“I was the Damascene in New York and the New Yorker in Damascus. I am now more interested in being the New Yorker in New York and the Damascene in Damascus… Both cities with all their contrasting qualities are intellectually stimulating to me. Places, people, nature, tragedies and celebrations, all of these elements have found their way into the music I create. Being in a constant state of FLOW is now my new zone of comfort.”Kinan Azmeh
As a soloist, Kinan Azmeh has performed with the New York Philharmonic, Seattle Symphony, Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra, West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra and Syrian Symphony Orchestra, among others.
He played with musical celebrities such as Yo-Yo Ma, Daniel Barenboim, Marcel Khalife, John McLaughlin, Francois Rabbath, Aynur and Jivan Gasparian …
NDR Bigband – jazz ensemble composed of premier soloists
Unique among Germany’s radio big bands, the NDR Bigband is a jazz ensemble composed of premier soloists of diverse backgrounds and influences whose collective endeavors coalesce to produce an original and striking group sound for a large ensemble. The NDR Bigband lives on its strong personalities. Each musician has his own individual style and his own musical language. But there is one thing on which they all agree: what counts is the sound, the groove, the melody – the music.
1.400 concerts, numerous invitations to festivals in Germany and abroad and more than 80 record releases tell their own story. With around 25 programmes every year, each musician is required to adjust to new challenges again in a short time, with fresh ears. As a public law ensemble, the NDR Bigband sees itself as a culture medium.
Tours with artists like Al Jarreau, Randy Brecker, Omar Sosa, Maria Schneider, Bobby McFerrin, Chet Baker and many other artists not only from the world of jazz take the NDR Bigband not only to Europe but also to the other continents of the world.