Pascal Auberson

Swiss author, composer, pianist and performer of chanson à textes and jazz, Pascal Auberson was born in Lausanne on April 21, 1952. Son of violinist and conductor Jean-Marie Auberson (1920-2004) and a piano teacher mother, he grew up in a musical family with his older sister Audrey Michael, a soprano singer, and his brother Antoine Auberson, a saxophonist. Attracted to the drums, he took lessons in Paris with Kenny Clarke and went on to train at the Geneva Conservatoire, in the percussion class of Pierre Métral and the piano class of Henry Chaix. Engaged as percussionist with the Orchestre de la Suisse romande from 1972 to 1974, he took part in numerous concerts. He launched his singing career in 1974 with a jazz-infused debut album recorded with trombonist and orchestrator Jean-François Bovard. In 1976, the band expanded on the following Comédienne, with the collaboration of arranger Jean Musy and new musicians. Several tours, from France to China, accompany the successive releases of the albums Jamaïca (1978), L'Âme au Bout des Doigts (1984), Ange Rebelle (1988) and Mille Voci (1990), in which Pascal Auberson varies styles and experiments, at the forefront of chanson. In 1988, he joined his partners' free jazz group, BBFC, for the recording of the album 1991 - Andante Patriottico Ma Non Fantico. In 1993, he created the show Border Line in Lausanne, followed by the ballet Moving A Perhaps - En Manque (1995), all of which were recorded, as was the duo formed with Yvette Théraulaz for the album À Table! (1996) and the concert at the Montreux Festival with J.-F. Bovard and the Big Band de Lausanne, Big Bang, released in 1998. His output did not slow down over the following decade, when, from his studio-workshop in Lausanne's Flon district, he worked on numerous projects set to music on the albums Ceux Qu'On Aime (2000), Le Pari de Pascal (2008), Kelomès (2010), Kelomès en Concert à l'Alhambra de Paris (2011), Montreux - Le Live (2013), Offshore (2014) and Seul Sous la Douche (2016). A collaboration with César Decker, Ainsi de Suites, will be released in 2023.