That’s outrageous! The festival is stopping off at the Rote Fabrik again in 2026!

FRIDAY, 27 NOVEMBER

Ingrid Laubrock’s Grammy Season

7.30 pm, Clubraum

Ingrid Laubrock: saxophone | Brandon Seabrook: guitar | Shawn Lovato: bass | Tom Rainey: Drums | DoYeon Kim: Gayageum

Grammy Season brings together, around Ingrid Laubrock, some of the leading voices of American jazz; more specifically, the vibrant Brooklyn scene, where musical genres intersect and intermingle. The saxophonist, originally from Germany and based in New York since 2008, has steadily expanded her sphere of influence over the last ten years and found new ways to inspire, organise and contextualise improvised music. She is active as a composer in her many projects, moving nimbly between the structured and the spontaneous. There are harmonically and rhythmically structured pieces, free improvisation, chamber music – indeed, even orchestral works. Many contrasts, fiery outbursts, right through to moments of rock. The band has a new album to showcase and is currently on tour across Europe. Tonight only, especially for ‘unerhört!’, they are joined by the Korean musician DoYeon Kim, who plays a central role on the album.

Sofia Jernberg – Alexander Hawkins – Hamid Drake

8.45 pm, Clubraum

Sofia Jernberg: Vocals | Alexander Hawkins: Piano | Hamid Drake: Drums, Percussion

On the initiative of British pianist Alexander Hawkins, two existing duos have merged to form a trio whose members defy categorisation. The range of Alexander Hawkins from Oxford encompasses tours with the South African drummer Louis Moholo or the eccentric saxophonist Anthony Braxton, compositions for the London Symphony Orchestra, an exploration of the Chicago AACM legacy, and accompanying the Ethiopian vibraphonist Mulatu Astatke. The singer Sofia Jernberg, who was born in Ethiopia and grew up in Sweden, has played chamber jazz, sung Arnold Schoenberg with the Swedish ensemble Norbotten NEO, and performed Julius Eastman with the Swiss pianist Simone Keller. Fascinated by Ethiopian music, she recorded folk songs as a duo with Hawkins. “The expression and overcoming of grief, not the reproduction of a specific national repertoire, is at the heart of her deeply moving album *Musho*,” wrote the American jazz magazine *Downbeat*. The Chicago-based drummer Hamid Drake is also a world musician. His rhythms are infused with reggae, Native American and African percussion. He has toured with greats such as Archie Shepp, Herbie Hancock, Don Cherry and Irène Schweizer. In a duo performance with Alexander Hawkins at the Moods jazz club to mark the 40th anniversary of Intakt Records – a performance that will remain unforgettable for the Zurich audience – sparks flew as they took some of Africa’s most beautiful songs by Dudu Pukwana, Miriam Makeba and Abdullah Ibrahim as the starting point for their improvisations. Now, then, a trio. Once again featuring Afrobeat anthems, moving songs and energetic interludes.

The Handover

9.45 pm, Fabriktheater

Aly Eissa: Oud | Andrew Nasser: violin | Jonas Cambien: organ, synth

It’s hard to resist the music of The Handover. Their concerts linger in the mind; they are journeys through an acoustic world that keeps expanding, swelling and has the power to hypnotise the audience. Two Egyptians and a Belgian living in Norway use traditional and modern forms of Arabic music as the basis for their interaction. With exquisite sensitivity, almost telepathically, they improvise their sets, bouncing along to the trance-like sounds of the Nile Delta, inspired by krautrock-style riffs and the intensity of 1960s avant-garde jazz – truly psychedelic. The violinist Ayman Asfour, who has been with the group since its formation three years ago, now lives in New York and is therefore unable to take part in all their concerts in Europe. At ‘unerhört!’, his regular stand-in, Andrew Nasser, will be performing. The set promises an interesting finale to this first evening at the Rote Fabrik, which celebrates the art of letting go.

SATURDAY, 28 NOVEMBER

Aki Takase – Daniel Erdmann & Large Ensemble HSLU

7.30 pm, Fabriktheater

Aki Takase: Piano | Daniel Erdmann: tenor saxophone | Ana Romano: voice | Augustin Martz: violin | Jan Heinemann: trumpet | Dalmiro Dorado: tenor saxophone | Micha Zumsteg: guitar | Leander Schöpfer: bass | Christian Weber: bass | Jorit Reisewitz: Drums

Collaboration with students from the Jazz Department at Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts is an established feature of the unerhört! festival. This has resulted in unforgettable concerts: meticulously prepared, performed with a willingness to take risks and great dedication. Some of the young talents who perform with us return years later with their own bands. These workshops are led by jazz greats such as Vijay Iyer, Ingrid Laubrock, Caroline Davis and Evan Parker.
This year, we’ve been able to secure the Japanese pianist Aki Takase and the German saxophonist Daniel Erdmann. The two share a long-standing musical partnership. Following *Isn’t It Romantic* (BMC Records, 2021) and *Ellington* (Enja Records, 2024), they are currently working on their third duo programme, *Timeless*.

In their flexible *Timeless Orchestra*, Takase and Erdmann bring together music from different generations. How can experiences, ideas and inspiration from the past be carried forward into the future? In collaboration with students from Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, they are developing a unique project for unerhört! in which tradition meets curiosity and fresh inspiration.

Bill Frisell Solo

8.30 pm, Clubraum

Bill Frisell: Guitar

Bill Frisell has been shaping contemporary music for what seems like an eternity. His career has spanned nearly five decades without any sign of musical stagnation. He has remained curious, incredibly active and, alongside his own projects, has shaped countless collaborations for the benefit of the collective. It is in this apparent contradiction that the magic of his art lies: virtuosity without pretension.  The list of those he has played with is epic. Here is just a selection: Paul Motian, Jack DeJohnette, Elvis Costello, Laurie Anderson, John Zorn, Allen Ginsberg. His warm, unmistakable guitar tone was praised early on by drummer Peter Erskine as a ‘one-in-a-million sound’. The New York Times lauded him with the words: “Mr Frisell and his semi-sweet, dreamy delivery have exemplified both a spirit of experimentation and a sense of calm in improvised music.”

Beyond jazz, he has devoted himself to folk, country and elements of American pop music. Emotionally profound, technically brilliant. He rarely performs solo. When he does, earthy, unhurried guitar tones blend with orchestral clusters of sound, which he creates using live loops.

OM

9.45 pm, Clubraum

Urs Leimgruber: Saxophones | Christy Doran: Guitar | Bobby Burri: Bass | Gerry Hemingway: Drums, Percussion | Tony Buck: Drums, Percussion

54 years of OM! And the journey continues. This band is a cult favourite. The four musicians – Urs Leimgruber, Christy Doran, Bobby Burri and Fredy Studer – made history as pioneers of European electric free music from 1972 to 1982. Electrified by Jimi Hendrix, fascinated by John Coltrane, inspired by free jazz. OM transforms rock music into spontaneous improvisations with an uncertain outcome. They call their music ‘ElectroAcoustiCore’. In 2022, the band celebrated its golden jubilee with an album entitled 50, released by intakt. One month before its release, Fredy Studer passed away. “In the spirit of carrying on this legacy, OM carried on, went on tour to celebrate ‘50’ and brought in two drummers to fill the titan’s shoes with dignity,” writes New York jazz journalist Kurt Gottschalk, adding: “The band OM enters its second half-century as an energetic and sensitive ensemble.” The journey continues! Look forward to energy, power, radicalism, freedom and form – played with passion, skill and experience.