The Band
	One night in 2001, after careful reflection and a few beers, four experienced jazz musicians decided to start a new band. They wanted to make a big sound -- not loud, but big -- with a handful of artists. They wanted to make songs that are rarely heard anymore come alive again in fresh arrangements with a sure grasp of syncopation and harmony.
	They wanted the streets of Germany to swing to the rhythms of New Orleans and Chicago. They wanted to play nine instruments, one of which they had invented themselves. Anyone would have to be a little screwed up to undertake such a project, and therefore they named the band "Jazzin' Screwballs."
	In addition to the essential instruments of classic jazz, the astute listener will make out some novel sounds. The cabasonium is adapted from a Latin American percussion instrument; the trumpeter manages to play it with his feet. The splash-cymbal, played by the occasionally free hand, highlights the rhythm. Although the challenging repertory was meticulously rehearsed, what comes through is the spontaneous joy of a jam session.
	It is fun to share the joy of this music with so many people at the start of the third millennium. True, most of our audience is more than half a century old, but younger feet, too, are beginning to tap to our beat, and when listening to these songs no one can feel old. To each generation's dreary certainties, jazz winks and whispers, "Nevertheless..."
	Cast: Ulf Wilke - banjo, guitar Gunnar Besen - trumpet, alto-saxophone, cabasonium, vocals Jörg Perner - clarinet, tenor-saxophone, vocals Rainer Pratzka - tuba