Musicians selected by the Musicians' Council create their own projects and concert evenings that invite you to immerse yourself, discover and enjoy.

Moods Carte Blanche

Herbie's EXPLO 3000

Saxophon

Flöte

Klarinette

Piano

Bass

Komposition

Schlagzeug

«Push or Pull?»

Der virtuose E-Bassist Herbie Kopf meldet sich mit Explo 3000 und einem brandneuen Album zurück. «Push or Pull?» ist das fünfte Werk dieses Kollektivs, das seit nunmehr 18 Jahren an einer eigenen Mischung aus Contemporary Jazz, Latin Grooves und spannenden Klanglandschaften feilt. Mit Adi Pflugshaupt, Hans Feigenwinter und Pius Baschnagel stehen dem Komponisten und Bandleader Herbie Kopf Instrumentalisten zur Seite, die seine Ideen und Konzepte in spannungsgeladene Musik verwandeln und mit unwiderstehlichem Drive und grosser Dynamik ausstatten.

Carte Blanche Special

Vocals

Accordion

Guitar

Drum Kit

Electronics

Franziska Bruecker, Roberto Domeniconi, Dave Gisler, Simon Grab, Victoria Mozalevskaya, Lucas Niggli, Jonas Ruther, Tizia Zimmermann

The carte blanche evenings at Moods are something special. Curated by leading Swiss jazz musicians, these evenings invite you to discover and inspire. And what&#x27;s better than an artist&#x27;s carte blanche evening? When all the musicians join forces. Every year, the Moods Musicians&#x27; Council selects Swiss musicians for a Carte Blanche. With a budget of 11,000 francs, they are free to organise their projects as they wish. There are (almost) no limits – be it concerts, sound installations or invitations to guest musicians. Dave Gisler, Franziska Bruecker, Jonas Ruther, Lucas Niggli, Roberto Domeniconi, Simon Grab, Tizia Zimmermann and Victoria Mozalevskaya have come up with something special to close this year&#x27;s Carte Blanche season at Moods. Solo, trio or all together: Moods Carte Blanche artists will showcase their talents in a variety of constellations on 6th June. Instead of concentrating on their own musical creations, as they did in their individual shows, they will create unique soundscapes together on this evening. Familiar patterns and genre boundaries are completely ignored. For example, while Simon Grab - the noisemaker par excellence - is completely electronic, Victoria Mozalevskaya originally comes from classical music and has now dedicated herself to contemporary jazz. Worlds will collide, we promise.

Dr.O.G.E

E-Gitarre

Orgel

Dave Gisler

Two musicians invent a new state of intoxication: no drugs, just drums, organ and electric guitar. Valeria Zangger, Dominik Blum and Dave Gisler leave times and styles behind when they create their music. Motifs, essences and quotations are taken from the pool of rock, pop and their own musical worlds and catapulted into new dimensions through improvisation. The result can be a cross between Pink Floyd and free jazz, or a noise prayer with Jimi Hendrix and Arnold Schoenberg. This trio was initiated by drummer Fredy Studer, who died unexpectedly in August 2022. Valeria Zangger is now on board, with a stylistic spectrum ranging from pop music to experimental and free improvisation. The interweaving of the most diverse musical hallucinations characterises the trio and is the chemical formula for their explosive fuel. What they have in common is the desire to create energetic sound processes inspired by the history of rock and jazz, which vibrate atmospherically in the free play of encounters and can grow into powerful vibrations.

Flo Stoffner

&quot;Free improvisation at its best&quot; is what Swiss guitarist Flo Stoffner embodies in a unique way. His way of playing and deconstructing the guitar is unmistakable and unique and has been described as &quot;some kind of autopsy of the guitar sound&quot;. Solo or in collaboration with musicians such as John Butcher, Chris Corsano, Paul Lovens, Rudi Mahall, Albert Cirera and Hans Koch, but also with spoken word artist Anna Frey or with Anna &amp; Stoffner, he has become one of the outstanding figures of the European improvisation scene. Looking back as well as forward, he raises the banner of instant composing and proves again and again how alive, surprising and up-to-date the tradition of free improvisation is today.

