Swiss Movement: Next Generation

Rebirth of a legend New York City, March 2010: Inspired by the Swiss Movement, a legendary live performance at the Montreux Jazzfestival in 1969, Dave Feusi set up a live concert setting and recorded a dedicated batch of his compositions together with 17 internationally acclaimed musicians from Switzerland and the United States. The resulting recordings presented here are brimming with power and light-heartedness. The variety of compositional material offers generous space for the individual players to stretch out and engage in exciting and diverse musical interactions with each other. The resulting spontaneous delivery is a testimony to the stimulating effect on the fresh and unfettered playing of the band as a whole. Such inspiring circumstances elicit those rare moments of heightened awareness in both the musicians and audiences. Jazz, Ethno, Soul, Funk and Hip Hop - all these influences are united into one single multifaceted yet cohesive narrative that encompasses the whole album, giving voice to many different flavors of groove-oriented music throughout an hour. All of this is also aided and abetted by the fact that the band personnel is both diverse and in frequent rotation, rarely repeating a specific combination of players for more than two tunes. The unusual additional instrumentation featuring two percussionists, a DJ and two keyboardists greatly enhance the palette of sonic textures, which finally is topped off by soulful performances from four different vocalists. Take the tune Feel The Sun for example, a joyful dance of musical colors. One can almost hear the roar of the nearby sea, feel the warmth of the sun, and is immediately transformed into a most agreeable frame of mind. Ethan Eubanks' wry and witty lyrics on Cookie Cash Lee (a pun on the Swiss Chuchichschtli) put a smart twist on the Hip Hop thing with their spoken word attitude. The blend of Nigel Hall's soulful voice and Jen Chapin's raspy Janis Joplin-tinged delivery imbue the track So Much To See with a graceful poignancy. Finally, Yeli is a deep nod to African vocal traditions, closing the album with it's culturally and musically inclusive nature, as if to say: one music - one world! This CD doubtlessly is quite a unique musical document of a creative Swiss-American collaboration. This record is dedicated to Eddie Harris TRACKLIST: Jen Chapin: vocals and lyrics on track 6, 7 & 8 Nigel Hall: vocals on track 2, 6 & 7, lyrics on track 2 Ethan Eubanks: rhymes and lyrics on track 1, 3, 4, 9 Adrian Ross: trumpet on track 3, 4, 8, 9 & 10, solo on track 8 Dave Feusi: saxes on all tracks, solo on track 2 & 5, vocals and lyrics on track 10 Adam Smirnoff: guitar on track 1, 2, 5, 6, 8 & 10, solo on track 6 John Caban: guitar on track 3, 4, 7, 8, 9, 10, solo on track 4 & 7 Manu Koch: keys on all tracks, solo on track 9 Tim Kleinert: keys on all tracks, solo on track 4 & 5 Derek Nievergelt: bass on track 2, 5, 6, 8, 9 Wijnand WhyNot Jansveld: bass on track 1, 3, 4, 7, 10 Atticus Cole: percussion on track 1, 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 & 10 Mathias Knzli: percussion on track 3, 4, 7, 8, 9 & 10 Adam Deitch: drums on track 1 & 2 Ethan Eubanks: drums on track 3 & 4 Gintas Janusonis: drums on track 9 & 10 Swiss Chris: drums on track 5, 6, 7 & 8 Jeff Misner: turntables on all tracks all music by Dave Feusi Live Concert Recording recorded march 7, 2010 at 58 North Six Media Labs Brooklyn, NY 11211 recorded, mixed and mastered by Chris Kaufmann produced by Dave Feusi Art Direction & Design by zanderconcept & Conny Zander Pictures by Jean-Franois Rveillard and Blerti Murataj.