WDR Big Band Play Along

The WDR Big Band Play Along App makes it possible to play with professionals!

Play along once with the professional musicians of the WDR Big Band: The WDR Big Band Play Along App makes it possible! Whether it's an alto saxophone, tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, clarinet, flute, trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, guitar, piano, bass or drums - in the Jazz-Playalong app, big band musicians and everyone who wants to become one can use the World-class musicians: playing together in the WDR Big Band.

ABOUT THE WDR BIG BAND PLAY ALONG APP: The free app contains compositions and arrangements that have been created exclusively by top big band arrangers for the play along and recorded by the WDR Big Band. A rating system shows the level of difficulty of each arrangement. Eleven instruments are available as solo tracks in the Play Along app: 1st alto saxophone, 1st tenor saxophone, baritone saxophone, 1st trumpet, 2nd trumpet, trombone, bass trombone, guitar, piano, bass and drums. For each of the instruments there is the corresponding sheet music in the app, which can be read on the screen, sent or printed out. In addition, flute and clarinet parts are available for all pieces.

With the built-in mixer you can listen to the songs and adjust the volume of each instrument individually, mute individual tracks or listen to them solo. The playback speed can be regulated with Speed. The loop allows you to listen to a selected passage in a continuous loop. There is also a count-off track and a metronome track, which make practicing and playing along in the Jazz-Playalong app even easier. So you can play digitally together with a single instrument, with several instruments or with the entire WDR Big Band.

A tutorial helps you to find your way around for the first time, to be able to use a pitch exactly the right way. Of course, you can also just listen to the mixed pieces as they were recorded by the WDR Big Band exclusively for this app. Do you love jazz Do you like to improvise your own solo? You can listen to the improvised solos of the WDR Big Band musicians or mute the solo track and play your own improvisation on the harmony. The compositions and arrangements in the WDR Big Band Play Along App have different styles and levels of difficulty and are aimed at amateurs with one year of playing their instrument up to professionals.

The following compositions are currently included in the app:

What’s Next (Comp./Arr .: Michael Abene)

White Dressed Rabbits (comp / arr: Ansgar Striepens)

The Tweet (comp / arr: Torsten Maaß)

Gentle Flow (comp / arr: Ansgar Striepens)

Song for J.G. (Comp / arr: Ansgar Striepens)

Three Champs and a Chump (comp / arr: Ansgar Striepens)

4 Plus One (comp / arr: Stefan Pfeifer-Galilea)

Salute to Jerry (comp / arr: Ralf Hesse)

A Warm Place (comp / arr: Michael Abene)

Sebu (comp / arr: Michael Abene)

Well done, rookie! (Comp / arr: Ansgar Striepens)

WooJu (Comp./Arr .: Michael Abene)

Keep It Up (comp / arr: Vince Mendoza)

La Course (comp / arr: Florian Ross)

Philadelphia (comp / arr: Vince Mendoza)

ABOUT THE WDR BIG BAND: The WDR Big Band is one of the best contemporary big bands in the world and is the first European jazz ensemble to receive multiple Grammy awards for its CD productions. Each member of the big band is a soloist with an unmistakable timbre, which gives the orchestra its unique sound. The repertoire of the WDR Big Band covers the entire spectrum of jazz and jazz-related music from tradition to avant-garde. This also includes Latin Jazz, World Music, Fusion and Crossover - true to the motto "Musical boundaries are musical challenges". The WDR Big Band is led by two renowned Americans: Bob Mintzer is chief conductor and Vince Mendoza is the band's “composer in residence”.

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