Schaffhausen Jazz Festival: a colourful showcase of Jazz Made in Switzerland

Four flutists from three countries side by side on stage, with German drummer Tilo Weber sitting next to them was an interesting way to open the 35th Schaffhausen Jazz Festival. The band Nancelot, featuring flautist Nancy Meier from Schaffhausen, deliver compelling music inspired by the houseplants at Mrs Meier's home, but it is anything but full-sounding jazz. The flutes meander through airy labyrinths of notes that build bridges between chamber classical music and jazz, often orientating themselves on composed dramaturgies in harmonic movements, but sometimes also dancing playfully and freely. This concept is interesting, but after a while it becomes somewhat uniform and therefore a little tiring.

How good that the concerts at the main venue, the Kammgarn cultural centre, only last a good three quarters of an hour. With three bands per evening, your ears stay fresh. At the weekend, there are two more performances per evening in the TabTab music room next door in collaboration with Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts – with young artists and their Bachelor's and Master's music projects as an alternative programme. It was well worth listening to bands such as guitarist Elia Aregger's trio and the quintet Best Of Both Worlds, who played their original music in a refreshing way.  

Excellent on the tenor horn, Geneva saxophonist Maria Grand who shared the stage with US pianist Maya Keren astounded the audience in the large hall, especially as an unpretentious and incredibly soulful singer. In general, this duo knows how to entertain each other in a magically intimate and touching way. With quiet, calm, interweaving sounds that make the audience in Schaffhausen fall completely silent and listen attentively. Swiss vocalist Andreas Schaerer (pictured above - photo by Peter Pfister) also surprises with his Evolution project that focusses ballads. Yes, Schaerer sometimes becomes a beat-boxing rhythm machine and also imitates one or other wind instrument with his voice. But as a singer, he often moves within classic song structures. Björn Meyer on the electric bass and, above all, the Finn Kalle Kalima on the electric guitar are always able to break up these songs in a marvellous way, in Kalima's case often in the direction of free jazz and hard rock. 

The Plurism project by Swiss drummer Dominic Egli was also well worth listening to. With fellow countryman Rafaele Bossard on bass and a three-piece brass section from South Africa, the quintet combined powerful, urban jazz with South African folklore, but without any clichés. The duo Oxeon, featuring Swiss accordionist Lea Gasser and Dutch singer Sylvie Klijn, also managed to avoid the obvuious and impressed with delicate, multilingual dialogues between jazz, classical music, chanson, pop and subtle electronics. The Quiet Tree trio of saxophonist Simon Spiess was also exciting, playing with Marc Méan on keys and drummer Jonas Ruther in an incredibly dense and sometimes hypnotic way that transcended fixed stylistic pigeonholes. 

The most famous name, who also closed this year's festival, certainly belonged to Erik Truffaz (pictured above - photo by Peter Pfister). And the Geneva trumpeter and his band did not disappoint. Whether it was film music from his last two cinema jazz albums or other songs, Truffaz's lyrical, soulful trumpet playing, the elegantly grooving music, none of it was anything new or surprising, but it was simply very well played. A must for Truffaz fans, for everyone else the very best jazz entertainment. There was already enough to discover beforehand. For example, the flautist Linda Jozefowski with her wonderfully grooving band and her marvellously flowing melodies. The days in the pretty town of Schaffhausen, situated close to the German border and on the Rhine, showed once again how colourful, varied and good Swiss jazz can sound.