Conductor Laureate

Jiggs Whigham is an integral part of the Bundesjazzorchester’s DNA, having served the orchestra as an Artistic Director, alongside Niels Klein, from 2011 to 2020, in addition to his prior engagements as a trombone teacher and mentor. In 2019, Jiggs climbed one rung higher on the career ladder to the highest position BuJazzO has to offer, assuming the title of Conductor Laureate.

[Translate to Englisch:] Jiggs Whigham (c) Gerhard Richter

Prof. Jiggs Whigham

Jiggs Whigham was the solo trombonist in Stan Kenton’s legendary big band. Starting in 1979, Whigham, as a professor and director of the Jazz Department at Cologne’s Hochschule für Musik, was a pioneer in the field of jazz education in Germany. From 1995 until 2000, he was the conductor and artistic director of the RIAS Big Band in Berlin and initiated, along with colleagues such as Albert Mangelsdorff and Peter Herbolzheimer, a variety of band projects. Jiggs Whigham continues to be in demand internationally as a soloist and guest clinician. He was the director of the BBC Big Band in England and is the artistic director of the Berlin Jazz Orchestra and musical director of the Landesjugendjazzorchester Brandenburg (Youth Jazz Orchestra of the federal state of Brandenburg).