The 21-member orchestra brings together musicians from New York, who are also heard on the album, and musicians from Graz, Vienna, Cologne, and Berlin, all of whom have made a name for themselves in the young, creative jazz scene.
The name of the album is based on an art project by Lenz’s wife, Colombian artist Violeta Lenz. ‘Breathe - Aliento’ is an artistic engagement with her approach to Lenz's lung disease. As a collaboration for this album, she has created illustrations for the compositions, which establishes a connection between music and visual art.
She will accompany the concerts as a video artist and will create live visuals, projections that arise in the moment with the music.
Big band, as the orchestral form of jazz, has a long tradition. Shimmering representatives such as Duke Ellington, Woody Herman, Count Basie, and many, many more have cemented big band as a stylistic form rather than just a line-up in jazz history with their compositions. Peter Lenz attempts to loosen this cement a bit with his approach to using large ensembles. In classical music, it is common to use different ensembles for different pieces. Lenz also employs three different sized line-ups on the album Breathe - Music for Large Ensembles, highlighting the endless timbres of these formations.
"Mr. Lenz's large ensemble compositions transcend the stylistic trappings often found in traditional big bands. Peter's writing focuses on the essence of each song, the journey of each piece, and the inherent and natural sound of the band, which allows the music to be performed as well as listened to in the most effortless way." Jim Black
Release Tour
Peter Lenz
Breathe - Music for Large Ensembles
feat. Efrat Alony & Jim Black
Composer/Conductor
Peter Lenz
Saxophone
Martin Harms - As/Cl, Brian Krock - As/Fl/Cl/E-Hrn, Matthew Halpin- Ts/Fl, Robert Unterköfler - Ts/Cl, Steffanie Schoiswohl - Bs/BCl
Trumpet
John Lake, Gerhard Ornig, Jake Henry, Kenny Warren
Trombone
Janning Trumann, Matthias Bernsteiner, Sascha Krobath, Hannes Oppel
Rhythm Section
Keisuke Matsuno, Michael Lagger, Irena Manolova, Marty Kenney, Jim Black
Vocals
Efrat Alony
Visuals
Violeta Puerta Cano