Refugium

Florian Weiss’ young, Swiss quartet has been around for five years, causing excitement amid the trade press up and down the country as well as their ever-growing fan base. In spring 2014, the composer and trombonist founded the band, Woodoism, with Linus Amstad (alto sax), Philipp Leibundgut (percussion, glockenspiel) and Valentin v. Fischer (bass), who were all students at the Hochschule der Künste Bern (Bern University of Arts) at the time. In June 2015 they were nominated for the "DKSJ-Best-of-Swiss-Jazz-Bachelors" concert series, in 2017 they started selling their highly acclaimed debut album, “Woodoism”, and in 2018 the quartet won the "ZKB Jazzpreis" (“ZKB Jazz Prize”) as well as the audience award. Alongside this, they toured Switzerland, Austria, Germany, Hungary and Slovakia. With “Refugium” (“Refuge”), Florian Weiss' Woodoism now presents its second album. In light of this, Weiss describes: "As a trombonist, I really appreciate the absence of a harmony instrument as it enhances the tonal and lyrical possibilities of the instrument. In larger bands, for example, multiphonics, i.e. simultaneously playing one note and then singing in another note, are difficult to use (this can be heard in the tracks "Schichtende", "Heavy Cats" and "Danse Amoureuse") because they can easily get lost in the overall sound." And now for the album: "‘Refugium’ is also the title of one of the tracks on the CD which is particularly close to my heart. It is dedicated to an imaginary place where one feels safe and secure; where there is no time pressure and the problems or stress of everyday life are nowhere to be seen. The album is called ‘Refugium’ because, in a way, this band is my musical refuge. Here, I can play my tunes but we come up with musical ideas together and collectively figure out how to bring them to life. In the five years of being band mates, we have all become really good friends and it is comforting to know that although I am (mostly) in charge of all the compositional and organisational tasks, we all strive for the same goal and really show a strong sense of commitment towards the band."