Switzerland Meets New York

“We’re more exotic than you think,” Swiss jazz vocalist Beat Kaestli said of his musical countrymen. Performing on last night’s Switzerland Meets New York triple-bill at the Canal Room (co-sponsored by ObliqSound and the Swiss Consulate), Kaestli hoped their showcase would “show old Europe has some spice.” Kaestli’s swinging jazz vocals, followed by Swiss-American singer-songwriter Serena Jost and Leo Tardin’s Grand Pianoramax, certainly illustrated the diversity of contemporary Swiss music.

Kaestli credits American expat jazz vocalist Sandy Patton for beginning his jazz education in Switzerland, but was inevitably drawn to New York, arguably the jazz capitol of the world. However, you can hear a lot of international influences in his music, frequently including Latin rhythms, like his swinging adaptation of Bizet’s “Toreador Song” and the slightly bossa “Esso.” Kaestli also included a relatively recent addition to his repertoire, a Swiss song in dialect, the kind of material from his native land he “had to leave to come back to.” Given the strong tone of Kaestli’s voice and his facility for swinging a lyric, his stint with the Glen Miller band makes perfect sense. Backed by his working trio and violin, Kaestli well represented Swiss jazz with an impressive opening set.

With its clubby atmosphere, the Canal Room could be a tough venue for a singer-songwriter, but Folk-rocker Serena Jost exercised a remarkable degree of control over her audience, successfully hushing them for a particularly dramatic song. “I’ve just learned how to establish a rapport,” she later explained. Originally classically trained on the cello, Jost now considers herself primarily a singer-songwriter, but still incorporates some cello into her sets. Swiss-American, Jost has often played in Switzerland, and is in the process of planning another tour. During her set, she exhibited tremendous poise, and her originals display a knack for the catchy and dramatic.

Probably nobody showed as much diversity within their set as did the evening’s headlining Grand Pianoramax, led by Leo Tardin. Conceived as a core duo to be periodically expanded with rappers, spoken word artists, and other guests, Leo Tardin was joined on drums by Zurich-born Jojo Mayer. Equally adept in jazz and rock contexts, a significant portion of the audience had come out to hear him specifically.

Covering a lot of stylistic ground, Tardin started his set with “The Showdown,” a very adult superhero fable, expanded from the CD version with gusto by Mike Ladd, and closed with the most pronounced jazz moments of his set, featuring a guest appearance by Swiss jazz harmonica player Gregoire Maret. Having frequently collaborated with the high-concept jazz artist Vijay Iyer, Ladd proved a natural fit for Tardin’s jazz rooted, hip-hop influenced electronica. Known for his collaborations with Pat Metheny and Marcus Miller, Maret’s harmonica and Tardin’s keyboards made for a rich combination of soundsLikewise, Maret, perhaps best known for his collaborations with Pat Metheny and Marcus Miller, blended well with Tardin and Mayer, creating a rich aural fusion.

While no one was willing to suggest any discrete property that makes music uniquely Swiss, some common themes did arise, like the value of diversity and the adventurousness of Swiss musicians making their home in the world at large. Those who attended the entertaining Swiss showcase left with a wider conception of the country, beyond stereotype images of cuckoo clocks and private bank accounts. Following a number of European dates, Tardin’s next American performance will be in Miami on March 24th, followed by an April Fools Day gig at the Boulder Theater. New Yorkers can catch Serena Jost again when she plays Brooklyn’s Barbes on March 12th and Beat Kaelsti at Smoke on February 8th.

The Sounds of Switzerland: Grand Pianoramax

The Biggest Piano in Town
By Grand Pianoramax (Leo Tardin)
ObliqSound

When you think Swiss music, what comes to mind? Yodeling? The first sounds to go through your head are probably not a heavy mix of funky keyboards, Moogish effects, and rap and spoken word vocals, however that is what Geneva’s own Leo Tardin brings to the table with his group Grand Pianoramax. They perform this Wednesday night in Manhattan as part of “Switzerland Meets New York,” a showcase of contemporary Swiss music at the Canal Room.

Leo Tardin is Grand Pianoramax. The concept is his, and the band is basically the duo format of his piano and keyboards, with drums, augmented with different guests, including rap and spoken word artists, like Mike Ladd and Celena Glenn, who appeared on his latest CD, last year’s The Biggest Piano in Town, and will join him tomorrow at the Canal Room. Biggest Piano starts with “Showdown,” the track that really earns BPIW the parental advisory logo on the cover. There is a “clean” edit too, but here “clean” is relative. It is an explicit fable of dueling voyeuristic superheroes that in its way, makes an idealistic defense of romantic love. Sort of.

