Silvan Zingg (born 19 March 1973) is a Swiss

boogie woogie Boogie-woogie is a genre of blues music that became popular during the late 1920s, developed in African-American communities since 1870s.Paul, Elliot, ''That Crazy American Music'' (1957), Chapter 10, p. 229. It was eventually extended from pia ...

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

, and

jazz pianist Jazz piano is a collective term for the techniques pianists use when playing jazz. The piano has been an integral part of the jazz idiom since its inception, in both solo and ensemble settings. Its role is multifaceted due largely to the instru ...

and, in 2002, the founder of the International Boogie Woogie festival in

Lugano, Switzerland Lugano (, , ; lmo, label= Ticinese, Lugan ) is a city and municipality in Switzerland, part of the Lugano District in the canton of Ticino. It is the largest city of both Ticino and the Italian-speaking southern Switzerland. Lugano has a populati ...

Musical career

Zingg was born in Lugano Switzerland to a musical family. Before he started school, he had learned to play the piano and was inspired by the work of American blues pianists. He gave his first overseas solo concert at 18 years of age. He was the youngest pianist and only European at the Masters of Blues & Boogie Woogie Piano Night in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

, with Jimmy Walker, and

Skeeter Brandon Skeeter Brandon (April 22, 1948 – March 20, 2008) was an American blind blues keyboardist, singer and songwriter. From 1966 to 1991, Brandon played in various bands across the United States. He joined Highway 61 in 1991, and recorded four a ...

. He has performed in other American venues, including the Cincinnati, Detroit, Newport Festivals. In November 2005, he performed with

Chuck Berry Charles Edward Anderson Berry (October 18, 1926 – March 18, 2017) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the " Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into th ...

in a sold out concert in Zurich. In 2011, Zingg was invited by festival promoter Claude Nobs to perform with

B.B. King Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, shi ...

at the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

. Silvan Zingg has been producing his own piano festivals: "International Boogie Woogie Festival" in Lugano since 2002 and the "Piano Jazz auf zwei Flügeln" festival in Basel since 2010. In 2013 Silvan Zingg wins the 'German Pinetop Award' as Boogie Woogie Entertainer of the year.German Pinetop Award, "Boogie Woogie Entertainer"
''pinetop.de''. Retrieved 14 January 2022 He has performed in more than 2,000 concerts in over 40 countries.

International Boogie Woogie Festival

In 2002, Zingg started the International Boogie Woogie Festival in Lugano. Since then it has been held annually in April and has attracted such entertainers as

Little Willie Littlefield Willie Littlefield, Jr., billed as Little Willie Littlefield (September 16, 1931 – June 23, 2013), was an American R&B and boogie-woogie pianist and singer whose early recordings "formed a vital link between boogie-woogie and rock and roll". ...

Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne Kenny "Blues Boss" Wayne (born Kenneth Wayne Spruell, November 13, 1944) is an American blues, boogie-woogie and jazz pianist, singer and songwriter. Music journalist, Jeff Johnson, writing in the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' stated, "There's no boogi ...

, Carl Sonny Leyland,

Mitch Woods Mitch Woods (born April 3, 1951, Brooklyn, New York City, United States) is an American modern day boogie-woogie, jump blues and jazz pianist and singer. Since the early 1980s he has been touring and recording with his band, the Rocket 88s. W ...

Axel Zwingenberger Axel Zwingenberger (born 7 May 1955) is a German blues and boogie-woogie pianist and songwriter. Biography Zwingenberger was born in Hamburg, West Germany, and enjoyed eleven years of classical piano training. After listening to recordings by p ...

, Vince Weber, Joja Wendt, Jean Paul Amouroux, Michael Pewny, and Chris Conz. In 2006,

BBC World BBC World News is an international English-language pay television network, operated under the ''BBC Global News Limited'' division of the BBC, which is a public corporation of the UK government's Department for Digital, Culture, Media and S ...

reported on the festival, which brought it worldwide attention.

Boogie woogie master class and lecture

In 2010, Zingg was invited to give a concert/lecture about the history of boogie woogie at the University of Texas in Brownsville.

Discography

* 1992: ''Boogie Must Go On'' * 1996: ''Changes In Boogie Woogie'' with Lorenzo Milani on drums * 1998: ''Double Up Boogie'' with Lorenzo Milani on drums, Thijs Verwer on drums, Jan Flubacher on double bass and Martijn Schok on second piano * 2000: ''Boogie Woogie Duets'' with Martijn Schok on second piano * 2001: ''In Concert'' Solo Piano * 2003: ''Boogie Woogie Xmas'' with Valerio Felice * 2004: ''Boogie Woogie Triology'' with Valerio Felice on drums and Nuno Alexandre on double bass * 2007: ''Dancin' the Boogie'' DVD+CD Limited edition * 2010: ''Boogie Woogie Ride'' with Valerio Felice on drums and Nuno Alexandre on double bass * 2010: ''Trumpet Boogie'' with Reinhard Zingg on trumpet/banjo/blues harp/drums/guitar * 2011: ''Hot Cat Session'' with Drew Davies on tenor saxophone/drums and Pascal Ammann on guitar/drums * 2014: ''Solo Piano - Live and Studio'' * 2016: ''Boogie Woogie Xmas (New edition)'' with Valerio Felice on drums and Nuno Alexandre on double bass * 2017: ''Beloved Boogie Woogie'' with Vanessa Gnägi (Ladyva) on second piano, Nuno Alexandre on double bass and Valerio Fleice on drums * 2018: ''Swing That Boogie'' with Valerio Felice on drums and Nuno Alexandre on double bass

References

External links

Official web site

International Boogie Woogie festival

Silvan Zingg's Night Train Trip (Blues Piano)

Mercurynews.com

Kawai
Since 2021 Silvan Zingg is ambassador for Shigeru Kawai grand pianos {{DEFAULTSORT:Zingg, Silvan 1973 births Living people Swiss jazz pianists Boogie-woogie pianists 21st-century pianists