Dübendorf (CH) - Obere Mühle 'Jazz in Dübi'

The whole Blue Piano Team took the early train from Vienna to Zürich and then continued a bit further to Dübendorf. We all slept or tried to sleep on the train , talked, read, listened to music, ate, shared sandwiches and cucumbers : ) the things you do on a 9hour trainride : )…We faced a bit of hick-up when we took the wrong train in Zürich but realized it early enough to get out at the next stop to switch back : )!

It was our second concert of the Blue Piano and our first time live in Switzerland. mathias was excited as family (mathias’ 'part-time' sister Maya and her boyfriend), many friends (Hanspeter Lieberherr, HHC Stoller, Heiri Känzig and the Bachofners) and long term VAO companions (Christian Rentsch) came out to show their support. Jazz in Dübi is really something – it is led by an incredibly warmhearted and kind team who believe in what they do and been doing it in since 1983!!! - I think or was it 1984 – in any case – for a loooong time!

Thank you dear Thomas Müller for letting us be a part of this cultural oasis surrounded by lights and warmth on a cold and foggy winter’s day. We were all a bit tired from the train ride and had quite some snacks backstage or I did : ) to regain strength for the set. Sabina and Benjamin opened the night beautifully with ‘Ein kleines Lied’, mathias then welcomed everyone and introduced The Blue Piano and us : ) we followed Sabina and Benjamin with the arranged version of ‘A little song’ and kept going from there note by note, melody by melody, song by song. The audience at Jazz in Dübi is as special as the whole team: warmhearted and kind! They filled the space with joyful energy while going on the Blue Piano journey with us. Thank you dear Dübi for sharing this night with us! Sabina and Benjamin, you played beautifully!!!And Hans played an incredible solo in ‘Happy Little Song’, Ingridi finally had more time and space in ‘Faun’ to show her many, many colours on her special reduced Blue Piano Set, Stano rocked the 'Lydian Cow' like you can’t imagine : ) and mathias…well mathias created the whole thing and brought his music to life by playing his multi-layered soundclouds underneath it all. And I am truly grateful to have been given the chance to share these beautiful melodies and tell some stories in – and outside of the songs. After bowing and closing the night - that reminds me: Dearest Thomas Egger, I can’t believe I forgot to call you out as our favourite sound magician – I will make it up to you!!! – mathias was called back out onto the stage and the whole team gave him the coolest Blue Piano birthday present: a pillow showing the Blue Piano signed by the whole team of Jazz in Dübi!

And now it was dinner time, oh yes, great food, great wine, great beer and we were all veeery hungry and enjoyed every bite : ). At midnight we all went back to our hotel ‘Zwiback’, where I went back to my room and fell asleep almost immediately. I missed breakfast on purpose to get another 30min of bed time in before hopping back on the train to Vienna : ), where I am right now, a couple of minutes before Munich and a couple of hours before arriving in Vienna.

‘Die Kuh steht auf der Wiese frohgemut und fühlt sich ziemlich ausgeruht‘ : )

✨💙 Thank you Jazz in Dübi 💙✨

Yours Lia

P.S.: I just found out that there was an Afterparty with backstage wine happening in 301 🥳🥳🥳 while I was fast asleep in 601 😅!

P.P.S.: Our Blue Piano journey continues in Vienna on December 8th (mathias’ birthday), at Porgy and Bess!