Im TRIO 3 hat die Great Black Music die Gestalt von Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman & Andrew Cyrille angenommen und wirft weit über 150 Jahre Erfahrung mit ‘schwarz-atlantischer‘ Seefahrt und spontaner Kreativität in die Wagschale. Nur andeuten zu wollen, was der 1942 geboren Altosaxophonist, der 71-jährige Kontrabassist aus Philadelphia und der 69-jährige Drummer aus der Bronx alles getrieben haben, hieße Jazzgeschichte schreiben, mehr noch, Musikgeschichte ohne Scheuklappen. Schließlich hat Lake für das Arditti String Quartet komponiert und mit Lou Reed gespielt, Workman mit Living Colour oder Aki Takase, Cyrille mit so unwahrscheinlichen Partnern wie R. Teitelbaum oder V. Tarasov. Die Pianistin IRENE SCHWEIZER, ebenfalls schon Duopartnerin von Cyrille, in ihre Reihen aufzunehmen, ist für diese weltoffenen Musikanten eine Selbstverständlichkeit. Berne Concert (Intakt CD 150) entstand beim Taktlos Bern 2007, nur das knapp 5 min. Piano-Bass-Duett ‘R. I. Exchange‘ am Tag darauf in Zürich. Eigentlich liegt die Schweiz ziemlich abseits des Black Atlantic, aber Schweizer ist mit allen Wasserfällen des Blauen Nils gewaschen und erfrischt mit ihren perkussiv quirlenden Katarakten den gewohnten Flow des seit 1988 miteinander vertrauten Trio 3. Besonders schön bei Cyrilles ‘Aubade‘ zeigt sich aber auch eine gemeinsame poetische Ader, die aus Klangtupfern eine Impression von Morgengrauen und Sonnenaufgang kreiert. Da ist nicht nur Lake der Maler, der er ja tatsächlich auch ist, da tauchen alle Vier die Pinsel in Morgenlicht. ‘Phrases‘ und ‘Timbral Interplay‘ sind wieder Piano-Dialoge, erst temperamentvoll mit dem Alto, dann rasend und sprunghaft mit Cyrilles tockend morsenden Drums. Dazwischen erklingt Workmans ‘Ballad of the Silf‘ mit einem markanten Stakkatomotiv, wobei ich mal annehme, dass damit kein Sandwich I‘d Like To Fuck gemeint ist und das S auch nicht für Sister steht. Oder doch? Schließlich steht ‘WSLC‘ auch nur für die Namen der Brothers und der Sister, die nicht als 3 + 1, sondern als rasanter Vierspänner ins Ziel galoppieren .
Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy, Deutschland, 61/2009

As the world population grows inexorably, the chances are we'll all have to work a few more years before claiming that state pension (if you're lucky enough to live in a country that actually has such things, that is). Not that raising the retirement age from 65 would be much of a problem for Irène Schweizer, Reggie Workman, Andrew Cyrille and Oliver Lake, as they've already passed it and show no signs of letting up. Recorded live at Berne's Taktlos Festival in November 2007 – with the exception of "R. I. Exchange 1", a Schweizer / Workman duo recorded the following day in Zürich – this is a fine hour's worth of good solid free jazz, alternating compositions (the oriental pentatonic freebop of Cyrille's "Aubade" always sounds good, and the version here makes for a nice comparison with the one on Cyrille's 2001 trio outing with Mark Dresser and Marty Ehrlich, C/D/E) and improvisations (the closing "WSLC" is a damn sight more imaginative than its title). Though pianist Schweizer's technically just sitting in, she sounds like she's been part of the group for years – the interplay between her and the other members of the group is dazzling, and the album is structured to reflect it, alternating quartet tracks and impish, Monkish Schweizer duets with the three others in turn. Hence the inclusion of that track I mentioned above. So what if it wasn't recorded in Berne; no point letting a little thing like that get in the way of a good concept.
Dan Warburton, Paris Transatlantic Magazine, February 2009

