Maria Schneider, one of the outstanding talents in orchestral jazz, was a student and colleague of Miles Davis's arranger Gil Evans in the 1980s, and she also learned from another great arranger Bob Brookmeyer. She was already able to make her teachers proud with her first records released in the mid-90s, which marked her out as a pioneer of progressive big band and avant-garde orchestral jazz. By the time Concert in the Garden came out with its broad spectrum of sounds including Latin music in 2004, she had collected a host of Grammy and other awards. In addition to Schneider's eight albums and two concert releases, she worked extensively as a composer and arranger. This notably included being David Bowie's final co-author on the 2014 song Sue (Or in a Season of Crime), which earned her a further Grammy Award. Celebrated as jazz record of the year in 2020, the first half of the Data Lords double album is a complex exploration of the darkness of our data-hungry digital world, while Schneider, who is an avid birdwatcher and nature lover, directs our attention towards the inner world and quietening of the mind in the second. This is the first chance we will get to see one of the greats of modern jazz as she tours her hit record with a fabulous band.

Presented by: Müpa Budapest