Norman Hewitt
Artistic Director

Blues to Bop offers a musical sojourn across the deep south of the United States, with stopovers in Arkansas and Kansas, before crossing the Atlantic as far as Switzerland where it transforms the centre of town into a miniature continent. Thanks to having four concerts playing at the same time in different squares Blues to Bop has become a remarkable cultural event in an exciting and emotional context. Three days involving local families, tourists and groups of friends who flow from stage to stage: here for rockabilly played by the master, Sleepy LaBeef, a few metres further for the dynamic Kelley Hunt, in Europe for the first time. Space is always reserved for acoustic music so there will be Michael Roach with his style rooted in the East Coast Blues and Gospel, while Salt Salt will offer a totally original slant on things. This duo (Allison Russell and Awna Teixeira) returns to Blues to Bop after their success two years ago as members of Po’ Girl. Jazz is represented by two special groups: the Lugano Kansas Sextet brings together three students from the Kansas State University Jazz Studies programme under the direction of Bobby Watson (who will also play at the Festival) and three students from the Scuola di Musica Moderna here in Lugano, and Two Sisters, who are neither sisters nor a duo, but who will offer a zigzag rumble through the history of jazz, taking us from blues to bop and beyond! Four days of concerts, all offered completely free to the public thanks to the generosity of our sponsors.