What about music? This is the question that Lisa Stansfield’s disheartened fans have been asking themselves for years. After the album ‘The Moment’ in 2004, the singer left music behind, although she had managed to transport eighties pop into the nineties with her debut ‘Affection’ and the worldwide hit ‘All Around The World’ in 1989. As the ‘British Queen of Soul’, she sold more than 20 million albums. After 2004, the Englishwoman preferred performing on theater stages and in TV film series, until she revealed in an interview in 2012 that she was writing songs again. She embarked on a successful tour with these new songs just a few months later. Now, Lisa has finally returned to her fans with her album ‘Seven’. The question of music has finally been answered: Lisa sings soul with such power that it feels like she never took a break.
Amy Macdonald plays Baloise Session
Amy Macdonald – singer of worldwide hits like Mr. Rock’n’Roll, This Is The Life, Run or Don’t Tell Me That It’s Over give proof of how good pop music works: With music and lyrics that come from the soul and breathe authenticity. Amy Macdonald is in full command of her craft, in spite of being constantly surrounded by the glamour of show business. She is instinctive and direct in concert, and even though she has sold over four million records, her modesty makes her accessible and appealing. Her songs speak of her closeness to every day life, and anyone can relate to the stories they tell.
James Gruntz plays Baloise Session
The name Gruntz stands for powerful innovation and the highest quality, not only for people in the Basel music scene. The fact that the internationally renowned jazz great George Gruntz, who died last year, was the great uncle of the young James Gruntz, does not necessarily make it easier for this newcomer to develop his own identity, however, he has managed just that. After building a solid foundation with his education at the Zurich Jazz School, he has the courage to set himself apart from his family legacy with simple, catchy songs, designing his very own musical world.
Matt Bianco plays Baloise Session
After the frenzy of punk and new wave, it was almost a relief when, surprisingly it was an English band that came onto the scene with such suave coolness that they brought elegant lounge evenings back into style in 1984. «Whose Side Are You On?» asked Matt Bianco with their debut, before answering the question with their worldwide hit «Half A Minute», convincing us to be on the side of beautiful singing, smooth Latin rhythms and sophisticated pop music. The band was successful with two more albums before Matt Bianco broke up. Although the core duo Mark Reilly and Mark Fisher continued to regularly release albums, Matt Bianco disappeared into the fringe of music history, until the band brought back the original line up in 2004 with the album «Matt’s Mood» which helped to initiate the eighties revival. Ever since then, discerning pop fans enjoy spending their evenings in the lounge or at one of the rare concerts of Matt Bianco.
Rebekka Bakken plays Baloise Session
Rebekka Bakken is a fantastic singer, with a voice pure as a bell, which reaches the highest heights and the most sensual lows. She is also a storyteller. «As soon as there are words, it is all about the lyrics. As singers, we are only the delivery girls», she has been quoted as saying – a gross understatement in her case. She has mastered the art of putting the spotlight on the song itself, letting it shine in colourful light, while never hiding behind the song. Whether Rebekka Bakken sings songs by Ludwig Hirsch or Tom Waits, rock songs or intimate ballads, whether accompanied by jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, a rock band, or a big band, her iconic voice is immediately recognizable. It goes right under the skin, into the belly and head and directly to the heart. What more could one say of a singer?
Stress plays Baloise Session
The music of Lausanne rapper Stress is loud, bombastic and heavy on rhythm, just as it should be in hip hop. But if you listen closely, you will discover an undeniable sensibility to injustice and those little every day things that make life tough. The cocky, adrenaline-pumped city rapper has long since become a skilled and sophisticated verbal acrobat with his own fashion label. This could also be the result of his failed marriage with former Miss Switzerland Melanie Winiger. Both went their separate ways and the path of Stress led right to the Swiss charts. His albums and singles can be found there on a regular basis. And yet, Stress has kept his sense of insubordination and irony.
Incognito play Baloise Session
The collective ‘Incognito’ has been existing for about thirty years. Almost 1000 musicians have played in his band since then as bandleader Paul ‘Bluey’ Maunick proudly explains. The most important thing is that Maunick told each one of these 1000 musicians exactly what he has to do. No one would imagine that this discreet gentleman with the guitar is the boss behind the scenes. The people up front seem to be calling the shots, the singers and the lead male vocalist, the extremely precise horn players and the rhythm machine, that mercilessly nails every beat. In the nineties in London, it was named acid jazz: jazz harmonies over funk beats that get your toes tapping.
Randy Crawford and Leon Bisquera play Baloise Session
Besides Ella Fitzgerald, Nina Simone, Aretha Franklin and Dee Dee Bridgewater American jazz and R&B singer Randy Crawford belongs to the most successful female jazz and soul singers. She led R&B veterans the Crusaders on the mega-hit ‘Street Life’ (1979), which was featured in the soundtrack for the films Sharky’s Machine and Jackie Brown. She has sung with Bootsy Collins, Johnny Bristol, Quincy Jones, Al Jarreau, Rick Springfield, Steve Hackett, and Joe Sample amongst others.
Heather Nova Solo plays Baloise Session
Heather Nova was raised on a sailboat, where she spent years sailing the Atlantic with her parents. She would sit at the bow of the ship and contemplate the endless sea and the freedom of the birds while she sang and played her guitar. This enrapture continues to influence her poetic songs which seem as fragile as the delicate singer herself. When she sings of longing in her elven voice with her feet planted on solid ground, she does not sing of the sea, and yet, somehow, she is always in the middle of the sea. Fittingly, her 2011 album was called ‘300 Days At Sea’. It is about the Bermudas, where she was born and where she has been living again after years of commuting between Los Angeles, New York and London.
Glen Hansard plays Baloise Session
As a singer of the rock band The Frames, Glen Hansard was highly regarded in the indie scene. In the meantime, he performed in the classic movie ‘The Commitments’ as the band’s guitarist. Then he was awarded an Oscar® for the film music for ‘Once’ with his then partner Marketa Irglová as The Swell Season and was suddenly famous. The former street musician with his modest beginnings was overwhelmed by all of this excitement. For two years, he hid out in the anonymity of New York before going back to his roots. Hansard was once called the ‘most Irish of all Irish singers’, by ‘Rolling Stone’. He is also an outspoken disciple of Van Morrison. Hansard came back home and released his first solo album last year: ‘Rhythm And Response’ is the work of a profound poet, who knows what he wants and what not.