Joos: Change of Beauty

Change of Beauty is the title Herbert Joos gave his orchestral suite, which he premiered on the occasion of the 2017 Baden-Württemberg Honorary Jazz Prize award ceremony. That beauty can only endure through change and is always a matter of perspective is an insight that aligns with the experiences Herbert Joos gained throughout a dazzling career as a musician. For the trumpeter, flugelhornist, and composer emerged in the jazz scene at a time when certainties were crumbling. Born in 1940 and influenced by musical individualists such as Miles Davis, Chet Baker, and Billie Holiday, he first learned the craft of imitation in ensembles such as the Modern Jazz Quintet Karlsruhe, but at the same time experienced the beginnings of aesthetic resistance. He found like-minded colleagues such as Hans Koller, Wolfgang Dauner, and Albert Mangelsdorff, who also boldly challenged the musical zeitgeist. Joos experimented with contemporary classical music and electronics, but soon returned to exploring the natural sonic possibilities of the trumpet itself and even the alphorn. Many of his musical companions became friends, so it is no wonder that Herbert Joos was able to assemble an all-star ensemble of improvisational culture for the award recipient concert. Change Of Beauty is one way of summarizing this, through the interplay and contrast of dynamics, the principles of orchestral richness, and the reduction to the transparency of individual instruments. It is the growth of a sonic organism, not linear, but rather in ever-new, complementary approaches.