Christy Dorans New Bag Perspectives - Btlchr71204 - Jazz - by Between The Lines

He is one of the most colorful personalities of the Swiss guitar scene. From his beginnings with the legendary jazz-rock group “OM” in the seventies to his newest project “New Bag”, Christy Doran has followed his way consistently without consideration of commercial constraints. He enjoys international esteem today and continues to play around the globe. Christy Doran was born in Greystones near Dublin in 1949 as the son of an Irish singer of ballads. Because his mother was from Lucerne, the whole family moved to the shores of Lake Lucerne in Switzerland ten years later. He later studied at conservatories in Bern and Lucerne as well as the Bern Jazz School and was one of the co-founders of the Lucerne Jazz School in 1972, where he still teaches today. He toured through Europe, performed on radio and TV and conducted workshops. He performed throughout the world with Carla Bley, Albert Mangelsdorff, Bob Stewart, Edvard Vesala, Charlie Mariano, Manfred Schoof, Irène Schweizer, Pierre Favre, Sonny Sharock and Louis Sclavis, among others. Doran is married and the father of two sons. Bruno Amstad uses his voice in very different vocal ranges. He mixes singing techniques such as overtone singing with technical effects to create a sound texture, which clouds the borders between naturally created tones and electronically defamiliarized ones. He creates surprises with sounds of this type otherwise rarely heard. Thanks to his unmistakable style, Fabian Kuratli has become one of the busiest drummers in Switzerland. As bandleader of and composer for Fab4, he stirred up a lot of attention in the Swiss jazz scene three years ago. He has also played as sideman with George Gruntz, Harald Haerter, Robert Dick, Dom Um Romao, Asita Hamidi and many others. Wolfgang Zwieauer's outstanding ability to empathize, his great diversity, his deep-reaching and driving sound impressions and his skills as a soloist and accompanist make him one of the bass players most in demand in the Swiss music scene. In addition to piano playing, Hans-Peter Pfammatter is also involved with the technology of sampling and sound programming, delves into new sound possibilities down to the most precise details and understands how to put these into practice with a lot of sensitivity. Christy Doran’s NEW BAG has already been around for more than six years and has enthused audiences and played at innumerable festivals in Europe, Asia, Scandinavia, India, South Africa, Madagascar, North and South America. On the occasion of their concert at the Stanser Music Days 03, Christian Rentsch wrote in the Tagesanzeiger: “NEW BAG is considered ...the most innovative and convincing Swiss ensemble in the experimental area of jazz, electronic, rock and new music.”