The JazzWerk Big Band was founded in early 2025 by Hamburg pianist Dirk Bleese and is one of the most distinguished ensembles in its genre. The JazzWerk Big Band presents a cross-section of Modern Mainstream and Contemporary European Jazz. With imaginative instrumental combinations, sometimes with refined swing, sometimes with rocky beats or in Latin jazz style, the ensemble brings orchestral jazz to the stage.

The ensemble presents renowned soloists and bandleaders from the Hamburg and German jazz scene. Dirk Bleese has been part of Hamburg's jazz scene since his studies at the Hochschule der Künste Berlin in 1993 and has founded the Hamburg Jazz Orchestra, the JazzHaus Hamburg e.V. initiative, and the Jazzbüro Hamburg e.V. He was a guest conductor of the NDR Big Band and utilized his arrangements.