Samuel Blaser

Samuel Blaser (born 20 July 1981 in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland) is a Swiss trombonist and composer.

Born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland, Samuel Blaser lived in New York City for many years before relocating to Berlin, where he currently resides.

He began trombone lessons at the age of 9, and his early interests ranged from Swiss folk music to American R&B and jazz.

In the genre of jazz, Blaser appears on 80 recordings between 2000 and 2020.

He entered the local conservatory at 14 and graduated in 2002 after being awarded prizes in both the jazz and classical spheres, including the 2000 Benny Golson Prize.

Participation in the heralded Vienna Art Orchestra and European Radio Big Band eventually led to a Fulbright Scholarship, facilitating studies in the United States at the Purchase College Conservatory of Music where he studied with James E. Pugh and John Fedchock.

In his relatively short career, Blaser has worked with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre, guitarist Marc Ducret, saxophonist Oliver Lake, trumpet player Wallace Roney and drummer John Hollenbeck, and has worked with Grammy Award-winning producer Robert Sadin, and more recently with drummer Daniel Humair and clarinetist Michel Portal.

In 2019 the French Jazz Academy presented Samuel Blaser with the coveted European Musician Award, recognizing the importance of his work in the field of jazz.

The same year Blaser was voted #2 Rising Star Trombone of the 2019 Downbeat Critics Poll.

Beyond Blaser's ability to combine knotty compositional form with incendiary improvisational prowess in the context of his own music, his unfettered yet ever-collaborative approach has resulted in a number of significant associations, among them his ongoing work with Swiss percussion legend Pierre Favre; a much-lauded duo with guitarist Marc Ducret; a trio with Swiss drummer Daniel Humair and bassist Heiri Känzig as well as a Quartet with Russ Lossing, Masa Kamaguchi and Gerry Hemingway.