Tomorrow Tribal Quartet

Keyboards

Lucas Niggli – GLUT4

Tomorrow Tribal&#x27; stands for playing, for risk, for immediacy - and at the same time for maximum precision. Lucas Niggli&#x27;s commissioned work for the Tomorrow Tribal Quartet, which includes himself on drums as well as Brian Archinal (no-input mixer, vibraphone, megaphone, percussion), Gilles Grimaître (piano, Korg organ) and Sascha Armbruster (soprano saxophone, tubax), is based on a set of 16 playing cards that dictate the dramaturgy of the music. Each card depicts a specific musical motif, inspired by the four musicians playing together and by unique expressions in different, sometimes obscure, languages. Lagom&quot; (Swedish for &quot;not too much and not too little, just right&quot;), &quot;Ukiyo&quot; (Japanese for &quot;living in the moment&quot;) or &quot;Kephaloporosis&quot; (ancient Greek for a usually temporary state of mental confusion after intense stress) head the motif cards; these are terms that have no literal translation - they are as unique as the four musicians&#x27; musical languages. Each member of the quartet has all 16 cards and can play each one once. There is a playing table in the middle of the Boiler Room. When a new card is played, the other musicians can decide whether to jump straight to the new motif, &#x27;morph&#x27; from the old to the new, or not react at all. The piece thrives on spontaneous, intuitive musical action, so every performance will be unique. Only the groovy, melodic final canon, which the quartet will enter just before the end of the 45-minute performance, has been composed. Tomorrow Tribal will be an explosive and playful musical frenzy, full of surprises - and the odd joker will be thrown in for good measure.

Zürich Jazz Kollektiv feat. Alex Sipiagin

Trumpet

Sopransaxophon

Tenorsaxophon

Altsaxophon

Flute

Trombone

Victoria Mozalevskaya

The Zürich Jazz Kollektiv is a new contemporary jazz ensemble born out of the desire to create a creative network of local musicians to represent, cultivate and develop contemporary jazz in Switzerland. The ensemble sees itself as a platform for musical innovation and collaboration that both enriches the genre and strengthens and inspires the community of local jazz musicians. The collective&#x27;s music is penned by its founder, tenor saxophonist Victoria Mozalevskaya, and unfolds through the ensemble&#x27;s collaborative vision in energetic live performances and sophisticated arrangements. Joining them for the grand opening is none other than Alex Sipiagin, a longtime member of the big bands of Charles Mingus and George Gruntz and a fellow musician with jazz greats such as Dave Holland and Randy Brecker.

Ingoma Busuku

Jonas Ruther

The story of Ingoma Busuku began with an initial contact between Jonas Ruther and South African saxophonist Linda Sikakhane. Mediated by Nduduzo Makhathini, the two had originally planned to tour Switzerland in 2020. However, due to the pandemic, the tour had to be postponed several times before finally taking place in 2022. On the subsequent tour in South Africa, they also performed with singer Paras Dlamini. This tour will be his first appearance in Europe. The band&#x27;s name &#x27;Ingoma Busuku&#x27; also comes from the South African singing tradition and means &#x27;song of the night&#x27; in isiZulu, referring to the lyrics, which are deeply rooted in the Zulu tradition and at the same time reflect universal themes such as love, spirituality and connection to the ancestors. The band combines these with groovy rhythms, spiritual melodies and fine improvisation. During their tour of South Africa, the band recorded their first album, &#x27;Isambulo&#x27; (2022), produced by none other than Nduduzo Makhathini.

