The Altrisuoni Jazz Label (originally spelled "Altri Suoni", now one single word "Altrisuoni") was founded in 1993 by three performing artists who were friends and who used to also play together. The flutist Christian Gilardi and the drummer Romano Nardelli were in Paris at the time, both studying their respective instruments. It is not clear exactly where and what the precise circumstances were: they had the courageous idea to form an independent record label with the main purpose of supporting Swiss artists and the emerging Swiss jazz and contemporary scenes. Once back in Switzerland (in Ticino, the italian-speaking part the country, south of the Alps) they were joined by the TV-sound engineer and vibes player Stefano Franchini: Altri Suoni (today: Altrisuoni) was officially born.

The first recordings were self-produced samplers of background music for radio and TV broadcast, most of which was recorded in Franchini's own studio. Soon after, and thanks to Gilardi's strong connections in the Swiss jazz scene, a few important names decided to help the emerging label by publishing their music for them. Among these, the famous Swiss pianist [Fredi Lüscher] (b. 30.12.1943, d. 30.05.2006), the Italian-born pianist-composer [Giulio Granati], the extraordinary piano virtuoso Jean-Jacques Hauser (also know by his alias "Tartarov"), and the unique percussive duo formed by vibriphonist Daniele Di Gregorio and the drummer Gianpiero Prina, both active in the Italian scene and never seen together before (Gianpiero Prina died prematurly in 2002 - he was probably the top jazz and session drummer in Italy of the past 1-2 decades).

In the following years, up until 1999, Altrisuoni was publishing 10-15 new recordings every year - mostly jazz but occasionally some interesting contemporary and improvised music. During that period, they gained momentum and international recognition with a series of interesting distribution deals and exclusive representation at the Midem music fair in Cannes, where they have been present ever since. After the turn of the century Altrisuoni started rolling out 20-25 productions every year. In the year 2000 the catalogue contained about 80 CDs; by the end of 2007 it contained 240.
In 2008, to celebrate its 15 years of activity, the label will release it's 250th CD - a sampler with the best of the most recently published recordings.

The label can be characterised by the lyricism of Italian artists such as Enrico Rava, Flavio Boltro and Dado Moroni, who ideally blend with the more "nordic" harmonies of Mike Westbrook, Dave Samuels and Michel Godard, counterpointed by the rythmical oestrus of percussionists such as Pierre Favre, Julio Barreto and George Brown.
Altrisuoni is like a shop window that regularly displays a landscape of absolute richness and diversity, which is revealing of the vitality of today's European jazz scene. Over the years, Altrisuoni has given the opportunity to a series of brilliant Swiss musicians to export their talent and, in some cases, even create unique musical situations that could probably be considered timeless. Maurice Magnoni from Geneva is probably the most famous of these. Other new-comers like Martin Buergi and Chasper Wanner made their debut on Altrisuoni with, respectively, well-affirmed international artists such as Dave Samuels and Danny Gottlieb. There are of course many other more "intimate" artists have nonetheless found home base with the Altrisuoni label: Alessandro D'Episcopo, Elmar Frey, Stefano Saccon and Claudio Pontiggia, to mention only a few.
Altrisuoni is a true European entity, with many emerging and affirmed talents alike seeking the proper "niche" label for their art: Simon Spang-Hanssen (Denmark), Nils Wogram (Germany), Bertrand Lajudie (France), Jean-Christophe Cholet (France), Olivier Le Goas (France), Daniele Di Gregorio (Italy), Lewis Porter (USA), Virginie Teychené (France) and New Samba Jazz (Brazil).

In 2006 the label became a LLC. Of its founding members, only Stefano Franchini is still active as owner and executiveon: the other two only act as external consultants for special projects. the new members are Dimitri Loringett, executive producer and co-owner, and Francesco Kestenholz, non-executive president.
The label has survived the digital age by being the first Swiss jazz label to distribute it's catalogue through the new format (on iTunes, for instance). Altrisuoni is also a regular participant to the Jazzahead! jazz conference in Bremen, Germany, where the best of European jazz is on display.