Sept. 23, 2008 - Bregenz is a beautiful Austrian town located by the Lake of Constance, close to the Swiss and German borders. It was then the perfect venue for the first smooth jazz festival ever organised in Europe. The event took place over the last week end of August (29th and 30th) inside the beautiful Festival House, close to the lake of Constance. The festival’s organisers, Bernd Leinfelder and 
Oct. 29, 2008 –
Oct. 29, 2008 – Billy Joel had this great idea for special shows, ‘Master Classes’ a few years ago. He would talk as much as sing. The concert series which are widely available. They delivered a great performance, blending tracks from each musician, the whole coordinated by Minucci. The set started with some of Alex Bugnon’s compositions, then came the beautiful Stevie Wonder’s cover “Cause We’ve Ended as Lovers” displaying Minucci’s amazing guitar style and Marion Meadow’s soulful sax. Unfortunately, the set was too short and after such musical quality, it was difficult to raise the bar higher.
However, German bossa-jazz-soul outfit De-Phazz came as a great surprise. This open band was led by its founder, German-Austrian producer and sound designer Pit Baumgartner with the backing of sensual female vocalist Pat Appleton, front man singer Karl Frierson and a bunch of skilled musicians. Their sophisticated lounge pop music was well received by the audience.
Unfortunately after both performances, most of the spectators left and there were not more than 50 people to welcome the last artist of the evening: globe trotter sax player and multi-instrumentist Praful and his sound system, featuring a DJ and a percussionist. Praful did his best to deliver his crossover music (jazz, electronic beats and world music sounds). The native German and Amsterdam-based musician would have probably liked to see a more packed up dance floor for this after-show party.
The second day of the festival (Saturday August 30th) saw more people attending the various gigs. It started with German-Liberian singer Pat Appleton and her band. The artist, who was great with De-Phazz, delivered an uninspired performance sounding more as a conventional rock/pop concert in a trendy bar than a genuine smooth jazz act.
Fortunately, then came up the evening’s musical attraction: English star guitarist Peter White featuring great sax player Jaared , guest Italian sax player Rocco Ventrella and Pat Appleton’s resilient musicians (their third performance in a go). White’s joy of entertaining people was obvious, as the popular guitarist played eclectic mix of his compositions and famous covers, woven together with great musical arrangements and an outstanding performance by vibrant Jared, who blew his horn with soul and emotion.
