Jakob “Köbi” Etter: Jazzman, fan and record seller

JazzAscona has always held a special place in Jakob Etter’s heart. This 75-year-old retiree from Murten, a lifelong jazz fan and still active jazz trumpeter, has not missed an edition of the festival. Perhaps some of you know him because he has been running a little record store during the festival for many years….

The connection to traditional Jazz has been a common thread in Jakob Etter’s life. Ever since he was a young boy, little Köbi, as everyone calls him, has been passionate about the genre. At 15 he began playing trumpet, but it was in 1970, listening for the first time to a black trumpeter from New Orleans, Percy Humphrey, that the spark was ignited. “It was so different from the usual Dixieland”, he recalls. The desire to play that music became a reality years later. In 1986 he was among the founders of Winterthur’s Bogalusa New Orleans Jazzband, a group that brought the vibrant Louisiana sound throughout Switzerland, and on several occasions to Ascona. In 1987 he also started his own band, the New Orleans Hot Shots. Many years later Köbi still plays in both groups.

Köbi fondly recalls what for him were the golden years of the festival in Ascona, between the mid-1980s and early 1990s. At that time the great old men of New Orleans Jazz, such as bassist Chester Zardis, guitarist Danny Barker or trombonist Louis Nelson were still alive and coming to Ascona. Memorable memory: in 1989, together with the Bogalusa, Köbi had the opportunity to share the stage with Louis Nelson himself. A great thrill!

Köbi in Ascona is also known to fans because for many years he has run a little record store during the festival period. A store that in the early years was kept directly by one of the most important traditional Jazz labels in New Orleans, George H. Buck’s Jazzology Records, and which Köbi then, at the request of the festival organizers, took over successfully. “At one point I also started importing Jazzology records, which I then gave on consignment to a dozen or so stores throughout Switzerland”, Köbi recalls. Other times. Meanwhile, many old fans of traditional Jazz are gone, the record market has collapsed and business, even in the little store in Ascona has gone from bad to worse. “But I’m not giving up, I still have a few hundred CDs in stock. All of great quality, which in Ascona I will sell at bargain prices. Come see me, you won’t regret it.”