https://drive.google.com/file/d/1QMy7-UfOGdzVUI_wRVdH_AKRwCyj04GB/view?usp=drive_link

This newly released 1981 Jazzfestival Zurich set by the dynamic Swiss pianist (and feminist improvising icon) Irène Schweizer, who died in 2024, is a superior example of so-called European improvised music, a term that popped up in the late 1960s, a nominal break with American free jazz. In reality it’s an international style open to all, where (shortest version) any improvisers may tap into their folk roots the way American free jazz is infused with the subtleties of the blues.

Schweizer’s quartet wasn’t entirely European -- bassist Johnny Dyani was one of several black South Africans who made their mark on UK and continental scenes, bringing their own folkways (tunefulness, useful organizing principles) to the mix. His throbbing bass is the band’s heartbeat, when his bowing isn’t thickening the background. Three of these players at least draw on the jazz they all had in common -- jazz being improvising’s 20th-century home. Even Euro improvisers who claimed to be done with jazz still played sequential horn solos over piano, bass and drums. Calling this album Irène’s Hot 4 (a band name out of the 1920s or ’30s) declares her proud jazz roots. The early piano greats had strong rhythmic left hands; Schweizer loved bobbing old-school two-beat (and waltzing three-beat) bass patterns, but also played quick leaping low figures in sturdy octaves, atonal boogie-woogie à la Cecil Taylor. The rolling gospel cadences of South Africa’s Abdullah Ibrahim might peek out as well. But her style had its own lean clarity and overt humor.

European folkways are represented by saxophonist Rüdiger Carl, Schweizer’s sometime duo partner. Born in what’s now northeast Poland, Carl largely avoids jazz phraseology on soprano, alto or tenor, even when riffing on a spontaneous motif. He also brought along his Euro-coded accordion, for a bit of chording, fluttering, honking or (non-bluesy) train-chugging. Dutch drummer Han Bennink meanwhile swings madly like his jazz heroes, when not disrupting things away from the traps, yelling through his megaphone or (at the top of the encore) playing surprisingly adept note-bending tongue-stopping country bluesy harmonica -- another link to musical Americana.

Bennink’s gifts include a sure feel for when to cut an episode off before it burns itself out. He has ways of deflecting or deflating things in a hurry, sometimes simply by falling silent, opening up the texture. At such moments his old friend (and occasional duet partner) Schweizer, a drummer herself, might take over the percussion part on grand piano, after laying something over the strings to quickly mute them, to sound more clipped and drumlike. There are moments when each member of the quartet intervenes to initiate a new strategy, tempo or texture, from spare dappled pointillism to slow pastorales to high-energy bust-outs. Over three long spontaneous suites (plus a seven-minute encore that tips their set over an hour) you get a lot more variety than on a typical jazz gig, American or otherwise.

The action can be so dizzying, you occasionally have to stop to suss out who’s playing what. A few vignettes may suggest their range. Dyani begins a down-home vocal chant, and Bennink joins him in friendly call-and-response, via megaphone, and then Schweizer joins in , her lean piano line a third melodic voice, three lines braided. A little later on the same piece, “All Inclusive,” Bennink hears Schweizer slipping into Abdullah Ibrahim-mode, and heads her off before she can get started. On the opener “Reise” -- A Trip -- the quartet slide into a left-right-leftrightleft “street beat” that sounds lifted from a then-current Anthony Braxton march. A moment before, Dyani and Bennink had made a conceptual pun they may not even have noticed: the bassist slowly strums an ascending three-note figure echoing the bugle call “Taps,” as Han plays the stage floor with drumsticks, in tap-dancer rhythm.

Radio engineers working major festivals record under pressure: they have to arrange mics quickly and repeatedly for various lineups, maybe while staying out of the way of other techs providing sound for the hall. Sound recorded by anonymous staffers from Swiss broadcasting’s German-language division (mixed and mastered in 2023 by Michael Brändli) is good, catching Bennink’s occasional antics away from the drums, with only minimal audience rustling heard in quiet passages. Whether Dyani plucks or bows, his amplified bass sound is rubbery in the period fashion. Esoterica: Bernhard Arndt had caught the bassist’s arco sound better, on his “Soweto-Simbabwe-Mississippie-Child-Cry” recorded at Berlin’s 1977 Workshop Freie Musik, but on that night Dyani was playing solo, and FMP’s recordists knew whatever they caught might turn up on record. Jazz fest radio engineers are usually happy just to get through the night. Tomorrow they’ll be doing it all again.