There are a few somewhat more jazz oriented tracks as well, like the acoustic “Ride I: the Race.” It is a nice showcase for Tardin’s facility on the keys (which won the premiere Montreux Jazz Festival solo piano competition), giving a sense of the road he is largely not currently taking. Most tracks however, have a definitely pronounced electro-funk feeling, like “The Hook Introduction” and “Ride II: Driftin.”

BPIW segues through a variety of moods, drifting into chill-out territory at times. While “In the Lab’s” plethora of quirky effects over Parks’ steady drum line are at first somewhat dull, the tune dramatically evolves into “Tempest,” a hypnotic trance that recalls the best work of groups like four80east. Given its strong melodic hook, it might be the most compelling track on Biggest Piano, making a strong conclusion for the disk.

Joining GP on the program Wednesday will be Swiss jazz vocalist Beat Kaestli and singer-songwriter-cellist Serena Jost. Tardin in particular, enjoys blurring genres and shaking things up, so it should be interesting to hear his 10:00 set. After all, an artist who makes the digital dance charts and also gets reviewed in jazz publications bears watching.

The Biggest Piano

The Biggest Piano in Town
By Grand Pianoramax
ObliqSound

Leo Tardin is Grand Pianoramax. The concept is his, and the band is basically his piano and keyboards, augmented with different guests. On his latest, The Biggest Piano in Town (on-sale today), Meshell Ndegeocello drummer Deantoni Parks is a near constant on all but one track, joining a revolving cast of rap and spoken word artists like Mike Ladd, Celena Glenn, and others.

Tardin has jazz chops, having won the first Montreux Jazz Festival International Piano Solo Competition. However, GP is more of synthesis of various forms of electronic music, including electronica and ambient, but often bringing to mind the vibe of “Rock-It” era Herbie Hancock.

It starts with “Showdown,” the track that really earns BPW the parental advisory logo on the cover. There is a “clean” edit too, but here “clean” is relative. It is an explicit fable of dueling voyeuristic superheroes that in its way, makes an idealistic defense of romantic love. Sort of.

There are some more jazz oriented tracks though, like the acoustic “Ride I: the Race.” It is a nice showcase for Tardin’s facility on the keys, giving a sense of the road he is largely not currently taking. Most tracks however, have a definitely pronounced electro-funk feeling, like “The Hook Introduction” and “Ride II: Driftin.”

BPW segues through a variety of moods, drifting into chill-out territory at times. While “In the Lab’s” plethora of quirky effects over Parks’ steady drum line are at first somewhat dull, the tune dramatically evolves into “Tempest,” a hypnotic trance that recalls the best work of four80east. Given its strong melodic hook, it might be the most compelling track on GP, and makes for a strong conclusion.

Tardin must enjoy confusing genre classification. Press materials for BPW describe it as “Nu-Jazz (Elements of Phuture Funk/Hip-Hop/Spoken Word).” Add to that chill-out, jam, and ambient. That should clear things up. GPW might become a “pick-and-chose” album for many downloaders. Actually, Tardin is nearly always doing interesting things here, but various tracks may well appeal to very different people. It suggests Tardin will be an intriguing figure to watch in the future.

Sending Out the Biggest Piano

For a while, it seemed like clubby fusions of jazz and house/techno/and-so-on was the sound of the future. Since then, that wave has ebbed and flowed, but Grand Pianoramax may represent a crest. The driving force behind the group is pianist/keyboardist Leo Tardin, the winner of first Montreux Jazz Festival Piano Solo Competition. Blending jazz with rap, house, and chill-out music, Grand Pianoramax sounds like a studio phenomenon, but they consider themselves a live band. Last night, Tardin launched his forthcoming Obliq Sound CD The Biggest Piano in Town at MI-5, a funky downtown venue, where it was interesting to hear some of the new tunes in a live context.

Releasing February 19, Biggest Piano covers a fair amount of stylistic ground (a full review will go up when the CD is on-sale). While GP does some more chill music-oriented tunes like “Tempest” on the CD, last night’s set was dominated by Tardin’s big synthesizer sound, appropriate for the loud party atmosphere.

Tardin in a way brings to mind the late, great Joe Zawinul, one of the few jazz pianists who were always a welcome sight behind a bank of keyboards. Despite their omnipresence in the 1970’s, and their continued use in sessions, keyboards have not exactly been embraced by jazz listeners. Perhaps Tardin the keyboard player will break through with jazz fans in that sense, like Zawinul or Herbie Hancock, while pursuing his hyphenated crossover music.

The first track on Biggest Piano is a rap collaboration titled “Showdown.” While I have heard many rap and jazz blends, this stood out for its almost idealistic defense of love, in an explicit tune about voyeurism (clean version available for radio). That’s why I enjoy blogging on music—to hear something I’ve never heard before. Tardin and company will soon be hitting the road, touring in support of the CD and opening for Maceo Parker, so it will be interesting to hear how well they build their crossover audience.