Since its foundation in 2002, the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra (CCJO) has made an outstanding name for itself across national borders. It is considered one of the best-known and most renowned independent big bands in Europe and is right up there with the Jazz Big Band Graz or the Brussels Jazz Orchestra.

The CCJO was founded in 2002, initially as a composers band, with the aim of presenting the innovative and highly professional composers of Cologne’s independent jazz scene and providing them with a regular large ensemble.

This basic idea was obviously sustainable and promising, as the work of the band’s own arrangers and composers such as Frank Reinshagen, Jürgen Friedrich, Jens Düppe, Niels Klein, Ansgar Striepens and Marko Lackner has since been honored with several WDR jazz awards, among others. Its influence on the independent scene is still extraordinary today, and there are hardly any musicians in the jazz metropolis of Cologne who have not come into contact with the CCJO over the past 22 years.

From the very beginning, the CCJO worked on a project basis, without a fixed musical director or band repertoire, always on the lookout for new challenges and fresh inspiration from outside. Over time, the band’s excellent reputation spread beyond the city limits, making the CCJO increasingly interesting for international composers and arrangers. In the course of its 22 years of existence, the band has repeatedly worked with artists such as Darcy James Argue (USA), Paolo Fresu (IT), Gwilym Simcock (GB), Ryan Truesdell (USA), Julian Arguelles (GB), Silvia Versini (FRA), Lars Möller (DK), Frank Vaganee & Michel Herr (BEL), Scott Robinson (USA), Heinrich von Kalnein & Horst Michael Schaffer (AUT), John Hollenbeck (USA), Markus Geiselhart (AUT), Kathrine Windfeld (DK) or David Liebman (USA), and played at the North Sea Jazz Festival Rotterdam (NL), the Moers Jazzfestival (D), at various WDR jazz festivals as well as in Switzerland, Denmark and Lithuania.

For a long time, Cologne’s Stadtgarten was the CCJO’s permanent venue, but the band had to move last year and is now extremely happy to have found a new home at the LOFT. The band’s Artist in Residence program, which was launched in 2023 with artists such as Ivo Neame (2023) and Matthias Schriefl (2024), was very well received there. The concerts with guests Claudia Döffinger (D) and Kathrine Windfeld (DK) were also a perfect fit for LOFT.

Thanks to ensemble funding from the state of NRW, the Cologne Contemporary Jazz Orchestra will be able to continue at LOFT in 2025. The Mongolian pianist Shuteen Erdenebaatar will accompany the band as artist in residence throughout the year. Furthermore, Florian Ross, an old acquaintance of the band, will lead the orchestra for two concerts.