Baloise Session

Last updated

Baloise Session (previously known as the Rheinknie Session [1] and AVO SESSION Basel) is an indoor music festival, which takes place every October/November in Basel, Switzerland. The festival features international as well as national artists of diverse music genres in an intimate club setting. In 2010 the festival celebrated its 25th jubilee, and in 2013 acquired sponsorship from a Swiss insurance company called Bâloise, [2] changing the name of the event to Baloise Session.

Contents

AVO SESSION Basel Club seating at AVO SESSION Basel.jpg
AVO SESSION Basel

History

The festival was set up as the Rheinknie Session in 1985, with the five concerts of the first instalment of the festival in May 1986, including performances by Oscar Peterson, Albert Collins and Koko Taylor. The second year's edition included shows by Fats Domino and Buddy Guy.

Regional establishment

In 1988 Miles Davis agreed to perform at the festival. Subsequently the festival was first acknowledged outside of north-western Switzerland. Names such as Dizzy Gillespie, Michel Petrucciani and Herbie Hancock followed and Claude Nobs from Montreux Jazz Festival joined as a member of the patrons committee.

In its first ten years the festival focussed on continuous growth. By gradually integrating musical styles such as world music, soul and funk after 1995, it proved possible to approach a younger audience.

National take-off

In 1997 the festival management decided to revamp the festival's content as well as its look and the festival's image was rejuvenated with greater importance attached to the attraction and driving power of international performers. The club style seating arrangement, the combination of acts and the opportunity to experience big names in an intimate atmosphere have become trademarks.

Embracing this vision, presenting sponsor AVO Cigars, part of Oettinger Davidoff, agreed to a growth-orientated sponsorship deal, with the festival becoming known as the AVO SESSION Basel.

In 2013, the festival acquired sponsorship from a Swiss insurance company called Bâloise, changing the name of the event to Baloise Session, with sponsorship in place for the ten-night event till at least 2025. [1]

Performances of note

The festival has presented headliner artists such as Bob Geldof (1998); Ray Charles (1999); James Brown (2000); Chris de Burgh (2001); Paolo Conte (2002); Deep Purple, Solomon Burke (2003); Lionel Richie, Lucio Dalla (2004); Simply Red, Francesco De Gregori (2005); Elton John, Herbie Hancock (2006); Dolores O'Riordan, Patti Austin, Joe Cocker, Mark Knopfler, Katie Melua, Chuck Berry (2007); Jethro Tull, Zucchero, Amy Macdonald, Michael Bolton, Cyndi Lauper, Gary Moore (2008); Grace Jones, Tom Jones (2009); Jamiroquai, Mary J. Blige (2010); John Hiatt and Sonny Landreth, Liza Minnelli, Daniela Mercury, Paul Anka (2011); Laura Pausini Rod Stewart (2012); Eric Clapton (2013); Bryan Ferry (2014); Toto (2015); Candy Dulfer (2015); Francesco De Gregori Iggy Pop Norah Jones (2016); Alicia Keys, Madness, Imelda May, Chris Rea (2017); Tribalistas (2018), Ms. Lauryn Hill (2018), John Legend (2018), Beth Hart (2018), Dido (2019), Michael Patrick Kelly (2019). Elisa (2022). Jessie J (2023).

International recognition

All concerts are recorded and broadcast in up to forty countries, with a potential audience of 150 million viewers, on stations such as SRF (on Swiss television and on their Radio SRF 1/Radio SRF 3 services), [1] ARTE, Telebasel, TV24  [ de; fr ], TV25  [ de; fr ] and 3sat. Some concerts were worldwide streamed live from the Event Hall via ARTE Concert's website [3] [4] and YouTube channel.

