Rusconi

Rusconi was a Swiss jazz band. It was one of the most successful contemporary representatives of Free Rock, Noise, New Improvisational Music, Groove and Electronica in Switzerland.

History

Stefan Rusconi (piano), Claudio Strüby (drums) und Richard Pechota (bass) founded the band Rusconi in 2001. In 2004 Fabian Gisler succeeded Richard Pechota on the bass.

Rusconi issued their first two albums with independent Swiss labels and then got into an agreement with Sony Music 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. The artwork is made out of video stills by Pipilotti Rist.[1]

RUSCONI in Shibuya, 2013

In 2012 Rusconi terminated the agreement with Sony Music Entertainment and founded their own label Qilin Records.[2] 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. Rusconi issued their recordings on CD, and partly or exclusively on LP. With their 'Manifest' Rusconi adapted to the changed market situation.[3]

  • On March 2, 2012 they released the well known album Revolution for free downloads with Bandcamp.
  • In parallel, they produced LPs of the last two albums and released them also for free downloads.[4]
  • Since December 2012 the French label BEEJAZZ distributes the album Revolution as CD.[5]
  • 2014 the band released their new album History Sugar Dream as CD and LP exclusively on their own label Qilin Record and also offers it through bandcamp as a free download.
  • 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.[6]

Rusconi gave concerts in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Turkey, Czech Republic, Spain, France, Italy, Sweden, Belgium, Malaysia, Indonesia, China, Japan and Korea.

Styles

Rusconi fused ideas from jazz, rock and pop. Styles and influences reached from the avant-garde of the electronic music (e.g. Aphex Twin) to noise rock (e.g. Sonic Youth) and to the stars of pop (Radiohead).[7][8]

Video Clips

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.

Awards

Rusconi are 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 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 (best known Swiss award) as 'Jazz Trio of the year' [9][10]
  • 2013: Rusconi is winner of the ECHO Jazz 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)

Collaborations

Rusconi has been recording and playing concerts with Fred Frith, Luca Aquino, Achille Succi, Sardine Sauvage Dance Company Sweden, Andreas Schaerer and Elia Rediger and worked and collaborated with artists like Pipilotti Rist, Diana Scheunemann, Gregor Brändli, Tobias Madison, Paul Polaris and zweihund collective

Bibliography
  • - Stefan Künzli: Rusconi: Ein Schweizer Jazztrio sprengt Grenzen (A Swiss Jazz Trio Breaks Boundaries); Sonntag, February 15, 2009
  • - Franz X.A. Zipperer: Rusconi; Jazzthetik 3/4 2010: 20-21
  • - Volker Schmidt: Tonträger - Auch ohne Kim Gordon gut (Sound Carrier - Good Performance Even Without Kim Gordon); ZEIT Online, 2010
  • - 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
  1. The Zürich movie maker Michelle Brun filmed the musical short portrait It’s a Sonic Life in 2009 ¦ 2010 to document the making of the 4th album
  2. "Artists | Qilin Records". qilinrecords.com. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  3. http://rusconi-music.com/support-us/donate/
  4. Rusconi: Revolution
  5. http://www.beejazz.com/en/artiste/rusconi/%5B%5D
  6. Rusconi. "Home". Official - RUSCONI - Music. Retrieved 2018-12-14.
  7. Agnès Jourdain: Rusconi Trio: Stop and Go Archived 2012-05-25 at the Wayback Machine, April 18th, 2008, called on July 24th, 2010.
  8. Rolf Thomas: Rusconi: Wie befreit. In: kulturnews.de, 25. März 2010. Called on July 24th, 2010.
  9. "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2013-12-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-26. Retrieved 2013-12-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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