Beat Jaggy on the carillon of the church of St-Luc (VS) and Yannick Barman on the trumpet will be the highlight of the 10th Jazz Under the Stars Festival, from September 8 to 11. Erika Stucky, Dado Moroni or François Lindemann will also tread the anniviard scene.
On Saturday, the two musicians met for a live rehearsal, talking, one in the church tower, hands and feet ringing the chime, the other on the balcony of a chalet overlooking the village square. An unprecedented exchange on a composition signed Beat Jaggy which also leaves room for improvisation.
“The idea of such a duo germinated during a discussion”, tells Keystone-ATS Pierre-Alain Jaussi, co-programmer of Jazz under the stars. He then contacted the percussionist, composer and chime specialist Beat Jaggy, ‘a big name who has played all kinds of jazz compositions but also Led Zepelin’.
Beat Jaggy accepts the challenge alongside trumpeter Yannick Barman ‘who is one of those musicians who seem to be able to play anything’. Thus reunited, the two Valaisans will perform on September 11 in St-Luc.
four bells
‘Beat Jaggy separately recorded the four bells of the carillon of the village church, then he worked at home so as not to reveal his composition before the hour’, details Pierre-Alain Jaussi. Yannick Barman also worked on his side.
‘As is the tradition of the festival, there is always a piece dedicated to a planet, in a nod to St-Luc, the star station which houses the François-Xavier Bagnoud Observatory, the planetarium and the path of the planets. Beat Jaggy chose Saturn’, specifies the co-programmer.
Thirty musicians
The tenth edition of the festival will take place over four days instead of three and will welcome around thirty musicians. Among them, the Swiss-American singer, musician, actress and filmmaker Erika Stucky who will perform on September 9.
‘Erika enjoys an immense reputation worldwide, but she remains very attached to her native Valais. In St-Luc, she will be accompanied by the tuba player Ian Gordon-Lennox’, specifies Pierre-Alain Jaussi.
The Nu-Bass quintet by Vaudois pianist François Lindemann will perform the next day in a formation composed in particular of two double basses and an oud. As for the Italian pianist Dado Moroni, he will occupy one of the festival stages on Sunday, accompanied by Alberto Marsico on the organ and Alessandro Minetto on the drums in a groovy tribute to Les McCann.
music lover
Jazz sous les étoiles was launched in 2013 by Christophe and Marie Rhodius, ‘music and mountain lovers’. At the very beginning, there were only three concerts and limited means, then the festival unfolded while maintaining an intimate and friendly atmosphere.
‘Today, we welcome around seventy spectators on average per concert, not counting the jam sessions. There is a staggering reservoir of quality Swiss jazz musicians,” enthuses Pierre-Alain Jaussi, himself a music enthusiast and cameraman for forty years for the Montreux Jazz Festival.
www.jazzsouslesetoiles.ch
/ATS