A bear of a man, his high voice with its remarkable vibrato contrasts greatly with his appearance. The sounds of the South flow through his music, along with Cajun and Creole music, soul, gospel and even jazz, it forms the basis of his art, which is always carried by deep emotion. At AVO SESSION, Aaron Neville performs with Charles Neville, saxophone, Michael Goods, keyboards, David Johnson, bass/vocals, Makuni Fakuda, guitar and Earl Smith, drums/vocals.
Lizz Wright plays Avo Session
A hundred years ago, when the thing we call jazz was spawned, this new genre soaked up everything that made a sound: the blues of the South, gospel songs, ragtime, European, Caribbean and Creole music. Jazz was and is a musical furnace and what has emerged from it has defined pop music since the beginning: It’s all about jazz! Like many other African American girls, Lizz Wright grew up as the daughter of a preacher, singing in the church choir, taking piano lessons and realizing that there was more to music than gospel. At the age of 22, she was discovered in a contest and now almost ten years later and with four albums and countless concerts behind her, she is completely at home with herself, singing simple songs, trusting in her voice alone, calmly delivering her message, a message is always about a deep sense of humanity. At AVO SESSION, Lizz Wright performs songs from her album ‘Fellowship’. Look forward to world music in the very best sense and in the end: It’s all about jazz!
Richard Bona & Raul Midón play Avo Session
As a small child, he often cried for no reason, Richard Bona says, until he was given a balafon that he could play. Since then, Richard Bona’s music and his stage performance is a synonym for good times. Bona grew up in Africa, before moving to Germany at the age of 22 and later to France. There, the young bassist was immediately part of the scene. But Bona has only been truly at home since he moved to New York. There he met his brother in spirit, Raul Midón. They are the perfect pair, two brilliant singers and instrumentalists who bring the African, Latin American, European and North American worlds together. World music at its best – a feast for the senses!
Earth, Wind & Fire Experience feat. Al McKay play Avo Session
When front man Maurice White shakes his booty, it’s just as hip as it was back at the beginning of his career in 1969. He may not shake it as fast, but he still does it with the same elegance, flexibility and energy as always. His secret is the sound that he produces with the band he founded: Earth, Wind & Fire. It’s so hot, that you can’t sit still when they play eternal hits like ‘September’, ‘Let’s Groove’ or ‘Fantasy’. Funky beats, razor-sharp horns, grooving bass and a driving rhythm guitar are the elements, combined with a dazzling stage show and sensational choreography, that the band have brought to sheer perfection for more than 40 years. Often unfairly labelled a vile disco band by music purists, upon closer inspection, the band’s high musical quality and precision, which is exemplary in the genre, is unmistakeable.
Daniela Mercury plays Avo Session
Many Brazilian musicians are from Salvador de Bahia in the Northeast, Brazil’s most African city, where slaves from West Africa still landed in the 19th century. Daniela Mercury was born there in 1965. She learned to dance and sing at the same time that she learned how to walk. When she was around 20, she finished her apprenticeship with Gilberto Gil and released her first album in 1991, which became a surprise hit. Since then, she has added a dozen CDs to the list and became a star also outside of Brazil.
Carlinhos Brown plays Avo Session
One particular scene in concerts with Brazilian singers never ceases to surprise European audiences: Someone starts the first verse of a song on stage, then holds out the microphone to the audience and ten thousand people finish the verse without a single mistake in the lyrics as they dance in perfect rhythm to the song. That is MPB: Música Popular Brasileira is pop music in the literal sense of the word, it’s the music of the people. MPB is part of the Brazilian national identity, just like football. Carlinhos Brown’s African roots are obvious and on the stage he likes to emphasize the fact by wearing tribal headdress. He uses the name Brown in honour of his brother in the US, civil rights leader H. Rap Brown and singer James Brown. It’s going to be a hot night at AVO SESSION. Whoever wants to have a true MPB concert experience, should start learning Carlinhos’ songs by heart … .
Katie Melua plays Avo Session
Accomplished singer-songwriter Katie Melua makes her second appearance at the AVO SESSION festival. She presents her new, mysterious and profound album «Secret Symphony». Like the rain of gold and platinum with her earlier albums, this album has been at the top of the charts for many weeks. It shows that even superstars have hard times, like Katie Melua with her burnout. Her art was making this crisis into a source of creativity by turning it into new songs. This great music dynamic speaks for the quality of her new works. She mixes pop, jazz and folk intuitively and adeptly, her songs are heartfelt, natural and unpretentious. Pop and poetry don’t get any closer than this – as you will see at this evening at AVO SESSION Basel.
Khaled plays Avo Session
«Raï» is a folk music form in Algeria. The word means opinion or view, a pointed message to the world. Khaled experienced the danger of spreading that message when the Islamists took over the country in 1986. He was forced to flee at the age of just 26. Khaled continued to develop his music in France. He became a superstar and an important symbol in his homeland, although he was forbidden to perform there. Khaled wants to entertain and to be popular. He says what he thinks and he plays raï the way he wants to, electronically, but also with traditional instruments, western and yet still Maghrebian, in different languages, but most of all with a message that is loud and clear.
Alice Cooper plays Avo Session
Alice Cooper brings his new album «Welcome 2 My Nightmare» to the AVO SESSION Basel. The star, who rightfully can call himself the world’s most easily identifiable music brand, brings his legendary and bombastic black rock show to Basel. Alice Cooper shocked audiences with boa constrictors and guillotines, now he does it with spider costumes and horror masks, but the good old 70s rock has remained a constant. That’s Alice Cooper’s remedy for the irritations and confusions of our time: spectacular electric guitars, old school style. The shock rocker brings our dark side back to the stage.
Out of Chaos and Dieter Meier play Avo Session
Football, religion and politics do not interest Dieter Meier, but when it comes to his stories, music lovers have to stop and listen. Stories literally pour out of him; he is a waterfall of clever ideas, sometimes slightly crude remarks and unsettling descriptions. Meier is art. His experiences are endless: singer in Yello, organic farmer in Argentina, watch designer, director, book author, poker player, innkeeper, photographer and performance artist, among other things. It makes sense that his new music project Out of Chaos (where he is joined by Nicolas Rüttimann, guitar, Ephrem Lüchinger, piano, Tobias Preisig, violin, Thomas Wydler, drums and Ralph Sonderegger, bass) is hard to describe with mere words. Perhaps like this: accomplished musicians from the jazz and rock scene, unusual instruments, no genre boundaries and at the centre: Meier. He sings, screeches, whispers and talks. And he tells stories, sometimes without any music at all.