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.
Imany plays Avo Session
With her fascinating voice and her stylish compositions, the charismatic, young Franco-Comoran singer Imany exudes an aura of warmth and intimacy. And
she is just as trusting as the meaning of her name in her mother tongue. In Swahili, Imany means hope or faith. The singer spent seven years commuting between her native country and the Parisian suburb where she still writes her songs, and also New York, where she worked as a highly demanded fashion model. Two years ago, she decided to give up her modelling career to commit herself fully to her true passion: music. Her courage was rewarded: her debut album «Shape Of A Broken Heart» was not only a critical success, the public also fell in love with it. She is blessed with a voice that you will never forget even after the first hearing. This is only the beginning of what we are convinced will be a meteoric and long-lasting career.
Solomon Burke plays Avo Session
Black R&B is now such an established part of the pop mainstream that hardly anyone remembers what is was like when black music – under the name of “Soul” – first exploded into the European charts. One of the pioneers of the movement was Solomon Burke, with songs such as “Everybody Needs Somebody” and “Tonight’s the Night”. With such willing European disciples as Tom Jones and Van Morrison, pure Soul became mainstream pop.
Jacques Loussier plays Avo Session
In the early 50s Jacques Loussier started to play a Bach fugue in a fleet-footed, flowing style, and he started to improvise on it. A good fifty years have passed since then, and Jacques Loussier’s «Play Bach» concept has become a worldwide phenomenon. His set list for the AVO SESSION Basel looks something like this: Johann Sebastian Bach (trio), Frédérique Chopin (solo).
Compaña Maria Serrano plays AVO Session
The Compañía Maria Serrano and their current ‘FlamenTango’ project is bound to set the ‘Elegant Gypsy’s’ soul aflame. Accompanied by four musicians and the singers Juan Cantarote and Immaculada Rivero, Maria Serrano and her partners Antonio Granjero and Javier Soriano meet the Argentinean tango-couple Romina Godoy and Milton Homann for a firework of sensuality and power, melancholy and happiness.
Simphiwe Dana plays Avo Session
Simphiwe Dana, whose debut album ‘Zandisile’ is one of the hottest things in world music, was born in South Africa. Her influences range from soul and gospel to jazz and hip-hop and she also cites legendary jazz singers such as Lena Horne and SarahVaughan as role models. And even before her album has been released in Europe she scooped up the awards for ‘Best Newcomer’ and ‘Best Jazz Vocal Album’ at the South African Music Awards.
Ute Lemper plays Avo Session – Live in Switzerland
Ute Lemper is an international star. London, Paris and New York are all at her feet. The German singer, dancer and actress first came to prominence in musicals. She began her career in German-speaking countries with a role in «Cats». She then caused a sensation as Sally Bowles in ‘Cabaret’ and finally took London and New York by storm as Velma in ‘Chicago’.