In 2006 the festival's first Eurovision broadcast took place with a show of Elton John, followed by Katie Melua's Europe-wide live broadcast in 2007. Four performances, namely the concert featuring Solomon Burke (2003), Katie Melua (2007), Jethro Tull (2008) and Paul Anka (2011), were released in America and Europe on DVD. In 2022, Sky Arts started broadcasting performances from the concert to British Freeview viewers, [5] with Kool & the Gang [6] [7] performance from 2017, Toto’s [8] Baloise Session from 2015 and Brian Wilson [9] in 2016 being some of the concerts screened by the broadcaster.

Awards

The Baloise Session has won the first prize in the cultural category of the International Sponsorships Awards presented by the German sponsorship association FASPO.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jethro Tull (band)</span> British rock band

Jethro Tull are a British rock band formed in Blackpool, Lancashire in 1967. Initially playing blues rock and jazz fusion, the band soon incorporated elements of English folk music, hard rock and classical music, forging a signature progressive rock sound. The group's founder, bandleader, principal composer, lead vocalist, and only constant member is Ian Anderson, a multi-instrumentalist who mainly plays flute and acoustic guitar. The group has featured a succession of musicians throughout the decades, including significant contributors such as guitarists Mick Abrahams and Martin Barre ; bassists Glenn Cornick, Jeffrey Hammond, John Glascock, Dave Pegg, Jonathan Noyce, and David Goodier; drummers Clive Bunker, Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow and Doane Perry; and keyboardists John Evan, Dee Palmer, Peter-John Vettese, Andrew Giddings, and John O'Hara.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montreux Jazz Festival</span> Music festival in Switzerland

The Montreux Jazz Festival is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual jazz festival in the world after Canada's Montreal International Jazz Festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Newport Jazz Festival</span> Music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, US

The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hired George Wein to organize the first festival and bring jazz to Rhode Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pori Jazz</span> Jazz festival in Pori, Finland

Pori Jazz is a large international jazz festival, held annually during the month of July in the coastal city of Pori, Finland. It is one of the oldest and best known jazz festivals in Europe, having been arranged every year since 1966.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">GuilFest</span>

GuilFest, formerly the Guildford Festival of Folk and Blues, is an annual music festival held in Stoke Park, Guildford, England. The festival, like the larger Glastonbury Festival, features a range of genres including rock, folk, blues, and in recent years pop. In 2006 GuilFest was awarded the title of "Best Family Festival" in the UK Festival awards. Following a 10-year hiatus from 2014, GuilFest returned to Stoke Park in summer 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sopot International Song Festival</span> Polish music festival

The Sopot International Song Festival or Sopot Festival is an annual international song contest held in Sopot, Poland. It is the biggest Polish music festival altogether with the National Festival of Polish Song in Opole, and one of the biggest song contests in Europe. Over the years, Elton John, Gloria Gaynor, Demis Roussos, Alla Pugacheva, Scorpions, Anastacia, Marylya Rodovich, In-Grid and other popular performers from around the world performed at the festival.

The Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival is an annual event on the Caribbean island of Saint Lucia that brings together local and international musicians and other performing artists, as well as artisans. The festival presents jazz, R&B, and Calypso music, dance, theatre, and international couture.

<i>Living with the Past</i> 2002 live album & DVD by Jethro Tull

Living with the Past is a live album by Jethro Tull. The first half contains material from the Hammersmith Apollo performance on 25 November 2001 and features songs from different eras of Tull's history as well as some pieces from Ian Anderson's solo albums: "The Habanero Reel", "The Water Carrier" from The Secret Language of Birds and the instrumental "In the Grip of Stronger Stuff" from Divinities: Twelve Dances with God. Aside from "Cheerio", other recordings are collected in the second half.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jim Cregan</span> English rock guitarist and bassist

James Cregan is an English rock guitarist and bassist, best known for his associations with Family, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, and Rod Stewart. Cregan is a former husband of the singer Linda Lewis and worked with her as a record producer. He has also worked with The Quireboys, Glass Tiger, Katie Melua and formed Farm Dogs with Bernie Taupin.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Estadio Obras Sanitarias</span>

