Heima

Biographie

Heima is the melding of Vincent Flückiger, Olivier Picon and their mutual desire to perform fusion-jazz in an intimate format. Coming from rather different musical backgrounds, their paths met during their studies in Basel, Switzerland.

Swiss-born Vincent Flückiger started off playing guitar in the rock scene of his home town, Fribourg, with bands such as Abraxas. His playing was dedicated to follow the path of his main influences from the 70s: Carlos Santana, Pink Floyd, King Crimson among others.

Following his drive to widen his knowledge of guitar-connected instruments, he studied the lute in Geneva from 1999 to 2003 and in Basel from 2003 to 2008, achieving a diploma in both schools.

This intense study of early written music and fingerstyle playing on the lute has greatly influenced his approach to the guitar and led to professional playing and recording activity on an international scale.

Born in Swiss-neighboring France, Olivier Picon came straight from the classical music and jazz-education system. After obtaining his French horn diploma in Lyon in 2004, he went to Basel to study early classical music, achieving his diploma in 2009.

Whilst in Basel, he continued to study jazz French horn with Claudio Pontiggia and became multi-instrumentalist on the electric bass, keyboards and trumpet, translating the languages of Michael Brecker, Pat Metheny, Tal Wilkenfeld and Brandford Marsalis to the French horn.

« Heima » fuses a common attachment to the pop-song form with jazz-inherited improvised solos and refined arrangements. At the heart of the matter is the golden rule of celebrating the melodic quality and harmonic clarity of the song form, acknowledging the major influence of Pat Metheny, Hiromi Uehara, Mike Stern, Jeff Beck, Herbie Hancock, Mark Knopfler and Tal Wilkenfeld. Repertoire is equally divided between original compositions and arrangements of tracks by Sting, Herbie Hancock, Jimi Hendrix, Mike Stern and others. Both players lay a ground where Vincent Flückiger's rock roots and Olivier Picon's contemporary jazz culture interplay.

The flexibility of the duet setting is unique, swinging from bass/guitar to French horn/guitar, which allows an organic exchange of soloing and comping functions between the two players, blending the eloquence of pop songs with high musicianship and refined intimacy.