An Echo from Europe

An Echo from Europa - a tribute to European jazz composers from Django Reinhardt to Django Bates - was the musical programme of a two-month tour by the Vienna Art Orchestra in 1997 to celebrate its 20th anniversary. The road movie documents the lives of the musicians in their sound and everyday worlds during this tour through Europe and Canada and shows what it means to live out of a suitcase, to explore new places and landscapes and, above all, what it means to be a professional musician, especially a jazz musician.

Othmar Schmiderer accompanied the orchestra with his camera, sketching individuality and band spirit and translating the abstract poetry of the music into a concrete poetry of images.

Montage: Daniel Pöhacker