Au Taktlos Festival de Berne en 2007, Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman et Andrew Cyrille accueillaient sur scène la pianiste Irène Schweizer. Enregistré, le concert dévoile les qualités attendues de la rencontre.
Sur le Flow de Lake, Schweizer doit alors se faire une place : discrète, d’abord, trouve l’inspiration dans la paraphrase avant d’imposer sa méthode singulière du découpage mélodique. Faux-airs de valse – abandonnée rapidement pour une poursuite –, ensuite, sur laquelle la pianiste dialogue avec l’autre amateur de répétitions qu’est Workman, et l’échange avec l’entier trio sur Aubade, thème de Cyrille au swing martial et morceau d’angoisse qui profite d’un art de la délicatesse qu’ont en commun les intervenants.
Impétuosités et passages d’une contemplation impatiente de céder à l’emportement font l’essentiel d’une improvisation du duo Schweizer / Lake (Phrases), qui précède une autre du duo Schweizer / Cyrille : retrouvailles (rencontre, vingt ans auparavant, au Festival Willisau, dont Portrait donne une preuve) au lyrisme amusé pendant lesquelles le batteur ponctue avec sagacité les effets frénétiques de l’insatiable imagination de la pianiste. Ensemble, Schweizer, Lake, Workman et Cyrille, gravent leurs initiales sur une improvisation déboîtée (WSLC), et mettent un terme dans une allégresse sauvage à leur association unique.
Le son du grisli. Jazz, musiques expérimentales et autres. 24 Fevrier, 2009

Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman und Andrew Cyrille sind als Working Band mit fester Verankerung in der schwarzamerikanischen Tradition des FreeJazz eine Bank (und logischerweise eine tausendfachveritablere und bessere als diese Schwachsinnsruinen, die gerade von korrupten Staatswesen ins verlängerte Wachkoma gepumpt werden), also eine Working Bank des FreeJazz, die ihr Kapital nicht hortet oder teuer verleiht oder verjuxt, sondern gewinnbringend an alle verteilt. Sie selbst teilten mit Hawkins, Coltrane, Monk oder Shepp die Bühne und sind hier zu berichten, was davon im Hier und Jetzt Sinn hat und macht. Sie beherrschen bravourös die Pole Komposition und Improvisation und nutzen den spannungsgeladenen Raum dazwischen. Eine Sternstunde erlebten sie mit der großartigen freien Pianistin Irène Schweizer beim ‚taktlos' in Bern 2007: dieser hier dokumentierte Auftritt beweist, wie superb Schweizer sich als nur-improvisierende Spielerin in die Kompositionen einfügt und dabei den Klangreichtum dieses eingespielten Trios unendlich bereichert und variiert.
"made my day" by HONKER, TERZ 03.09

Christof Thurnheer, Jazz 'n' More, Schweiz, März/April 2009

Maybe a look at the participants is enough to make clear that the music they produce is going to be something. This program doesn't disappoint, even while many expectations may be confounded. As is often the case, when musicians are caught for posterity in a live setting, the music comes from a different place, and those expecting high energy workouts are going to be disappointed as the reality is somewhat different.
Of course it has to be emphasized that the trio of saxophonist Oliver Lake, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille is a longstanding one and its efforts on record in the past have ranged from cerebral to feral. They are three musicians who know each others' work to the point where the music they make is often greater than the sum of the parts, though not to the point at which routine or sterile is on the agenda. The degree to which pianist Irene Schweizer integrates with them is extraordinary. It could be argued that no amount of rehearsal time could explain the level of integration on the opening "Flow," where the four musicians dance around each other, even while they bring forth a compelling and unified whole. Lake's distinctive alto vocabulary is in place, the quicksilver nature of his lines like the musical equivalent of stars in a cloudless night sky.
The alto sax and piano duo on "Phrases" brings forth the sound of wisdom accrued, and in no little strength. Lake and Schweizer make no facile attempt at outdoing each other and the resulting dialogue comes complete with the imperative of the moment in place. Both players are by turns volcanic and reflective but the sense of form and their appreciation of it are never in any doubt.
The eternally enigmatic thing that is the moment is also to the fore on the cryptically titled "Timbral Interplay," taken as a duo by Schweizer and Cyrille. The momentum of the music rises and falls by degrees, and the deep listening is, for all its depth, right on the surface at the same time. The duo answers the needs of the moment with some happy corruption of meter, piano and drums dancing around each other in collaborative irresolution.
The closing "WSLC" is a study in fractious relations, with Lake's alto making the point in no uncertain terms. This is not, however, an exercise in dominant voices. Instead the group aesthetic rides supreme and the malleability of form is such that Schweizer is as much a part of the group as the others.
Nic Jones, www.allaboutjazz.com, USA, March 7 2009

