Satisfaction for the organizers of JazzAscona 2024 and in particular of president Guido Casparis. The formula with free access to all shows, introduced in 2022, has proven itself well, and in some ways, observes Casparis, has proved providential since the festival no longer has to finance itself from public revenue. “The bad weather tried to play against us. With our heads constantly in the air and an eye on the MeteoSwiss radar we were on the alert several times, and in particular on the first Saturday, when wind and rain turned the stages upside down, forcing us to cancel the performance of the Big Band of the Swiss Army on the main stage and other concerts. On too many rainy and sulky days, the turnout was clearly lower than expected. And to the unfavorable weather factor must be added the European football championships. It's clear that when there are matches like Switzerland-Germany or Switzerland-Italy at the same time, the competition is fierce,” declares Guido Casparis. “Having said that – underlines the president – ​​the festival works and maintains all its potential, as demonstrated by the huge crowds on Thursday and Friday evenings, in which we were blessed by the weather, which was finally summery”.

Also corroborating Casparis' optimism are the positive feedback obtained from the public regarding the musical program, the sponsors for the welcome received, the strengthened bond with the authorities of the twin city of New Orleans, as well as the success achieved by the many collateral activities proposals for the first time, such as the well-attended square dancing workshops, the jazz cruise on the lake, the late concerts in the festival lounge or the extra muros event LocarnOrleans, organized in collaboration with the Locarno Casino.

Successful projects and collaborations at JazzAscona 2024

Among the projects that positively characterized the 40th edition, there is also Jazz Off The Wall, with around forty murals created by Yuri Catania throughout the historic center, starting with the large one in the Library, which in the meantime has become one of Ascona's favorite photographic subjects. A nice promotional business card for the festival, whose effect will last over time, thanks also to the exhibition hosted at the Municipal Museum of Modern Art until September.

The program prepared by the two festival programmers, Matt Zschokke and Nolan Quinn, offered a very rich menu, perhaps never as abundant as this year, with over 300 concerts, 400 artists and 57 bands that took turns on the lakefront stages, in the public businesses and in the alleys of the entire historic center.

An increasingly varied musical offering

This year's edition confirmed and strengthened a trend that had already manifested itself last year, namely the festival's desire to broaden the stylistic and musical range of JazzAscona. Alongside the always well-represented jazz (from that of the 20s to swing, up to the mainstream and more contemporary forms of jazz), the public was thus able to listen - even on the main stages - to genres such as flamenco, Caribbean music, of Balkan inspiration, as well as Latin music, world music and even hip hop orchestras, as well as of course abundant doses of funk, blues, soul. This variety was appreciated by the heterogeneous audience of the festival and in particular by the younger segment, which was noticeably growing especially in the second part of the evening.

JazzAscona 2024 supports the Swiss music scene

In addition to the musical quality displayed over the 10 days, the festival will also go down in the annals for the massive support given to the Swiss music scene (very well represented at the festival) and to the reality of youth bands, on which the management of the festival continues to focus decisively thanks to the Groovin'Up program.

Among the many groups that stood out were the elegant straight-ahead jazz of the Claus Raible Trio, two exceptional big bands such as the Swiss Jazz Orchestra (awarded the Swiss Jazz Award 2024 ) and the New Orleans Jazz Orchestra, the Scottish funk group Tom McGuire & the Brassholes with their overflowing energy, the ORGANIC BREW formation of the two Hammond players Andi Appignani and Alberto Marsico (a truly great project), the flamenco ensemble La de Triana, not to mention the emotional soul voice of Nnavy (truly a name to keep an eye on) and Meschiya Lake & the Jungle Jazz Band who for ten days demonstrated that traditional jazz remains an extremely enjoyable genre when played and sung at the highest levels.

The organizers thank the artists, public, sponsors, supporters and collaborators of the festival and make an appointment for the forty-first edition, which will take place from 26 June to 5 July 2025.

All images:
©Gioele Pozzi