EBONY BAND
Werner Herbers

 R.F. Graettinger: Incident in Jazz (1949);
City of Glass I (1947);
April in Paris (1947);
Laura (1948);
Thermopylae (1949);
City of Glass II (1951);
Graettinger 3 (1950);
Untitled (1948),
F. Marks: Trajectories
P. Rugolo: Conflict (1949);
Mirage (1949)

Channel Crossings

The Ebony Band was founded in 1990 by Werner Herbers, solo oboist of the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and ex-artistic director of the Netherlands Wind Ensemble. The Ebony Band is concerned with the performance of modern, unusual, and adventurous music, primarily from the first half of this century. Attention is devoted primarily to the work of less well-known composers worthy of (re)discovery. The Ebony Band devoted several programs to German music at the time of the Weimar Republic (degenerated music). A program was also given during the 1991 Holland Festival with composers who were involved in the Spanish Civil War. Other programs included Leonard Bernstein and Friends, Degenerated influences on Jazz and Unknown Russians in the Twenties. The core of the Ebony Band consists of musicians from the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. The band was enlarged with a number of strings and (classically trained) jazz wind players especially for the Graettinger project.

(...) Nog zo'n hoogtepunt was de Ebony Band o.l.v. Werner Herbers. Krankzinnige bigband-muziek die met zijn verwrongen dissonanten, rare erupties, onlogische akkoordenopvolgingen en dichtgeplamuurde textuur niet snel gaat vervelen. (...) Volkskrant May 1994
(...) Graettingers composities hebben op cd niets van hun buitensporige karakter verloren (...) (...) is een waardig monument voor Robert Graettinger, een post-nucleaire autodidact met een huiveringwekkende fantasie. Volkskrant, November 1994
(...) Stan Kenton would have loved it! (....) The Denver Post, November 1994 (...) The music sticks in your memory (...) Washington Post, Augustus 1994
(...) De Ebony Band doet de verontrustende muziek van Graettinger herleven alsof ze gisteren gecomponeerd werd. Klassiek, September 1994
(...) This is a brave effort (...) (...) Schuller is a great pioneer in this kind of work (...) Gramophone, May 1995
(...) so virtuos gespielt, macht diese Musik trotz gelegentlich ermdender Motorik und melodischer Stereotypien Spass. (...) Dissonanz, February 1995
(...) einen ungeahnten Hhepunkt (...) (...) besonders sinnenfroh und musikalisch prickelnd (...) (...) Die Wiedergaben der Ebony Band, die sich u.a. schon mit der Wiederentdeckung des jung verstorbenen amerikanischen jazz-Klassikers Robert Graettinger profitiert hatte, sind ausgesprochen anregend und spannungsreich. Fono Forum, September 1995