Daniel Spicer, The Wire, UK, March 2009

Trio 3, eine ’Working Band’, eine bemerkenswerte Zusammenarbeit und ein echtes Langzeitprojekt, das schon seit vielen Jahren tourt und Platten macht (z.B. die wunderbare Liveaufnahme aus Willisau 1992), verstärkte sich bei diesem Konzert, aufgenommen bei den Festivals ’Taktlos’ und ’Unerhört’, mit Irene Schweizer. Die Tastenmeisterin des verqueren musikalischen Ausdrucks tut dem Altmännerbund gut. So entspannt, konzentriert und energiegeladen hat man Lake, Workman & Cyrille schon lange nicht mehr gehört. Schweizer selbst ist in Hochform; sie ist immer wieder als musikalische Antreiberin, Strukturen schaffende Pointenschleuderin und unermüdliche Impulsgeberin zu hören. Das Stück ’Timbral Interplay’, ein Duo mit Andrew Cyrille (erinnert sei dabei an die historische Aufnahme der beiden aus dem Jahre 1988, nachzuhören auf Intakt 008), ist da besonders gut zur Bestätigung dieser Aussagen geeignet. Improvisationsmusik auf allerhöchstem Niveau, wunderbar aufgenommen und auch von der Konserve genießbar (was bei freier Musik ja manchmal schwierig ist). Eine transatlantische Verbindung der besonders gelungen Art. Und das Trio 3 ist offenbar auf den Geschmack gekommen, denn wir können uns schon auf das Folgeprojekt freuen; diesmal mit der amerikanischen Pianistin Geri Allen.
Ernst Mitter, freiStil, Magazin für Musik und Umgebung. Nr 24, 2009

Hans-Bernd Kittlaus, Jazzpodium, Deutschland, April 2009

2008 marked the 20th anniversary of both Trio 3’s founding and also Intakt’s duo recording by pianist Irène Schweizer and drummer Andrew Cyrille. This concert in Berne from November 2007 falls just short of a commemoration, but there’s plenty to celebrate. The trio of saxophonist Oliver Lake, bassist Reggie Workman and Cyrille embody free jazz as deeply traditional and insistently lyrical, and the shared focus gives their music a consistent precision. There aren’t many musicians who could collaborate as seamlessly with the three as Schweizer, who belongs to the same traditions, deriving directly from sources like Cecil Taylor and Don Cherry, influences that are apt to be more apparent here than in the milieu of European free improvisation. The program is rigorously democratic. Each member of the trio provides a composition for the quartet, with interludes in which Schweizer joins each member in a duet. It’s all crowned by an intense episode of free improvisation. There’s a certain element of ritual in the performance, but it’s driven by an intense lyricism, each composition a miracle of linear simplicity that develops extended improvisation. Lake is frequently blazing here, singing in a distinct instrumental voice that ranges from coruscating lower register to upper register trills, all knitted together by his sense of song. It’s apparent on his opening “Flow,” but just as evident on Cyrille’s “Aubade,” formed on a characteristically Japanese pentatonic, and Workman’s “Ballad of the Silf.” No bassist is more melodic than Workman, no drummer more articulate than Cyrille, who is consistently tuneful as well as propulsive. Schweizer sounds like she’s always been a member of the band. The three duos are more than pro forma: each quickly finds a high level of exchange and develops from there.
Stuart Broomer, pointofdeparture, USA, April 2009

