SWR Big Band and Dieter Thomas Kuhn Give German Schlager Hits a Big Band Makeover

German singer Dieter Thomas Kuhn and the SWR Big Band released Gute Laune mit Posaune ("Good Mood With Trombone") on Oct. 9, 2026. The album sets 14 German-language schlager and pop classics in new big band arrangements. Phazz-a-delic New Format Recordings released it digitally, on CD and on vinyl, according to its distributor, Klangspot Recordings.

The track list includes "Quando, quando, quando," "Ich war noch niemals in New York," "Ich liebe das Leben," "Über den Wolken," and the Eagles' "Desperado," which became known to German audiences through Udo Lindenberg's version. Klangspot says the album includes five compositions by Udo Jürgens.

Rainer Tempel wrote the orchestral arrangements, and Philipp Feldtkeller, Kuhn's longtime collaborator, handled musical direction and concept, according to Klangspot. The distributor says Southwest German public broadcaster SWR describes the project as a reinterpretation of Kuhn's repertoire with large horn sections and a classic big band sound. A retailer listing for the CD says the album was recorded mainly at SWR's studios in Stuttgart, mixed at Jeo Park Studio in Hamburg and mastered in Vienna by Christoph Stickel.

The release coincides with the SWR Big Band's anniversary year. According to Klangspot, the band marks 75 years in 2026: Erwin Lehn founded it in 1951 as the Südfunk-Tanzorchester, and it has used its current name since 1998. Over its history, Klangspot notes, the band worked with musicians including Miles Davis, Chet Baker and Sammy Nestico, and the historical name Südfunk-Tanzorchester also appears in the album's digital artist credits.

This is not Kuhn's first appearance with the band. Klangspot says he was among the singers featured on the SWR Big Band's 2021 release Außer Betrieb.

Kuhn built a distinctive concert culture around rediscovering well-known schlager songs; according to Klangspot, it began as an initially ironic schlager project among friends in Tübingen. The distributor adds that the album arrives at a particular point for Dieter Thomas Kuhn & Band, which has announced its last three concerts together for 2027. Two of the songs, "Über den Wolken" and "Eine neue Liebe ist wie ein neues Leben," also appeared on Kuhn's 1994 album Lieder meines Lebens.