Monika Roscher Bigband – Lush Symphonic Colours

Formed in Munich in 2011, MRB soon made waves with thrilling live performances and the inventive ideas of Roscher, their founder, singer, guitarist and conductor. Their first two albums, ‘Failure in Wonderland’ (2012) and ‘Of Monsters and Birds’ (2016), were met with acclaim in Germany, where Jazz Echo proclaimed them ‘Newcomer of the Year’, but they also caused a stir internationally, with the US magazine DownBeat naming them as ‘Rising Stars’.

Virtuosos as individuals, as MRB they are a close-knit collective who feed on musical challenges set during recording sessions, while each of their rousing live shows is a celebration of the musical freedom and inspiration they offer each other. A brilliant big band that constantly surprises and reinvents itself, MRB love the adventure and are driven by a hunger for musical symbiosis.

Their upcoming third album, ‘Witchy Activities And The Maple Death’, is stunning proof of how fresh and exhilarating MRB sound today. Superbly recorded, it achieves a breathtaking balance of intimate fragility and symphonic intensity that lets the full sonic spectrum of a big band scream and shine in every colour imaginable. Roscher’s tension-filled and intricately detailed compositions evoke otherworldly landscapes that at times enchant with their elegiac beauty, but at others wreak havoc like the unleashed frenzy of a witches’ sabbath thick with haze.