Almost without anyone noticing, Trio 3 has become one of the great working bands in jazz. That's not the default outcome of longevity: though saxophonist Oliver Lake, bassist Reggie Workman and drummer Andrew Cyrille first got together under the Trio 3 moniker back in 1992, they have become, if anything, a more cohesive unit over time. Their previous release, Time Being (Intakt, 2007), was one of their strongest, with an acute group aesthetic brought to bear on a fertile blend of testing compositions and compelling open improvisations. Berne Concert boasts a similarly fruitful amalgam, with Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer added for good measure.
All three core constituents are giants on their instruments and will probably be familiar to AAJ readers. Workman, of course, recorded with John Coltrane on several landmark sessions in the early 1960s, but has never rested on his laurels, continuing to be adventurous and in-demand as both leader and sideman. Though a ten year tenure with Cecil Taylor is one of the defining attributes in Cyrille's discography, he has lent his percussion wizardry to a veritable Who's Who over his career, performing with artists ranging from Coleman Hawkins, Illinois Jacquet and Mary Lou Williams to Kenny Dorham and many more. Lake has been a founding member of the World Saxophone Quartet since his early days with the St. Louis Black Artists Group, and now holds a preeminent place on the New York scene.
As Trio 3, Lake, Workman and Cyrille have worked with pianists in the past, most notably Geri Allen, but also in a quartet with Marilyn Crispell prior to the group's inception, so it is no surprise that they are readily able to absorb Schweizer into their collective embrace. What is more of a surprise is how naturally she fits in, sounding completely integrated into their soundworld. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the opening "Flow," where an exhilarating four-way dash is rendered all the more potent by her sometimes contrary, sometimes complementary contrapuntal lines, pinballing around Lake's sour-sweet alto. Fittingly as a veteran free improvisor, Schweizer features in extemporized duets with all three members, alongside compositions from each, and one collective improvisation in the hour-long program.
Cyrille's "Aubade" amply demonstrates the quartet's listening skills and the high quality group interaction which results. Everyone wields equal weight in an extended, spaciously lyrical exploration, where flurries of sound hang in delicious suspension, until they finally come together in a glorious theme statement. Other high points are the quick-witted duet "Phrases" where Lake and Schweizer morph from sanctified to rumbustuous to thunderous to puckish in just over five minutes; and the supercharged encore "WSLC" with Cyrille's polyrhythmic tumble, Schweizer essaying contrapuntal lines in each hand and Workman's grainy arco scrapes corralling Lake's pinched squeals and vocalized split tones. Trio 3 is sure to find new fans with Berne Concert: not a single track on this outstanding disc is less than stellar.
John Sharpe, www.allaboutjazz.com, USA, April 20 2009

Stewart Lee, Sunday Times, UK, 12. April 2009

Euan Andrews, Plan B, UK, April 2009

Fred Grand, Jazz Journal, UK, June 2009

Moderne toppmøte
Bak bandnavnet Trio 3 skjuler det seg tre av USAs mest spennende modernister. Her møter de en europeisk storhet
Det er over 20 år siden den sveitsiske avantgarde-storheten, pianisten Irène Schweitzer, satte den amerikanske trommelegenden Andrew Cyrille stevne. Det er også over 20 år siden Cyrille var med å stifte Trio 3 sammen med altsaksofonisten Oliver Lake og bassisten Reggie Workman.
Høsten 2007 møttes de fire til et par konserter i Sveits og det er høydepunktene fra disse happeningene vi får være med på her.
Det er frijazz av ypperste merke som er utgangspunktet for disse ekskursjonene. Trio 3 kjenner hverandre ut og inn og sjøl om dette er fritt og helt åpent, så låter det nesten som komponert musikk fra tid til annen.
Dynamikk og utstrakt bruk av store ører er viktige ingredienser her. Vi får møte de fire musikantene i en rekke konstellasjoner og sjelden er vel bruken av metaforen musikalske samtaler mer på sin plass enn her.
Trio 3 og Irène Schweitzer har mye å snakke om og det er et glitrende vis den amerikanske trioen har åpna opp for gjesten her. Rett rundt hjørnet finnes et annet samarbeid med Trio 3 og en annen framifrå pianist, Geri Allen. Det er bare å begynne og glede seg.
Tor Hammerø, Side2, 19.05.09, Norway

Kevin Le Gendre, Jazzwise, UK, June 2009

30-odd years ago, the lineup of Trio 3—a veritable supergroup—might have seemed surprising. By the mid-'70s, drummer Andrew Cyrille had fed polyrhythmic invention to Cecil Taylor's unit structures and tuned drums for ten years, while bassist Reggie Workman was known for his work with Coltrane and a number of Blue Note artists. Reedman Oliver Lake, who had relocated to New York from St. Louis via Paris, was a former member of the Black Artists Group, an AACM parallel organization. All of that history is important to recognizing where Trio 3 comes from and how their aesthetic, alternating between frenetic harrying salvos and sparser collective calls, might differ from a number of extremely capable "power trios" on the contemporary scene.

