The highest rhythmic precision, a perfect sense for the swinging offbeat and in this seemingly stiff corset, the slight delay, the improvised groove, the surprising melody: This is jazz-funk at its finest. Two extraordinary specialists of this genre opened the festival in 2010: Jamiroquai and Roy Ayers. Both are exceptional musicians and stars the world over. One is more used to the spotlight than the other, but with the infectious groove they shared, they propeled the anniversary edition of the Basel music festival into the next quarter century with a mighty heave.

Zeno van Essel