n a rather disparaging comment about Switzerland, Orson Wells once said that the only thing that the country had contributed to world history was the wrist watch. Wells was not known for hyperbole but then he was not known to be as discerning about music as he should have been. Not as discerning as Intakt Records or Switzerland’s elder imprint, hatHUT. Too bad he did not live to see these entities rise to eminence today. It is fair to say that Intakt is a boutique label; small in size and the number of releases, perhaps, but big on musical and production quality which is the next best thing to the quality of artistry within Intakt’s portfolio.
Recent releases feature recordings by Tom Rainey with Ingrid Laubrock and Mary Halvorson, Ali Keïta with Jan Galega Brönnimann and Lucas Niggli, Sarah Buechi with Stefan Aeby, André Pousaz and Lionel Friedli, the Ulrich Gumpert Quartett featuring Gumpert, Jurg Wickihalder, Jan Roder and Michael Greiner, Florian Egli with Dave Gisler, Martina Berther and Rico Baumann and the great Pierre Favre together with Chris Jaeger, Markus Lauterburg and Valeria Zangger. This is a masterfully put-together roster with the very finest of European and American artists playing music that reaches inebriating heights. Drunk with this artistry it is not possible to come down to earth especially if you listen to one record after the other, as I did, which reminds me of the time I met Elvin Jones after a long session testing Zidjian cymbals. A head full of sound is putting it mildly. And yet, I cannot think of a better or easier way to choke myself with gold. Not now; not ever…
This recording takes its cues from the chopped rhythms and angular melodies encountered in a realm where Thelonious Monk and Cecil Taylor meet. But whichever extremity to choose to look at it from the experience is equally rewarding. The delicate – admittedly nebulous – balance between keeping your steely distance while employing a touch that can move the erotic into fetishising the relationship between fingers that caress keys – in other words the hallmark of good piano playing is in evidence all over this recording. The shape-shifting pulse, at times nudging the rhythmic flow towards the asymmetrical, the playing mighty overt is delightfully clandestine. The best part of this approach is that it enables the musicians to launch into the pieces proper and pursue a deliberate rock-steady course that at first seems obsessively literal (those slightly precious staccato chords), yet the carefully built climaxes and increasing variety in character generate assiduous momentum. In this context the rapid scales of ‘The Bop & The Hard Be’ and hurling central minor-key section are surprisingly bracing and angular, forgoing the rippling poise that the players bring to this particular piece.
Superlative improvised music seems almost in abundance these days and it is sometimes hard to tell players apart. But this group is distinctive. For my ears the Ulrich Gumpert Quartett brings everything home in a way that is deeply personal, vivid and unique. No one who loves contemporary music or exquisite piano-playing for that matter will want to miss this one.
https://jazzdagama.com/music/intakt-tom-rainey-pierre-favre/
