It was 23rd and 24th of July 2011. We played under the stars of beautiful Ascona to enthusiastic crowds who continued to vote for us on their moible phones before the announcement on tha weekend.
Offbeat Trio are Marcel Schefer on Piano, Kalli Gerhards on Bass and Beat Fraefel-Haering on Drums. We had a guest Trumpeter in the gifted Claudio Bergamin.
Boy were we swinging at those shows!!
A very special THANK YOU to all the organisers over at Jazzascona and Radio Swiss Jazz. We truely appreciate your hard work and carrying out a highly successful Jazz Festival. Thank you Nicholas Gillet, the Jazzascona Artistic Director, who made sure we were fed, watered and happy! Thank you to Pietro Ribi of Radio Swiss Jazz for the glowing appraisal of my Debut Album - The Rest Of Your Life - recorded live in Honkgong. It was this album that was first played on the station. And I have to mention Pepe Lienhard , thank you for your super BIG BAND Music at the Award Ceremony and presenting us with our 2011 Swiss Jazz Award!
This is the acceptance speech I made at the Swiss Jazz Awards Presentation