Jazzed Out, Switzerland

The Jazzed Out series of documentaries, which pictures musicians in living spaces – old churches, cafes, underpasses, street-side corners, parks – was conceived to take jazz out of its dusty habitat of bars and clubs and into the world once more. The genre began as outside music in New Orleans and, now that it has travelled across the world, it returns to its original function: to accompany the highs and lows of daily life with everyone given the chance to experience and interact with it. 

New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo ... all these places have a firm relationship to jazz that is known the world over. The inclusion of Switzerland on the list might come as a surprise, though it really shouldn't. Switzerland is home to several great jazz monuments, with the Montreux Jazz Festival acting as the crowning glory. Here, the enigmatic master Erik Truffaz presents his soundscapes mingled with the sound of boats bobbing on a lake. Elsewhere the piano maestro Nik Bärtsch gives a majestic performance in the open air in Zurich.