Millà – Guy – Niggli

Lucas Niggli – GLUT3

This brand-new trio takes a completely contemporary approach to jazz&#x27;s loaded yet magnificent instrumental formula: the piano trio. Perhaps comparable to the symbolism of the string quartet in classical music, is still an enormously rich playing field in terms of colour and interaction possibilities. In this constellation, however, not only do three improvisers who have been washed in many waters and one improviser who is yet to be discovered in this country meet, all of whom are also among the innovators in the way they play their instruments, but three musicians who are also active as composers in the field of contemporary music, performance and current forms of jazz. The pianist is not accompanied by a rhythm section, and the established roles are constantly dismantled, resulting in an extremely agile, intense trio music, characterised by a high level of formal awareness, nimble turns, beautiful sounds, wit and a discipline that gives the improvisations a special urgency. The well-rehearsed duo Barry Guy – Lucas Niggli, which can already look back on 25 years of history (in the trio Demierre – Guy – Niggli, in the quintet Lucas Niggli BIG ZOOM, in Barry Guy&#x27;s London Jazz Composers Orchestra, in the trio with Maya Homburger and in the &quot;HexenTrio&quot; with the legendary Canadian pianist Paul Plimely) is once again expanded into a triangle and finds a congenial partner in Jordina Millà for a dance on a tightrope without a net or false bottom.

Franziska Bruecker & Dave Gisler

This duo combines tradition and innovation in a fascinating way. Gisler&#x27;s melodic and harmonic sophistication weaves a thread through jazz tradition, while Bruecker&#x27;s unconventional voice and lyrics catapult the whole thing to a new level of abstraction and experimentation. Together, they are a duo that knows its roots, yet continues to discover and redefine new creative forms of expression.

Christoph Irniger’s Pilgrim with Yumi Ito & Hannah Gottschalk

Visuals

Over the years, the Pilgrim Quintet, led by Zurich tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger, has developed into one of the most exciting ensembles in the young European jazz scene. On the occasion of Dave Gisler&#x27;s Carte Blanche at Moods, the well-rehearsed band will be joined by the unique singer Yumi Ito, who is regarded as one of the most outstanding representatives of vocal improvisation. Their connection is storytelling, creating an all-encompassing sound that defies categorisation. Some compositions are freely improvised, others are fully notated, but most are somewhere in between, with a flexibility that reflects a life of freedom where informed choices are made spontaneously. The sound is correspondingly varied: an amalgam of all kinds of styles, small or large, bright or dark. An experience of feelings and images that Hannah Gottschalk translates live into sound-reactive visual performances characterised by abstraction and an interplay of artistic intention and improvisation.

RUTHER LANA & MISS C-LINE feat. Gaston Bandimic

Synthesizer

Sampler

RUTHER LANA &amp; MISS C-LINE is a trio from Switzerland, formed by drummer Jonas Ruther with MISS C-LINE rap, vocals and FX, François Lana on synthesiser and sampler. With influences from modern rap and beat culture, combined with collective improvisation and complex psychedelic sound structures, the three strong personalities create a very intense musical experience on stage. For his Carte Blanche, Ruther invites the Senegalese rapper Gaston Bandimic, who raps in Wolof and ignites an impressive rhythmic fire live.

Steamboat Switzerland

Hammond organ

Lucas Niggli – GLUT1

This is a band that has become a brand. A trio of musicians who think with their guts and feel with their brains. What they also have in common is improvisation - and being tough. Tightrope walkers, daredevils, hasbaras, troublemakers, drunken boys. Kamikaze pilots. The openness of their rigour and the playfulness of their unleashing make them the Houdinis of the tricky, the berserkers of performance. Here the stage, there the audience - but the spark is immediate. What is on offer here is hypertrophic, energetic music. Hot and fertile. Steamboat Switzerland, that&#x27;s intercerebral conjunctions, interpretations of congenial authors, sensations of free improvisation and an irrepressible joy of playing that makes you think: After us, the flood! It&#x27;s only good when you&#x27;re on the boat. Crossing borders at the edge of our galaxy. Playable or unplayable, in the end the compositions fall from the stage like glowing meteorites from our very last Armageddon. Retrievable by character. Mix and match to suit your mood. Modular. Explosive in the moment. Multi-diomatic. Full of cunning and verve.