Estadio Obras Sanitarias is an indoor arena that is located in Buenos Aires, Argentina. The arena, home venue of club Obras Sanitarias, is mainly used to host basketball games and concerts. It has a capacity of 3,100 people for basketball games, and 4,700 people for concerts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schaefer Music Festival</span>

The Schaefer Music Festival in Central Park was a recurring music festival held in the summer between 1967 and 1976 at Wollman Rink in New York City's Central Park. It featured a number of notable performances. The sponsorship was taken over by Dr. Pepper in 1977 and the name changed to the Dr. Pepper Central Park Music Festival until the location of the festival was moved to Pier 84 in 1981 and the Wollman Skating Rink ceased being used as a concert venue.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz</span> Non-profit music education organization

The Herbie Hancock Institute of Jazz is a non-profit music education organization founded in 1986. Before 2019, it was known as the Thelonious Monk Institute of Jazz, but was then renamed after its longtime board chairman, Herbie Hancock.

The Captain and the Kid Tour was a concert tour by Elton John which lasted from September 2006 until January 2008. The tour was to promote the album of the same name.

Trademark of Quality was a bootleg record label based in Los Angeles, California, and was established in 1970 by "Dub" Taylor and Ken Douglas. In the summer of 1969, they released Bob Dylan's "GWW" Great White Wonder with a white fold-out cover and white labels. Another 9 titles followed before they 1970 created the "farm pig" logo and the TMQ label was fact then they began fastening round fluorescent stickers on the outside of their rubber-stamped jackets which read 'Trade Mark Of Quality,' and bore the profile of a farm pig. The Frank Zappa - 200 Motels release was the first to bear such a sticker. Over time, custom pig labels were added along with xerox insert covers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Jazz Day</span> International event for the promotion of jazz music

International Jazz Day is an International Day declared by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2011 "to highlight jazz and its diplomatic role of uniting people in all corners of the globe." It is celebrated annually on April 30. The idea came from jazz pianist and UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador Herbie Hancock. Jazz Day is chaired by Hancock and the UNESCO Director-General. The celebration is recognized on the calendars of both UNESCO and the United Nations.

<i>Live at AVO Session Basel</i> 2009 video by Jethro Tull

Live at AVO Session Basel is a video by English rock band Jethro Tull, and was released in 2009. It shows footage of the concert released in Basel by the band in 2008, at the Avo Session Basel indoor music festival.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Openair Frauenfeld</span> Annual hip hop music festival in Switzerland

Openair Frauenfeld is an annual hip hop music festival that takes place in Frauenfeld in July. It is considered to be the largest open air festival in Switzerland and the largest hip hop music festival in Europe. The event has been held since 1985. It used to be a rock and blues festival called Out in the Green Festival, which also took place in Winterthur. It was changed to Openair Frauenfeld in 2007. It has hosted numerous high-profile celebrities and has attracted an annual turnout of around 150,000 people. Some of the top headliners who performed at Openair Frauenfeld include Jay-Z, Eminem, Kanye West, Macklemore, Snoop Dogg, 50 Cent, Kendrick Lamar, A$AP Rocky, Travis Scott, Cardi B, Wiz Khalifa, J. Cole, Cypress Hill and others.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Corrado Rustici</span> Italian musician

Corrado Rustici is an Italian musician, songwriter and producer.

Estival Jazz is an annual music festival that takes place in summer in the Swiss city of Lugano in the canton of Ticino. It is an open-air and free of charge festival.

References

  1. 1 2 3 "What is the Baloise Session?". Baloise Group.
  2. ↑ "At a glance".
  3. ↑ "Search results for "Bal" - ARTE in English".
  4. ↑ "ARTE Concert".
  5. ↑ "TV tonight: Marmalade sandwiches at the ready for Paddington". TheGuardian.com . 17 September 2022.
  6. ↑ "Kool & the Gang Play Baloise Session".
  7. ↑ "Kool & the Gang Play Baloise Session, 7:00pm on Sky Arts".
  8. ↑ "Toto Play Baloise Session".
  9. ↑ "Brian Wilson Plays Baloise Session".
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.