Trio 3 + Geri Allen
At This Time
Intakt
2009
One might think that adding a pianist to the equation would shake up the order enough that the longstanding group aesthetic is turned on its head. However, Trio 3 is an open enough group that the addition of a strong fourth personality shifts the dynamic rather than changing it. Two new recordings add, alternately, Geri Allen and Irene Schweizer to the proceedings. Allen has, in fact, become a regular participant, first joining the trio in 2008. On At This Time, her first recording with Trio 3, the fit is clear.
Allen's keen awareness of tense space and how to punctuate and drive it up a notch are evident from plucked piano strings, wooden knocks and, on Lake's "Long Melody," unsettling paper rustle. Alternately, her pointillist blues are laconic behind Lake's flute on "Tey" or rumbling gospel on "Lake's Jump." A consummate postbop number, jaunty and with a hairy turnaround in its theme, the latter is a beautiful example of the work of this augmented trio. As the group spreads out into a modal plateau a minute in, delicate glassy mobiles orbit around Lake's acrid alto. Bubble and grit characterize his solo over a skipping beat, the rug constantly being tugged but never quite pulled out. Miniature runs, fiery spit and roiling pools from Allen's fingers flesh out the piece, her own statement an inner dialogue echoing, clambering and advancing into spiky floridity. She returns to ambiguous shading for Workman's taut pizzicato solo before the head returns. It's a downright tiring performance, in the best sense, and encompasses only part of what this unit can do.

Trio 3 + Irene Schweizer
Berne Concert
Intakt
2009
Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer worked with Cyrille in the latter half of the '80s, but Berne Concert is their first recording together in a full-band context. Though certainly both Schweizer and Allen have an affinity for Paul Bley, not to mention commanding the range of textures available both inside and outside the piano, they are more different than similar. Schweizer is a volcanic player whose motives have a painterly cast and rhythmic cells that, while recalling Cecil Taylor, are rougher and more impulsive. There's almost a clash of voices in Lake's composition "Flow" that opens the set—her rhythmic approach seems contradictory to the saxophonist's squirrely bebop, an epic command of the keyboard's breadth in rapid, thick gestures. Cyrille and Workman seem much more comfortable in this case, the drummer dissecting her phrases while maintaining extraordinary plasticity.
Unlike At This Time, Berne Concert presents duos and trios as well as the quartet—a piano-bass duet begins with tentative rumbling and delicate, tart chordal voicings as Schweizer follows Workman's pliant solemnity with gradually increasing drive. On "Timbral Interplay," a woven, minimal carpet of mallets and toms gives support to the pianist's contrasting network of phrase-rhythms, evidence of the rapport between Schweizer and Cyrille. Though a bit disjointed at times, Berne Concert presents four of the music's most creative figures going for broke—the result is tremendously exciting, even if not always successful.
Clifford Allen, Allaboutjazz.com, USA, August 8, 2009