Anna & Stoffner mit Membrez und Mantel

Fender-Rhodes E-Piano

Anna Frey

The band Anna &amp; Stoffner with Membrez and Mantel captivates with a highly energetic interplay of virtuoso musicians and urgent, unsparing lyrics. Rapper Anna Frey and guitarist Flo Stoffner, with Vincent Membrez on synthesizers and Lukas Mantel on drums, develop an intensity that is hard to resist. «Less than little is nothing, but little is more than nothing, little makes a difference.» This band is not afraid of the void and does not cover it up, but faces it, follows it and thus develops its own language, with driving grooves, poppy melodies, free improvisation, idiosyncratic guitars and dark, engaging basses. Rapper Anna Frey moves over this musical diversity with her poetic lyrics. Sometimes in singsong, sometimes in harsh phrasing. Always in search of the immediate expression.

FRAME.OUT

A woman. A musician. A mother. A 37-year-old. A foreigner. Because of our identities, we often feel compelled, consciously or unconsciously, to fit into predetermined patterns. FRAME.OUT is a musical storytelling about personal boundaries and social conventions. Victoria Mozalevskaya invites the audience on a journey that explores the facets of life. Together with singer Song Yi Jeon, whose voice captivates the audience, and the energetic, innovative sound of the duo Lada Obradovic and David Tixier, the quartet delves deep into its musical world – into complex grooves and experimental sound formation in the context of contemporary jazz. It is an exploration of the individual stories that make the four musicians who they are and how they reflect the world through their music.

Linda & Lukas Vogel

Harp

Modular

Linda Vogel

Hardly any other classical instrument still has as many clichés attached to it as the harp: It is supposed to sound sensual, harmonious, fragile, even ethereal. Swiss musician Linda Vogel already showed that the harp can also elicit completely different sounds with her debut album Maps to Others, released in 2019, on which she used effects devices and computer-controlled hammers to make the instrument sound sometimes like a guitar, sometimes like a synthesizer in experimental pop songs. Together with her brother Lukas Vogel, part of the internationally successful piano-electronica duo Grandbrothers, things are now much heavier, darker, more industrial. Between fragmented beats, distorted violin-like sounds and cutting-metallic spectra, the typical harp arpeggios flash out only briefly, only to be immediately alienated again and absorbed into the duo&#x27;s shimmering-electronic overall sound. Lukas Vogel operates synthesizers, effects and at the same time is able to make the strings of the harp vibrate electromagnetically via an apparatus. Electronic and acoustic, mechanical and organic, strings and oscillators merge irrevocably here - always carried by a third instrument that pervades the songs: Linda Vogel&#x27;s voice, dark, repetitive, hypnotic.

Evelinn Trouble Orchestra

Violin

Viola

Cello

Evelinn Trouble

One year after her fifth studio album &quot;Longing Fever&quot; won the &#x27;Indie Suisse Album Of The Year Award&#x27;, Evelinn Trouble is back on tour with her band. Evelinn Trouble, known for her creative restlessness, her virtuoso voice and her idiosyncratic songwriting has added an exciting pop work to her discography with &quot;Longing Fever&quot; - a break with her psychedelic era but still unmistakably Trouble. It&#x27;s an exciting album that traverses highs and lows with fervour, ranging from Beatlesque love songs to euphoric melodies buoyed by distorted hip-hop. Unexpectedly, new sounds of string instruments join the otherwise dark sound universe of the singer: a string trio expands the band to the &quot;Evelinn Trouble Orchestra&quot;. This concert recording was made with the support of Migros Culture Percentage.

Carebender

Carebender is a Berlin-based vocal group that embraces experimental music, using vocal compositions to play a daring game with beauty and abstract art form. Their first album &quot;What We Talk About&quot; was released in March 2022 on BlauBlauRecords and is described as an acappella moment against anger, the rage that lurks in the stomach and always erupts at the wrong moment. At Moods, Carebender will present these songs to a live audience for the first time.

