THE UNITED WOMEN'S ORCHESTRA

- the bandleaders: Christina Fuchs & Hazel Leach - the musicians -
CD's: our first CD - The Blue One - Virgo Supercluster -
press reviews - contact info- links
- Index -

Bye Bye, UWO

Since its founding in 1992, The UNITED WOMEN'S ORCHESTRA established itself as one of the few European bigbands playing new music, and as one of the few all-women bigbands in Europe with an original repertoire. Led by Christina Fuchs (Cologne, Germany ) and Hazel Leach, (Arnhem, The Netherlands) the band presented an exclusively original repertoire, composed by the two bandleaders.

However, after 16 years and 3 CDs it's time to move on, and the UWO is being disbanded. We went out with a suitable flourish during the final concerts in the Loft in Cologne (16 Jan 2009) and the Jazzschmiede in Düsseldorf (17 Jan 2009)- and there will be one additional goodbye-concert in Frankfurt/Main on 2 Oct 2009 as part of the 25th jubilee celebrations of the FrauenMusikBüro.

Reviews

... The audience was soon aware that this was an extraordinary ensemble with glittering soloists. The performance was characterized by improvisation and the joy of playing, never dwelling on rigid structures. And whoever heard Susanne Riemer's great trumpetsolo in the very first piece joined the enthusiasts in the audience, applauding generously.
Whether mysteriously exotic or funky, minimalist, expressive, chambermusic-like or swinging, these women have mastered their craft without losing emotional direction...Osnabrück N.O.Z.

Every seat in the house was taken when "The United Women's Orchestra" came on stage on Friday evening. What the audience heard was complex, thru'composed and extremely diverse jazz.. Attentive and quiet, they listened to the varied colours and entered a completely new world of sound: a mixture of traditional bigband style, modern jazz, experimental music and freeform improvisation.. The solos gave the players the benefit of individual freedom, but one never had the feeling of experiencing cliché-ridden jazz. On the contrary: the countless musical ideas were fitted into a homogenous, rounded sound.. Soft pastels, sound pictures, romantic colours, here and there a bit of groove and swing. The audience were captured in a dream.. The final note sounded after more than two hours and they were happy to have experienced such an absorbing concert... Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.
More reviews

Contact info

Hazel Leach
Boulevard Heuvelink 194, 6828 KX Arnhem, The Netherlands
tel/fax ++31-26-3512934
e-mail:hleach@xs4all.nl

Christina Fuchs
LuxemburgerStr. 311-313, 50939 Cologne, Germany
tel/fax: ++49-221-881392
e-mail:cfuchs@angel.de

Other interesting sites..

Jazz Links International- The JazzPages	draai om je oren. Dutch jazz e-magazine
Italian Jazz Musicians ..with lots of international links	The Jazz Server .. jazz in the Netherlands
Jazz Institute Darmstadt	All About Jazz
Kind of Blue	Maria Schneider CD's, charts and much more...
Jazz Grrls: a list of Jazz Women on the Web	Ingrid Jensen featured with us on "Virgo Supercluster"
The Bigbands Database Welcome Page	Bigbands in Germany

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