The award winning German pianist/composer Stefan Schultze formed his own "Large Ensemble" to perform and play his compositions and arrangements. Adventurous and exciting music that recalls great jazz composers such as Gil Evans, but still managers to be unique. It's probably considered rather risky to set up a big band in these tough times, but Stefan grabbed the chance and formed the Stefan Schultze Large Ensemble. He decided not to play the piano on the Large Ensemble's debut album 'Run', in order to concentrate on composing and acting as musical director. His band features seventeen musicians ranging from 21-year-old trumpeter Florian Menzel to 66-year-old saxophonist Heiner Wiberny. While studying at the Manhattan School of Music, Stefan Schultze won the ASCAP Young Jazz Composers Award for his composition "Oracle Night" (track 4). He became a member of renowned BMI Jazz Composers Workshop and conducted his own quintet-with-strings arrangement of "Karawahn" (track 6) at Carnegie Hall. He also won the first prize for "Green Falling" (track 5) at the ArtEZ Composition Contest in Enschede, Netherlands.