Photos courtesy of Alice Christoffel
(click on photo for photo gallery)

A warm and wonderful concert in the county of St Gallen, in Wil, in Switzerland. It was in a cellar in the old Town House known for it's live voncerts, particularly Jazz. We had a super show with Jazz Standards swinging out such as 'Seven Steps', 'Dont Get Around Much Anymore' and 'Love For Sale' but also added our own 'Chasing Hope' and arrangements of Kings of Leon 'Use Somebody' and Cold Plays 'Viva... La Vida'.

We did a rousing tribute to Etta James with the Blues number - 'EVERYNIGHT'. The whole audience and the band joined in with the chorus. EVERY NIGHT! I spoke about Etta James, her bluesy voice, her souuuulful voice, her UNMISTAKEABLE voice, the era of Rhythm and Blues and how we had lost a great singer!

......only to wake up in the morning to the news that we had lost Whitney Houston.....

Now, I sing because of Whitney! I am speechless. We lost 'The Greatest Love Of All', as one fan wrote on Twitter. I know I cried when I heard her sing for the very first time, like me she was a young teenager when I first heard her. I was mesmerised by her incredible voice, her poise, her grace, her beauty. She sang The Greatest Love Of All on her debut album as a young woman and my life was changed forever.......

Rest in Peace Whitney Houston. We will always love you.......

So I found myself using words like...'soaring', 'gliding', 'flying' when describing how I felt on Jan 10 and 11 at the Cd Launch! It truely was incredible! Once again, if you missed the concerts, you really MISSED OUT on some magical moments. I just want to say a very heartfelt thank you to Beat Baumli (guitar) and Lorenz Beyeler (bass). We were HOT Gentlemen! I simply could do it all over again. Well, we can, over on the Events page on this website, you can see we have at least 4 more concerts within the next few weeks. You are all more than welcome to join us again.

Warm thank you to Markus Benz for providing all of my guests with a glass of Prosecco or a glass of Orange Juice during the interval! (I said it was a 'Thank You Drink' from the band, while I was on stage, but I want you all to know who is really responsible for this THANK YOU DRINK)


Thank you Marcel Walburger for the photos taken on your iPHone 4! Click on the photo above to see them as well as photos from one of the Live Recordings.

And to my audience. We really can't do this without you. We reach such great heights writing, performing, dreaming because of you! I just want to say THANK YOU. This album has been in the making since October 2009! Finally it is here! Because of you.

God Bless and HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The nominees for the 2012 Swiss Jazz Award Winners have just been announced over on the Swiss Jazz Award and  Jazzascona website but don't forget who the reigning 2011 Swiss Jazz Award Winners are ...... as if you could?

Alexia Gardner and Offbeat Trio of course!

We will be performing at the international Jazz Festival -Jazzascona - from June 21 - June 25 2012.  Five spectacular open air concerts along the Ascona Lake, in the beautiful Italian part of Switzerland. Just can't be missed so make a date in your diarys  right now.  We will end our 1 year reign as 2011 Swiss Jazz Award winners at the Presentation Ceremony at the end of our 5 day Festival !

There are more concert  dates for Alexia Gardner and Offbeat Trio are here on my Events page.

Good Luck to all 5 Nomoniees for the 2012 Swiss Jazz Award!

It was hot and spicey Jamaican food, brightly coloured Jamaican paintings, clay sculptures of powerful, and beautiful Jamaican women and pumping, reggae music ringing out at the United Nations offices last Monday Evening! Wow!

On Monday, Nov 21st 2012 I hoped on a train to Geneva. The 2 and half hour journey was well worth it. I travelled with Lukas Zimmerman (bass) and met up with Marcel Waldburger (piano) Reto Ohnsorg (drums) travelling in from Basel and Zug. We played the taste of Jamaica everyone was looking out for.... a taste of Bob Marley, Harry Belafonte, UB40, Beres Hammond and Alexia Gardner!

I came home totally rejuvinated! Happy that I had the chance to immerse myself in a little bit of my  roots -  Jamaica. A warm thank you to our new Jamaican Ambassador - Wayne McCook. I had the privilege of singing at the Embassy of Jamaica events in both Shanghai and Beijing back in 2006 when Wayne McCook was the Jamaican Ambassador to China. (Here is a short flyer of that China/Jamaica Event)

Now Wayne McCook is here to 'wake up' Switzerland!

Thank you to all the Mission of Jamaica and WIPO staff for inviting us to perform on Monday and taking such great care of us. Thank you Sacha for the 'Rolls Royce PA System', Samar, Roger and Co for making sure we were fed and watered all evening.

I am already recruiting all of my 'Desperate Jamaican Housewives' for the 2012 JAMAICAN BALL!!
 
Well, I can extend that invitation to just about any 'Desperate Housewife' or 'Desperate Professional' here in Switzerland that is just yeaaaarning for some JAMAICAN VIBES!!
 
IRIE MON!

Roll on JAMAICAN BALL 2012! (Actually 2012 marks the the 50th birthday of this incredible island in the Caribbean Sea. Look out for a whole wealth of exciting world wide events to celebrate Jamaicas 50th Independance Day!  (August 6th 2012)

Alexia
(Click on the Jamaica Flag for the Art Brochure of the 'taste of Jamaica' Evening at the United Nations Office on Mon 21st Nov 2011)

Wow! I just want to take a moment to say Thank You.
This album has been released since September 30th 2011 but has only
recently been announced as  I have been patiently working on the website
as well as going through the long and  detailed proceedure of getting
 it posted on CDBABY.COM and the digital download sites .

In the meantime I was really not sure of the reaction of my friends and fans.
Honesly, I was very, very nervous. This recording is truely outside of my comfort zone. I feel extremely exposed in front of just a guitar and  a bass.

Now I am feeling all the looooove.
There has been some very  nice Cd sales and downloads  (more than happy to receive more)
And of course a lot of compliments and congratulations. Thank You!
It really means a lot to me, really.

Especially when my first engineer (during this 2 year period of recording at 3 LIVE concerts advised me to shelve this CD.
He didn't feel it was strong enough to be released to the public.....

Thankfully, I followed my 'gut' feeling and was lucky enough to have
Urs Wiesendanger , engineer and mixer on the album, believe in me!

And of course....it helps to be married to a man who supports me unconditionally!
Thanks a million Markus!

Love

Alexia

Jazz Club Solothon's Flyer for
Alexia Gardner and Offbeat Trio
performing on
Oct 28th 2011!

click on the photo for the flattering review from WOCHENFALTER (for all my german speaking guests) Enjoy! Love Alexia