What lasts from the Jazzwoche Burghausen? The winning band from the European Young Jazz Award can really make a reputation. A year ago, Beats and Pieces Big Band from Manchester won it. It marked a major turning point for them. The competition had 93 entrants this year.

This year the winners, Malte Schiller’s Red Balloon, an eleven-piece Berlin-based band with members from Germany, Austria and Russia, had walked away with this year’s EUR15,000 cheque before I got here. They are seen brandishing their cheque above.

The other finalists were:

Harmzone – A quartet led by saxophonist Markus Harm from Tuebingen (Germany)(Second Prize)

Rafael Jost & Band – Rafael Jost is a pianist/vocalist from near Schaffhausen in Switzerland (Audience Prize)

MiR – A Dresden-based piano trio led by Clemens Poezsch (Third Prize)

Olaf Lind – A Cologne-based German/French/Icelandic two sax plus bass and drums band who have a fine first album

Red Balloon on Myspace