Established trumpeter Torsten Maaß has been working for many years with numerous big bands as a composer, arranger and guest conductor. He collaborated on productions with Max Mutzke, Clueso, Ack van Rooyen and many more. Under his direction, the SWR Big Band played and recorded a selection of his life-inspired works that lay stylistically between modern mainstream and Bob Brookmeyer, in whose New Art Orchestra he was a founding member as a trumpeter. This collection of works is now released on the album Music Written by Real Life.

The established trumpeter Torsten Maaß has been working for numerous big bands as a composer, arranger and guest conductor for many years. He arranged for productions with Max Mutzke, Clueso, Ack van Rooyen and many more. a. Under his direction, the SWR Big Band plays a selection of his life-inspired works - stylistically between modern mainstream and Bob Brookmeyer, in whose New Art Orchestra he was a founding member as a trumpeter. The pre-single "Sir Charles' Teatime" is part of the album "Music Written by Real Life" (Part I), which will be released in August 2023.

In January 2015 musicians and listeners converged upon Stuttgarts Theaterhaus for two consecutive nights to celebrate the 75th birthday of Eberhard Weber. The concerts centered around a specially commissioned 35-minute suite by Pat Metheny, with whom Weber had played and recorded back in the 1970s. Featuring Metheny, the SWR Big Band conducted by Helge Sunde, Gary Burton, bassist Scott Colley and Danny Gottlieb on drums, the composition was arranged around recordings of solos by Weber. Other performers during the two nights playing selections from Webers vast body of work were Webers longtime companions Jan Garbarek, Paul McCandless, Manfred Schoof and arranger Michael Gibbs, all drawing ovations from the packed house. A truly special event.