Rusconi was a Swiss

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

band. It was one of the most successful contemporary representatives of free rock,

noise Noise is sound, chiefly unwanted, unintentional, or harmful sound considered unpleasant, loud, or disruptive to mental or hearing faculties. From a physics standpoint, there is no distinction between noise and desired sound, as both are vibrat ...

, new improvisational music,

groove Groove or Grooves may refer to: Music * Groove (music) * Groove (drumming) * The Groove (band), an Australian rock/pop band of the 1960s * The Groove (Sirius XM), a US radio station * Groove 101.7FM, a former Perth, Australia, radio station ...

, and

electronica Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...

in Switzerland.

History

Stefan Rusconi (piano), Claudio Strüby (drums), and Richard Pechota (bass) founded Rusconi in 2001. In 2004, Fabian Gisler succeeded Pechota on the bass. Rusconi issued their first two albums with independent Swiss labels and then got into an agreement with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

Germany which in 2009 issued the album ''One Up Down Left Right''. For all three albums mainly Stefan Rusconi wrote the music. In 2010, they dealt in their album ''It’s a Sonic Life'' with the works of

Sonic Youth Sonic Youth were an American rock band formed in New York City in 1981. Founding members Kim Gordon (bass, vocals, guitar), Thurston Moore (lead guitar, vocals) and Lee Ranaldo (rhythm guitar, vocals) remained together for the entire history of ...

. The artwork is made out of video stills by

Pipilotti Rist Pipilotti Elisabeth Rist, birth name ''Elisabeth Charlotte Rist'' (born 21 June 1962 in Grabs) is a Swiss visual artist best known for creating experimental video art and installation art. Her work is often described as surreal, intimate, abst ...

. In 2012, Rusconi terminated the agreement with

Sony Music Entertainment Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

and founded their own label Qilin Records. With this step Rusconi wanted to enable their fans - in the age of free downloads - to support them more directly than it would have been possible with a

major label "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

. Rusconi issued their recordings on CD, and partly or exclusively on LP. With their 'Manifest' Rusconi adapted to the changed market situation. * On 2 March 2012, they released the well known album ''Revolution'' for free downloads with

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online music distribution platform founded in 2008 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with an office and record store in Oakland, California. Acquired by Epic ...

. * In parallel, they produced LPs of the last two albums and released them also for free downloads. * Since December 2012, the French label ''BEEJAZZ'' distributes the album ''Revolution'' as CD. * In 2014, the band released the album ''History Sugar Dream'' on their own label Qilin Record *Their Live-album ''Rusconi + Fred Frith - live in Europe was released on'' Qilin Records in 2016. This was also their last album. End of 2017 Rusconi parted by mutual consent. On their website the band thanks everyone for their interest and support over the last 14 years. Rusconi gave concerts in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan and Korea.

Music videos

Rusconi did various video clips for their albums. In 2008, they cooperated for the first time with the Winterthur Movie Collective ''zweihund'' and produced the video clip ''One Up Down Left Right'', which was shown at movie festivals the world over. Rusconi received three awards, e.g. the Audience Award and the Jury Award of the Solothurn Movie Days in 2010. * In 2011, the video clip ''The Destroyed Room'' (also produced by zweihund and Rusconi) received the Jury Award of the Solothurn Movie Days. * In 2013, the newest product of zweihund and Rusconi ''Alice in the sky'' received the award for the 'Best Swiss Video Clip' of the Solothurn Movie Days, m4music and the SUISA Foundation.

Style and influences

Rusconi fused ideas from jazz, rock and pop. Styles and influences reached from the

avant-garde In the arts and literature, the term ''avant-garde'' ( meaning or ) identifies an experimental genre or work of art, and the artist who created it, which usually is aesthetically innovative, whilst initially being ideologically unacceptable ...

of the electronic music (e.g.

Aphex Twin Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), known professionally as Aphex Twin, is a British musician, composer and DJ active in electronic music since 1988. His idiosyncratic work has drawn on many styles, including techno, ambient music, ambi ...

) to noise rock (e.g.

) and to the stars of pop (

Radiohead Radiohead are an English rock band formed in Abingdon-on-Thames, Abingdon, Oxfordshire, in 1985. The band members are Thom Yorke (vocals, guitar, piano, keyboards); brothers Jonny Greenwood (guitar, keyboards, other instruments) and Colin Gre ...

Awards

Rusconi are the winners of several awards and rewards. * 2009: Jury Award and Audience Award of the Solothurn Movie Days for the video clip "One up down left right" of ''zweihund'' and ''Rusconi'' * 2010: Jury Award of the Solothurn Movie Days for the video clip ''Destroyed Room'' of ''zweihund'' and ''Rusconi'' * 2010...2012: Support of the foundation

Pro Helvetia The foundation Pro Helvetia is a public foundation of Switzerland, which supports artists, promotes Swiss culture and art abroad. It is responsible for major international cultural event exhibitions. The foundation promotes cultural dialogue of t ...

for Stefan Rusconi and his band ''Rusconi'' within its main scope of jazz promotion * 2013: Jury Award of the Solothurn Movie Days for the video clip "Alice in the sky" of ''zweihund'' and ''Rusconi'' * 2013: Nomination for

Prix Walo The Prix Walo is a Swiss award given for showbusiness. Awards since 1994 Honorable - Walo - awards * 1983: Charly Fritsche * 1991: Eynar Grabowsky * 1992: Willi Schmidt, First Harmonic Brass Band * 1993: Caterina Valente, Ettore Cella * 1994: ...

(best known Swiss award) as 'Jazz Trio of the year' * 2013: Rusconi is winner of the

Echo Jazz The Echo Jazz (stylized as ECHO JAZZ) was a German music prize, an Echo Music Prize for personalities and production of jazz. It was awarded annually by the between 2010 and 2018. The awards had been given in 30 categories, including ensemble of ...

Award for 'Best live act 2012'

Discography

* 2004: ''Scenes & Sceneries'' (Brambus Records; als Rusconi Trio) * 2006: ''Stop & Go'' (Unit Records / Sony) * 2009: ''One Up Down Left Right'' (Sony Music Germany) * 2010: ''It's a Sonic Life'' (Sony Music Germany) * 2012: ''Revolution'' (LP Qilin Records; CD BEEJAZZ) * 2013: ''It's A Sonic Life'' (LP Qilin Records) * 2014: ''History Sugar Dream'' (CD, LP Qilin Records)

Bibliography

- Stefan Künzli: ''Rusconi: Ein Schweizer Jazztrio sprengt Grenzen'' (A Swiss Jazz Trio Breaks Boundaries); Sonntag, February 15, 2009
Inhaltsverzeichnis März + April 2010
- Franz X.A. Zipperer: ''Rusconi''; Jazzthetik 3/4 2010: 20-21
Auch ohne Kim Gordon gut - Musikblog
- Volker Schmidt: ''Tonträger - Auch ohne Kim Gordon gut'' (Sound Carrier - Good Performance Even Without Kim Gordon); ZEIT Online, 2010
Der Gewinn der Freiheit , NZZ
- Uely Bernays: ''Der Gewinn der Freiheit - Taufe des Albums 'Revolution (The Winner Of Freedom - Baptism Of The Album 'Revolution'); NZZ, 2012

- Hans Hielscher: ''Schweizer Jazz: Die Groove-Grossmacht'' (Swiss Jazz: A Great Power Of Groove); Spiegel Online; 2013

References

External links

*
Rusconi on discogs

Rusconi's in house label Qilin Records

Rusconi on Sony Music
{{Authority control Swiss jazz ensembles Brambus Records artists Sony Music artists