What does jazz “Made in Switzerland” sound like? Schaffhausen Jazz Festival has the answer

What does Swiss jazz sound like? There is probably nowhere else where you can explore this question for a few days every year like in beautiful Schaffhausen, this charming little town situated on the Rhine and the Rhine Falls, in the very north of Switzerland, not far from the border with Germany. The  Schaffhausen Jazz Festival, which celebrated its 36th edition, is ‘the’ showcase of Swiss jazz, as only Swiss bands or artists with a connection to Switzerland perform there. And this should never be seen as a limitation, but rather as a great opportunity to get to know the scene of a country.    

And what does it sound like now, the jazz of the Swiss? Quite different, you have to say, if you look at this year's festival through a magnifying glass and have known it for a few years. For example, it sounds energetic and cheerful, totally refreshing and likeable. Like  Knobil, the trio of the strong Lausanne double bass player and singer Louise Knobil, a compelling young woman. Even the way she makes her announcements on stage, in bumpy German with a French accent. You're already enraptured. And then there's the music. Songs about break-ups of all kinds in life, or opening a jar of pesto in lockdown - however heartfelt or ludicrous the inspiration may be, Knobil with the line- up of double bass & vocals, drums and bass clarinet (the latter played with great virtuosity by Chloé Marsigny ), with swinging, groovy post-bop and marvellous walking bass lines make this a total listening pleasure that you can't get enough of. Their encore is the jazz standard ‘Cheek to Cheek’, also more than enchanting.   

But Swiss jazz can also mean a search for sound, as in the performance by guitarist Christy Doran and Urs Leimgruber on soprano saxophone that immediately followed Knobil. What a contrast to what was had heard before! The loving craziness and joie de vivre of the trio and now, with these two Swiss jazz legends, the noisy search for, well, what actually? Here, two absolute experts improvise together and the whole thing also has its brief great moments, but much of it is simply lost in irrelevance. This luckily cannot be said of the Geneva trio Wabjie. Singer Soraya Berent, who also played a synthesiser bass, pianist Michel Wintsch and drummer Samuel Jakubec demanded attentive listening from the audience with sudden changes of mood and constantly varying rhythms. This was rewarded with unconventional, unpredictable music that was wildly refreshing, but also briefly delightful with beautiful melodies. Between jazz, electronica, avantgarde and a touch of prog rock, a wonderful discovery. 

Lyrical, melancholic, but also daring and experimenting with electronic sounds - the Colin Vallon Trio (pictured above) showed in Schaffhausen why it has been one of the best piano trios in Europe for so many years. The three Swiss musicians around pianist Colin Vallon take the listener on sound journeys with many small ingredients, floating, airy sounds, prepared piano and a delicate aesthetic. The So Lieb Quartet , led by trumpeter Sonja Ott and drummer Philipp Leibundgut, also created beautiful soundscapes with luscious, wonderfully relaxed, flowing mainstream jazz that certainly didn't reinvent the genre, but was very finely played. After four exciting evenings, the festival closed with more hip stuff from RLM, a trio featuring Zurich drummer Jonas Ruther, Bernese rapper Miss C-Line and François Lana on synthesizers and samplers, who also had Senegalese rapper Gaston Bandimic as a guest. Respect for the way Miss C-Line set her great rap flow and soulful vocals to the oddly beaten rhythms of the drums. Only the man on the keys could have contributed more input at times. 

Incidentally, after 36 editions, co-founder Urs Röllin announced his resignation from the festival's organisation team. His position will be taken over by the young Schaffhausen pianist Joscha Schraff, who presented his new, already quite exciting-sounding formation Cork 5 on the first evening of this year's festival, featuring Sonja Ott, Philipp Leibundgut and Louise Knobil, three of the many dazzling artists this year in Schaffhausen.