Roberto Bossard Quintet

A warm integrated band almost like one family, in fact, Raffaele is Roberto’s son; all Swiss except Lukas, originally from Germany. The session began with ‘In the ‘Wee Small Hours Of The Morning’ from their excellent CD and this was followed by Roberto introducing the band with interesting background stories which certainly helped us to warm to this fine group of musicians. With a few Standards, the programme was of Roberto’s interesting compositions firstly with ’What’s On’, followed by a piece written during Covid called ‘Going Slow’. We were able to hear extended solos from all of these accomplished players and I particularly appreciated the creativity of pianist Lukas. The first set finished with an original, a calypso homage to Sonny Rollins and his ‘St. Thomas’. The second set began with ‘I’ve Never Been in Love Before’, continuing the musical breath of Swiss fresh air brought by the beautiful playing of Roberto and his Gibson guitar leading an exceptional band. The audience certainly gave them a warm CJC reception, prompting Roberto to tell us that the audiences in Zurich were like a refrigerator.  A standing ovation brought forth an encore of ‘Nostalgia’ again from the group’s CD.

This was another memorable evening, and we look forward to a return visit on their next European tour.

Robert Bossard – guitar, Toni Bechtold – sax, Lukas Gernet – piano, Raffaele Bossard – bass, Dominic Egli – drums.

Photos from the event