* En anglais uniquement
With his thick, robust sound and bluesy yet still harmonically adventurous style, Swiss-born trombonist
Samuel Blaser has made his mark as an internationally recognized jazz leader. Arriving on the scene in the early 2000s,
Blaser displayed his knack for aggressive post-bop jazz that hinted at edgier sounds found on his 2008 quartet debut 7th Heaven. He quickly won the respect of veteran mavericks like drummer
Paul Motian, with whom he recorded 2010's Consort in Motion, and drummer
Gerry Hemingway, who joined him on 2013's A Mirror to Machaut. Ever searching, the trombonist has continued to push himself into ever more expansive realms, collaborating with such like-minded contemporaries bassist
Thomas Morgan, drummer
Gerald Cleaver, pianist
Benoit Delbecq, and others.
Born in 1981 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland,
Blaser grew up alongside his two siblings listening to an eclectic mix of sounds from traditional Swiss folk music, and classical, to American jazz and R&B. He first began trombone lessons at age nine, and by his teens was honing his skills at the La Chaux-de-Fonds music Conservatory where he excelled at both jazz and classical, and earned a handful of awards including the 2000
Benny Golson Prize. Graduating in 2002, he joined
the Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band, associations that eventually led to
Blaser earning a Fulbright scholarship to study in the United States at New York's Purchase College Conservatory of Music. While there, he picked up yet more accolades, including winning the
J.J. Johnson Prize. In 2006, he traveled to Europe where he was awarded the Public Prize and Jury's Favorite Player award at the Fribourg Jazz Festival. It was during this trip that he recorded his debut album, 2008's 7th Heaven, produced in Switzerland with guitarist
Scott DuBois, bassist
Thomas Morgan, and drummer
Gerald Cleaver. Also that year, he paired with keyboardist
Malcolm Braff for the duo date Yay. A year later, he followed up with the exploratory solo trombone album
Solo Bone.
Basing himself in New York City, he issued his second quartet album with 2009's Pieces of the Old Sky, featuring guitarist Todd Neufeld, bassist
Morgan, and drummer
Tyshawn Sorey. There were also projects with pianist
Hal Galper, drummer
John Hollenbeck, percussionist
Pierre Favre, and saxophonist
Michael Blake. In 2010, he explored music by Renaissance and Baroque composers, recording in a quartet with
Paul Motian, bassist
Drew Gress, and pianist
Russ Lossing on Consort in Motion. Released the following year, it would be one of the legendary
Motian's final albums.
More small group albums followed including 2011's
Boundless, and 2012's
As the Sea, both of which featured
Blaser's quartet with guitarist
Marc Ducret, bassist
Baenz Oester, and drummer
Cleaver. The trombonist also paired again with saxophonist
Blake on the 2012 quintet session One from None. He then reunited his Consort in Motion ensemble for 2013's A Mirror to Machaut with lauded percussionist
Gerry Hemingway taking over for
Motian.
Hemingway was also on board for the 2013 trio album Fourth Landscape with pianist
Benoit Delbecq.
In 2015,
Blaser released the quartet album Spring Rain with drummer
Cleaver, pianist
Lossing, and bassist
Gress. Around this time, he relocated to Berlin, where he stayed active, touring Europe and issuing albums like 2018's duo recording Oostum with
Gerry Hemingway. That same year, he joined Serbia's Big Band RTS for Aquarelle, and joined a trio with guitarist
Marc Ducret and drummer Peter Bruun for
Taktlos Zurich 2017. Also in 2018, he released
Early in the Mornin', which featured his trio with pianist
Lossing, bassist
Masa Kamaguchi, and drummer
Hemingway, as well as guest appearances by saxophonist
Oliver Lake and trumpeter
Wallace Roney. ~ Matt Collar