Blossom Christoph Grab with Ralph Alessi, Florian Favre, Lukas Traxel & Pius Baschnagel

• 1 Forget Me Not 06:53
• 2 Queen of the Meadow 06:53
• 3 Mad Dog Skullcap 04:19
• 4 Periwinkle 06:11
• 5 Fever Few 06:06
• 6 Bleeding Heart 08:04
• 7 African Daisy 05:59
• 8 Love in the Mist 05:16
• 9 Johnny Jump Up 05:01
• Total Runtime 54:42

Info for Blossom

The new compositions of the BLOSSOM programme were created in spring '20. I wasn't looking for these compositions, they came to me at irregular intervals during the first Corona lockdown, mostly unsolicited - blossoming like flowers spreading hope again after winter. Later I noticed that these new compositions had a lot to do with my current moods during the lockdown, so that these pieces unintentionally became a kind of diary of my lockdown period. I couldn't get the flower metaphor out of my head and so the new programme is now called "BLOSSOM". And that's why the compositions (which were created without names) have also been given English flower names: Feverfew, Love in the mist, Bleeding heart, Mad dog skullcap, African daisy, Johnny jump up etc.

Even more than in the two previous programmes, BLOSSOM's jazz is a means of transport for stories and emotions, an adventurous music full of warmth built on friendship and mutual support, for a band that becomes a unity, a breathing organism.

After the great success with REFLECTIONS (2017-2021 countless concerts, two albums, internationally very good reviews and the "Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik" for the second album "Live at Haberhaus"), BLOSSOM is the latest stroke of the trio Grab/ Traxel/Baschnagel. This time the trio is joined by the Bern-based American Ralph Alessi on trumpet and the Fribourg-based Florian Favre on piano.

Christoph Grab, tenor and alto saxophone
Ralph Alessi, trumpet
Pius Baschnagel, drums
Lukas Traxel, bass
Guest:
Florian Favre, piano

Christoph Grab
Studied at the Swiss Jazz School Bern (saxophone, composition and arrangement), his teachers and mentors included Andy Scherrer, Sal Nistico, Jerry Bergonzi, Joe Lovano and Dave Liebman. Many recordings for radio and television, countless tours and concerts all over the world. Performances with Ray Anderson, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Irene Schweizer, Benny Golson, Joe Beck, Mark Egan, Danny Gottlieb, Frank Moebus, Axel Dörner, Burhan Oecal, Harald Haerter and many more.

Christoph Grab is currently internationally active with his projects BLOSSOM (Grab, Alessi, Traxel, Baschnagel), REFLECTIONS (Grab, Thoeni, Tschopp, Oester, Baschnagel) and ROOT AREA (Grab, Johänntgen, Thomi, Frey).

In addition to his work as a freelancer in the Swiss jazz scene, he belongs to many permanent formations, e.g. TOUGH TENOR, Christoph Steiner's Escape Argot, Reto Anneler STILLE POST, Baumann/Grab/ Haemmerli/Renold, Raphael Jost & Lots of Horns, Zurich Composers Collective, ELLINGTONALITY, Axel Fischbacher Oktett, Spittin' Horns, Elmar Frey Septett, etc. Earlier formations were RAW VISION (Grab, Graupe, Lüscher, Walser, Paratte), SCIENCE FICTION THEATER, Zurich Jazz Orchestra, Neuromodulator, KOJ/Nadelöhr, Kurt Weil Vibes Revisited, ContempArabic Jazz Ensemble, Marion Denzler Group, The Blindside, Lukas Bitterlin Quartett, Blastic, Grab/Kopf Quartett etc.

His intensive involvement with live electronics and his performances with toys that have been hacked and transformed into sound machines have also brought him attention in the electronics and DJ scene.

In addition to his active musicianship, Christoph Grab has been a professor of saxophone and improvisation at the Jazz Faculty of the Zurich University of the Arts since 1998.

He lives in Zurich with his partner and two children.

This album contains no booklet.