Results for "Switzerland"

Samuel Blaser

Born: July 20, 1981

Samuel Blaser is a 21st century trombonist. Born in 1981 in the town of La-Chaux-de-Fonds, Swizterland, he emerged professionally after graduating from conservatory in 2002. During the next five years he developed associations with the Vienna Art Orchestra and the European Radio Big Band, was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship, pursued graduate studies at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music, State University of New York, and recorded his first album as a leader, the Samuel Blaser Quartet’s 7th Heaven (Between The Lines). Since 2009 he has been based in Berlin.

The foundations of Blaser’s art are the breadth of his influences, his technical fluency, and the clarity with which he applies these assets. He grew up learning classical and Swiss folk music as well as jazz, and his projects include jazz-informed investigations of operatic, rock stead, and blues music. He understands that growth is relational, and has sought out and sustained relationships with veteran and senior musicians, such as Pierre Favre, John Hollenbeck, Gerry Hemingway, Marc Ducret, Paul Motian, Oliver Lake, and Daniel Humair, all of whom have helped him to develop his own sense of who he is. He exercises the full range of the trombone’s possibilities, including fluid melodic statements, emphatic rhythmic punctuations, earthy interjections, and abstract sound effects, with a clear sense of purpose. He approaches each endeavor as a leader and collaborator with a clear sense of purpose, knowing what he wants to accomplish and what each musical situation requires from him. Blaser’s responsiveness is never more evident than in his solo performances, which use his bold sound to draw out the qualities of both architectural and environmental settings.

Silvan Joray

Born: March 23, 1996

Silvan Joray is a Swiss jazz guitarist and composer currently based in New York City. He has gained recognition in the jazz community, having won special prizes at the UNISA International Strings Competition in South Africa 2022 and the Smietana Jazz Guitar Competition 2019 in Poland. He has performed at prestigious jazz festivals including the Krakow Summer Jazz Festival, Offbeat Jazzfestival Basel, and International Jazz Festival Bern, and has toured in Germany, Norway, Poland, Spain, and Israel.

Joray grew up in a musical family and began his formal training on the classical guitar, which he studied for eight years before discovering jazz and switching to the electric guitar. He was initially interested in playing jazz standards and influenced by guitarists such as Wes Montgomery. However, his studies with renowned jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel at Jazzcampus Basel broadened his musical horizons, inspiring him to compose his own music. This eventually led to the release of his debut album "Cluster" in 2020, which was produced by Muthspiel and co-produced by Swiss Radio SRF2.

Shems Bendali

Shems was born in 1996 and grew up in the small city of Thonon-Les-Bains (France). He studied first with French trumpet player Jeff Baud and then went to study at Lausanne Jazz music faculty (Switzerland). There he studied with Matthieu Michel, Emil Spanyi, Robert Bonisolo, René Mosele and Banz Oester. Within the first year of studying there, he quickly made his way through the Jazz and Hip Hop scene and was playing in every major jazz venue in the country. With his band and his many prolific artistic collaborations, Shems has been playing regularly in many countries such as Switzerland, France, Italy, Germany, England, Ukraine, Austria, Spain, Belgium, Turkey, and Egypt for the past few years. He has performed on stage and/or recorded in studios with Bastian Baker, Kadebostany, Charlie Winston, Fianso, Rilès, Danitsa, Lea Lu, Issam Krimi, François Jeanneau, Matthieu Michel, Pierre Drevet, Banz Oester, Emil Spanyi, Jean-Lou Treboux, Chistophe Moniot, Nils Wogram, Nik Bartch, Emmanuel Bex and many more.

Marc Crofts

Born: December 27, 1989

Curious and passionate, Marc Crofts has immersed himself in a wide variety of different traditions, playing with musicians around the world, from Istanbul to Seville, developing a rich and personal musical sensibility in the process. After completing jazz studies at the Lausanne conservatoire – strengthening his musical and narrative skills – Marc has continuously striven to expand his musical outlook, always adding a personal twist to tradition. Founder of the band Gilgul (Balkan music), for who he wrote many originals, he also composes and performs regularly with a number of ensembles: Yolanda Almodovar Flamenco Band (Swiss, Spanish and Danish tours in 2018-19), Swing High, Gypson 5ive, Hotegezugt, etc. In 2020 Marc is teaming up with violinist Yardani Torres Maiani for an exciting new flamenco violin duet... ​ Since 2018 he's been focusing mainly on his own trio project, with guitarist Railo Helmstetter and bassist Blaise Hommage

Take Five with Mareille Merck

by AAJ Staff
October 23, 2021

Meet Mareille Merck Mareille Merck is a guitarist and composer who was born in Germany and lives in Zurich, Switzerland. She studied with Frank Möbus, Lionel Loueke, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Roberto Bossard and Kalle Kalima. At the young age of 25 she has already shared the stage with John McLaughlin and Michael League from Snarky Puppy. Mareille ...

Bill Evans: Switzerland, 1975

September 15, 2021

Before I share with you a beautiful recording by Bill Evans, my apologies for the broken links in yesterday's email blast of my Phil Schaap post. The service I use—Feedblitz—screwed up. According to a member of their trouble-shooting team, the link was incorrectly classified by the service's anti-abuse systems. What set off alarms was the use ...

Paykuna

Earthy, knitted and deep. Paykuna's approach is the symbiosis of Bolivian folk music and modern jazz aesthetics. This band is the creation of swiss-bolivian pianist Demian Coca, who’s compositions are multi-layered soundscapes, full of rhythmic variety and vivid melodies. Paykuna's music emphasizes its folcloristic background but the cool, thoughtful Swiss side of the composer is certainly not hidden. Demian Coca grants his players space for the unplanned and performs a clever balancing act, between control and intuition. Paykuna takes the listener on to a journey – somewhere between the rainforests of Amazonia and the deep lakes of Switzerland.

Luciana Morelli

Born: March 29, 1990

Basel based, Argentinian singer/composer Luciana Morelli (*1990) draws on her Argentinian roots, jazz and improvised music to tell meaningful stories through music and lyrics.

Her last album ‘Words of the Wind’ (habitable records, 2024) sees the vocalist set poems by Emily Brontë, Alejandra Pizarnik, Anne Carson and Robin Myers to music across a series of eclectic ensembles.
The record follows her 2021 release ‘Lo abismal, el agua’ (ears&eyes records, 2021) - a musical reflection of her journey from her home in Argentina to her new world in Switzerland, met by international acclaim from radio and publications across Europe, the UK, the USA and Argentina.

Björn Meyer

Born: September 5, 1965

Björn Meyer — born in Sweden and based in Switzerland since 1996 — is acclaimed for his category-defying musicianship, expanding the sonic and expressive possibilities of the electric bass across a multitude of genres, both within and beyond its traditional role.

Initially a hobby guitarist headed for a degree in computer science, Meyer’s life changed at 18 when he first encountered the electric bass. Within five years he had completed his studies, left the world of computers, and begun touring professionally — launching a career he has pursued ever since, beginning in 1989.

Montreux Jazz Artists Autumn of Music

by Martin McFie
October 26, 2020

The Montreux Palace Autumn of Music Montreux Switzerland 12-17 October 2020 The obvious, burning question for Montreux Jazz Festival press officer Marc Zendrini, concerned plans for the Festival in 2021. He replied “We have safe possibilities for outside performance next summer, all along the lakefront. But for which artists, on what ...