Plans & Drawers Florian Ross & WDR Big Band
Album info
Album-Release:
2025
HRA-Release:
28.11.2025
Label: Galileo Music Communication
Genre: Jazz
Subgenre: Big Band
Artist: Florian Ross & WDR Big Band
Album including Album cover
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- 1 Catania 08:23
- 2 Eld1 06:26
- 3 Clapham Junction 06:51
- 4 Lore 06:00
- 5 Think out Loud 06:58
- 6 Here, My Love 05:35
- 7 Surf & Turf 05:31
- 8 Now and Then and Now Again 07:44
- 9 1988 04:58
- 10 Body & Soul 06:07
Info for Plans & Drawers
After his acclaimed 2020 collaboration with the WDR Big Band, composer and arranger Florian Ross returns with another inspired meeting of minds. This new release continues his exploration of what the modern jazz orchestra can be — expansive in color, rich in detail, and deeply human in expression.
Over the past few years, Ross has steadily shaped a musical voice that is unmistakably his own: intricate yet lyrical, rhythmically alive yet full of space. The ten pieces gathered here — some newly written, others rediscovered from as far back as 1992 — reveal the scope of his imagination and his enduring partnership with the extraordinary musicians of the WDR Big Band.
The music moves effortlessly between worlds: from sweeping cinematic landscapes to grooves with a fusion edge, from exuberant swing to moments of quiet, European-inflected harmony. Each track is built around the personalities within the band — written not just for instruments, but for people, their sounds, and their stories. What emerges is both a continuation and a renewal. Ross’s writing remains as sophisticated and warm as ever, but there’s a new sense of openness here, a willingness to let melody and emotion take the lead. It’s music that rewards attention, yet it also welcomes you in from the first note — a celebration of what happens when vision meets virtuosity.
WDR Big Band
Florian Ross, arrangements and conductor
Recorded Jan 09-18, 2025 at STUDIO 4, WDR Funkhaus Wallrafplatz, Cologne, Germany.
Produced by Florian Ross (TPR)
Exec. Producer: Arnd Richter (WDR)
Florian Ross
is a musical explorer.
His journey into the many lands of jazz began with studies in Cologne and later London and New York, where he honed his skills both as a pianist and a composer. Florian's special area of devotion and expertise was post-bop, which flowered into his remarkable ability today to handle all forms of contemporary and improvised music. His first album as a leader appeared in 1998. Now he has 18 to his name, with more on the way.
Florian's music comes from a deep synthesis of heart and mind, of feeling and intellect. This is why he can so effortlessly span the realms of improvised and composed jazz. His gifts as a piano player prevent him from being seduced into the abstract theory of purely intellectual composition, while his instincts as a composer enables him to steer clear of self indulgence on the keyboards.
And it's music of a breathtaking variety. The diversity of formats he works in is simply dazzling. He casually excels in every combination from solo, duo, trio and quintet right up to big bands and symphony orchestras.
He has taught at many German universities and academies and is currently teaching Piano and Composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz, Köln. Additionally he has been involved in teaching clinics and workshops all over the world. He has played, composed and arranged for many orchestras across Europe including the Metropole Orchestra, WDR and NDR Big Band. Florian’s international awards for playing and composing are too numerous to list, but among them are the coveted first prize in the Danish Radio Big Band International Thad Jones Competition and the prestigious WDR Jazz prize for composition.
This album contains no booklet.