Swingin' Fireballs

Few groups keep the spirit of American big-band entertainment as close to the surface as the Swingin' Fireballs, the jazz and swing band from Bremen. Their template is the showbiz swagger of the 1950s and 1960s, heard through the lens of Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin and Louis Prima, and every arrangement is written by pianist Joachim Refardt. The Hamburger Abendblatt has called them Germany's best swing jazz players.

Refardt and saxophonist Volker Bruder founded the group in 1999, and it has since played more than 1,000 concerts in Germany, Europe and China. A high point came in May 2004, when they performed alongside the Count Basie Orchestra in Hanover. That same year they recorded ‘Papa Loves Werder’ for Werder Bremen, with trombonist Jürgen L. Born as soloist, and a Christmas double album with Dutch singer Greetje Kauffeld followed on Mons Records in 2006. In 2009 they recorded seven tracks for the film Dinosaurier – Gegen uns seht ihr alt aus!, with James Last conducting the studio sessions, and in 2010 they travelled to China as part of a Bundesrat delegation, playing the opening concert of the Nine Gates Jazz Festival. Their 2014 album Swingcredible! was unveiled at jazzahead.