The 14 musicians orchestra relentlessly pursues a work that highlights the creativity of arrangers and sound exploration of the form of the big band, beyond genre.

“There’s no disjunction between using the (Umlaut) big band to play both vintage swing and jagged contemporary pieces.” DOWNBEAT Magazine, 2019

The band has been mainly focusing on jazz arrangers from the 20-40s (Don Redman, Mary Lou Williams, Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington… and European musicians) thanks to an intensive research based on rare scores and recordings.

Very active on the European stage of improvised music, the musicians started a series of commissions to contemporary composers who maintain an intimate relation with jazz : Alexander Von Schlippenbach, Jean-Luc Guionnet, Axel Dörner, Bertrand Denzler, Joel Grip.