Bjarne Søltoft, Jazznytt, 64, 2009, Oslo

Alan Waters, Signal to Noise, USA / Canada, Fall 2009

Nur wenige schwarze Musiker können von sich behaupten, mit den wichtigsten Jazzmusikern der Geschichte gemeinsame Sache gemacht zu haben. Trio 3 darf sie zu dieser Spezies rechnen. Gemeinsam mit der Pianistin Irene Schweizer trat es 2007 beim "Taktlos"-Festival in Bern auf, wo mit einer Ausnahme diese Live-CD entstand. Überzeugend zelebrieren die vier die Kompromisslosigkeit, huldigen nur dem Sound der Improvisation und verstehen sich dennoch nahezu blind. Absolute Freiheit steht auf ihrer Fahne, die den Ursprungsgedanken des Jazz, nämlich die Grenzenlosigkeit der Strukturen, aufs heftigste flattern lässt. Schnelle Läufe auf dem Piano und das entzerrte, aber kompakte Spiel des Trios schaffen eine superbe Atmosphäre, die ziemlich vom Konzertcharakter ablenkt. Der Vierer gewährt sich auf allen musikalischen Ebenen die Freiräume und die Zeit, das eigene Spiel zu entfalten und damit gewinnbringend für alle einzusetzen.
Klaus Hübner, WESTZEIT, Deutschland, 1. August 2009

Ci sta che un gruppo alla ribalta da quasi un ventennio, concerto dopo concerto, disco dopo disco, giunga ad un equilibrio statico delle proprie dinamiche, a un'inconscia cristallizzazione delle trame musicali, dei ruoli e infine alla prevedibilità dell'esito artistico.
Meravigliosa prevedibilità trattandosi del Trio 3 di Oliver Lake, Reggie Workman e Andrew Cyrille, ma pur sempre prevedibilità. Non a caso, recensendo il precedente Time Being, uscito sempre per la Intakt, si parlava di pilota automatico inserito dai tre veterani: allora l'impressione netta, condivisa da chi scrive, fu quella di trovarsi di fronte a un gruppo non più in evoluzione, invischiato in una sorta di algido manierismo free.
Probabilmente serviva l'incontro con il pianoforte inquieto di Irene Schweizer per far saltare il banco, azzerare le certezze e scompaginare le ritualità consolidate all'interno della band. Le sette tracce contenute In Berne Concert, come didascalicamente suggerisce il titolo del disco, sono state registrate dal vivo al Taktlos di Berna e al Rote Fabrik di Zurigo. Il Trio 3 è stato impegnato nel novembre del 2007 in una settimana di concerti in terra elvetica con ospiti d'eccezione e situazioni parecchio variabili. Tra queste, appunto, l'incontro riuscitissimo con la Schweizer.
Riuscitissimo perchè nell'ennesima perla del catalogo Intakt è contenuta un'ora abbondante di musica vibrante, viva, vitale, ricca di dettagli e da gustare in religioso raccoglimento; musica nella quale, alla scontata maestria dei personaggi coinvolti, si unisce quell'urgenza espressiva che mancava nelle recenti testimonianze discografiche del trio. Si prenda, ad esempio, la splendida "Aubade" di Andrew Cyrille, sminuzzata e centrifugata in un frullatore ritmico fatto di esitazioni, partenze e ritorni; oppure "Phrases," duetto mozzafiato tra la Schweizer e Lake, dialogo serrato d'intensità pazzesca; o infine (senza la Schweizer) "Ballad of the Silf," aperta da uno struggente solo di Workman e poco dopo il sesto minuto impreziosita da un martellante botta e risposta fra i nostri eroi.
Bentornata freschezza.
P.S. A breve su questi stessi schermi Trio3+Geri Allen, in uscita sempre per la Intakt.
Luca Canini, All About Jazz Italia, 21-05-2009

Aldo Del Noce, www.suono.it, Italia, ottobre 2008

From the very first few notes you know you are in for something great on the Trio 3 & Schweizer concert CD. The absolute confidence and command of Oliver Lake strikes you first, then Schweizer, then Cyrille, and finally Reggie Workman. These are people who have played freely for years and know what they want to do, seemingly every minute of their time on the bandstand. “Flow” begins with a supremely commanding Lake on alto who says much in his three minutes or so of solo time. Irene responds with a sharply contoured set of piano improvisations. There’s variety, variation in velocity and attack, and attention to timbral niceties that show some amazing sensibilities. This is Free music with set melodic contours for the most part and in no way does it sound ad hoc. Reggie sets the table in just a few seconds on “R.I. Exchange” before Schweizer comes in and they unravel a smart discourse. There are duets and group pieces and not a moment of dead air.
Grego Applegate Edwards, Cadence, USA, Oct-Nov-Dec 2009

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Dionizy Piątkowski, Era Jazzu, October 2024 (PL)