Pius Baschnagel Quintett

Pius Baschnagel – «New Beginnings»

In many respects, Baschnagel’s second Carte Blanche evening is about new beginnings: escape from the oppressive Corona lethargy, the awakening from the hibernation and naturally about this new collaboration. The ambitious German trumpeter Lisa Buchholz, with whom Baschnagel became acquainted at Bujazzo kennen, and the young Russian saxophonist Victoria Mozalevskaya, in whose trio he plays, form the dazzling frontline of this collective put together for this evening. The whole is driven by an equally newly-bundled rhythm section with the newcomer Leandro Irarragorri, the internationally active Raffaele Bossard and the head of it all, Pius Baschnagel on the drums. We can really look forward to this combo! Quintet sound in monoculture and own compositions, which relate the emotion of release, of awakening, of confidence, of hope.

Hikikomori [Musik zum Rückzug aus der Gesellschaft]

Tuba

Live Elektronic

Joana Aderi

A Hikikomori is extremely scared of leaving his comfort zone. He retreats from the community and avoids every contact. Bit by bit, he switches off the communication channels to other people until he feels safe in his little room. He passes the days with sleeping, watching television and losing himself in virtual worlds. He no longer leaves his room, a first for a few days, then for weeks, months, even years. Overwhelmed by relationship events, from the demands that the outside makes on him, eaten up by negative voices, which, amplified internally, turn in endless loops. And over and again this feeling somehow to be different. Here am I – there outside the others, and in between there is much insecurity. We are not Hikikomori, but we run close, the majority for a lifetime. Joana Aderi has used her Moods Carte Blanche in order to compose a piece and bring it to the stage. Urban Jazz, drained melodies in free-hanging chords, flashbacks of Renaissance harmonic, absurd Pop litter, carried by empty, minimal Electronic: her music is actually always laid out as a collage. She loves rapid, surprising changes and clashes of style «of the good sort». https://www.eiko-music.com/

Baschnagel Group

Percussion

Pius Baschnagel CD Release «Timeline Promenade»

For over 30 years Pius Baschnagel has impressed and entranced audiences with his energetic and sensitive drum playing. As one of the few Swiss drummers he has played as a popular sideman with international musicians such as: Till Brönner, Barbara Dennerlein, George Gruntz, Dave Liebmann, Joshua Redman, the legendary Benny Golson and the renowned NDR Big Band. «Timeline Promenade» is the second album by the Baschnagel Group, an album that feels like a walk without a destination. Concrete numbers trade places with open, free passages, interweave and span the entire work.

Christoph Stiefel New Quintet

Composition

Christoph Stiefel 

Christoph Stiefel has been internationally underway for years with his solo, duo, trio and septet projects. Now he brings a brand new formation to the stage, the «Christoph Stiefel Quintet». The new band simultaneously represents much of his previous efforts: the orchestral expansion of his long-standing concept work with the «Inner Language Trio» together with the transfer of the experience from the «Christoph Stiefel Septet» to the smallest possible orchestral entity. Everything is possible, from minimal to orchestral. Nevertheless the band remains a manageable, intimate organismus with much freedom and interplay. In order that everything can also be realised musically, Christoph Stiefel has written new compositions for the band and gathered up some of the best musicians from the European Jazz scene: trusted band colleagues from the septet such as Bastian Stein (tp) and Domenic Landolf (ts) together with a new rhythm section with Raffaele Bosshard (bass) and Dejan Terzic (dr). In his new quintet, Stiefel also remains stylistically loyal, with beautiful melodies, dense harmonic, and a full load of rhythmical energy. Something to look forward to! For this concert, the 2G admission rule applies: All guests need a valid Covid certificate from Switzerland or EU (QR Code) for vaccinated or recovered persons with an official ID (ID, passport, driver’s license). The detailed admission rules are listed here: https://www.moods.club/en/program/admission-rules-covid/

Herbie's EXPLO 3000

«Push or Pull?»

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