[TR24][OF] Tobias Becker Bigband & Jochen Neuffer - Augmented Reality - 2018 (Big Band)

With his first original big band album, the conductor, composer and arranger Jochen Neuffer impressively demonstrates why he has already written arrangements for great musicians of the calibre of Lalah Hathaway, the Metropole Orkest and Helen Schneider. With finely balanced melodic phrases, richly colorful harmonies and a wide-ranging musical span, AUGMENTED REALITY, except for a refreshingly modern implementation of the classic “Pennsylvania 6-5000”, comprises only original and multi-faceted compositions from the pen of Neuffer and leaves the traditional conventions of traditional big band jazz to one side.
He entrusts this project to the renowned Tobias Becker Bigband who again demonstrate their outstanding musicianship and versatility in this their third studio production. Here Tobias Becker relinquishes the musical responsibility for his hand-picked band and instead places it with confidence in the hands of his long-standing colleague Jochen Neuffer. The compositions are tailored to the character of the band and at the same time also allow the excellent soloists appropriate room to express themselves.
Neuffer produced the album together with Henk Heijink who was for over 30 years a member of the Metropole Orkest and as producer guided musical artists such as Kurt Elling, Gregory Porter and Joshua Redman. Heijink as a producer played a significant role in the Metropole Orchestra in 2016 winning a Grammy Award in the category "Best Contemporary Instrumental Album” for its collaboration with Snarky Puppy. AUGMENTED REALITY is the first project that has brought Heijink out of his retirement and back into the producer’s chair.