Trumpet Tales by Klaus Wienerroither & Barbara Bruckmüller Big Band

NINE LEGENDS ONE LOVE THREE GENERATIONS OF TRUMPET PLAYERS

In an orchestra, the trumpet, at least until the beginning of the 20th century, is mainly being used to play some kind of fanfare, announcing glory, war or victory. It is safe to say that only in jazz this instrument has shown its full sonic and emotional potential. The muted trumpet of Miles Davis has nothing to do with triumph. But of course, jazz trumpet players can just as well use the techniques and styles of classically trained musicians. In a decent jazz orchestra, first trumpet and drummer always take the lead.

“The second jazz concert I attended when I was a kid has been a quintet led by the legendary Woody Shaw. This experience made a very deep impression on me. And so, trumpet sounds played a big part in my jazz education from the very beginning. I chose the guitar as my main instrument. When I got into straight ahead jazz, I always wanted to take the part of the tenor sax (same range and notation as the guitar) within a jazz quintet. Naturally, my first jazz album was a quintet with trumpet, guitar and a piano trio.

“Trumpet Tales” is a portrait of 9 legendary jazz trumpet player since the 1920ties that are close to my heart: Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, Chet Baker, Clifford Brown, Kenny Wheeler, Don Cherry, Freddie Hubbard and Woody Shaw. The compositions of my TRUMPET TALES are performed by some of today’s finest jazz trumpet players and the Barbara Bruckmüller Big Band. Three of the compositions were written for the collaboration with the Barbara Bruckmüller Big Band. Barbara arranged two tunes for her band, sax player Tobias Hoffmann did three arrangements, four tunes were arranged by myself. I am very happy with the result and want to thank the musicians and engineers involved, making this dream project of mine possible.”

Klaus Wienerroither is an Austrian musician, composer, and radio producer. Trained in guitar and popular music, he has developed a distinctive voice across jazz, rock, and improvisation. He performs in diverse projects, including the jazz band Go Blow, the genrespanning duo BoABoA with singer Agnes Heginger or the rock ’n’ roll band Tunesmith, where he also sings lead. Starting in 2004, he is producing programs and features for Austria’s cultural radio station Ö1. He is the creative mind behind TRUMPET TALES.

Barbara Bruckmüller, a composer and jazz pianist born in Vienna, was influenced by the sounds of "Hollywood Jazz" from the 1930s, 40s, and 50s at a young age. She successfully completed her jazz piano studies with Paul Urbanek at the Gustav Mahler Conservatory in Vienna in 2004. Barbara's inspiration and role models lie not so much in individual pianists, but rather in great Big Band leaders and composers such as Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Oliver Nelson, Thad Jones/Mel Lewis, Gil Evans, Joe Henderson, and Maria Schneider. In 2009, she founded Barbara Bruckmüller Big Band. Over the years, she has had the honor of writing arrangements and compositions for artists such as Christian McBride, Peter Herbert ("Bass Instinct"), and The Su'Sis. In August 2023, she and her orchestra were invited to record "Trumpet Tales" by guitarist and composer Klaus Wienerroither at the ORF RadioKulturhaus in Vienna.