https://www.theaudiobeat.com/music/irenes_hot_four_cd.htm

In copertina la tastiera di un piano, i tasti della prima ottava in fiamme. Più chiaro di così. Doveva rendere l'idea per Irène's Hot Four, i quattro incandescenti di Irene. Lei è Irène Schweizer, dita infiammate sulla tastiera fino allo scorso anno, mente e anima di travolgente intensità, no radicalismo assoluto sul pianoforte, la lezione di Monk, di Taylor, di Waldron suublimata in ondate cinetiche di spaventosa forza. L'etichetta Intakt, (anche per i prossimi lavori) ha recuperato i nastri radiofonici del 1981 per 'International Jazz Festival Zürich, con i fiati di Rüdiger Carl, il basso di Johnny Dyani, la batteria monella di Han Bennink. Che la festa ritorni.

There are two mini themes running through this edition of One Man's Jazz: one is musical partners, as in the trio of Sylvain Darrifourcq, saxophonist Manuel Hermia and cellist Valentin Ceccaldi who have released but three recordings in their 13 years of trio-hood yet believe their time spent together has let them develop into one of the most powerful and unique trios playing today. How about pianist Stanley Cowell and trumpeter Charles Tolliver? Their partnership resulted in Strata-East Records. Or consider the duo of pianist Izumi Kimura and drummer Gerry Hemingway which is very much outside typical. Or the duo of trumpeter Peter Evans and bassist Petter Eldh—their long time friendship guarantees original albums like their new Jazz Fest. The idea of a jazz festival where one would invite all manner of guests to appear was the motivation for Evans and Eldh. Festivals and live recordings provide the other mini theme, like Evans & Eldh, the late Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer in a never-heard-before release featuring drummer Han Bennink, Norway's Bliss Quintet at Nat Jazz '24, or Luke Stewart's Silt Remembrance Ensemble. Much more to like in this episode. Enjoy!

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/darrifourcq-hermia-ceccaldi-evans-eldh-and-irene-schweizer-sylvain-darrifourcq

Irène Schweizer Lives On!
Last July the remarkable Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer died at the age of 83. She was a titan, a musician of serious depth and interests who ended up an invaluable feminist voice in the creative music world. I wrote a post looking at her work last year, but I’m delighted to share some additional words about her again, as last month Intakt released the first in a series of archival recordings featuring her playing. Irène’s Hot Four is a searing live album taped at the 1981 edition of Jazzfestival Zürich featuring a manifestation of her long-time partnership with reedist/accordionist Rüdiger Carl. The band is rounded out by drummer Han Bennink and double bassist Johnny Dyani, a founding member of South Africa’s Blue Notes. The group existed for about a year-and-a-half, playing only a handful of shows, including one the following night of this performance at Berlin Jazztage. In 2019 she met with the folks who founded the association the Friends of Irène Schweizer, which is devoted to her legacy and has partnered with Intakt to make some previously unreleased recordings available. If this stunning new release is any indication of what we can expect then we should all buckle in and welcome the ride. When the pianist heard this recording at that first 2019 meeting she said, “Nobody plays like this today,” but I think that’s more of a reflection on the individualism and vast experience of the four participants than a comment on the approach here, which is fully improvised.

Her comment certainly doesn’t mean this music sounds like it’s from the past. The four spontaneous tracks here are as electrifying, deep, and inspired as anything I’ve heard this year. It reflects the notion of a total music celebrated in Europe during the 1970s, where any style, approach, or ethos seemed fair game. The music is staunchly modern, but there’s an audible love and respect for tradition ripping underneath everything. The four musicians here engage in a thrilling exchange, routinely going against the prevalent grain one moment only to form a dazzling union the next. There are indelible Schwèizer trademarks, such as the rollicking left-handed figures that featuring heavily in the opening salvo “Reise,” a breathless 23-minute romp of give-and-take and ebb-and-flow endlessly powered by Bennink’s manic energy and the driving percussive for Dyani could unleash with his bass. Check it out below. Still, even though the sonic landscape here is constantly evolving, the band is incredibly locked-in and focused, not simply responding to the unceasing flow of ideas in real-time, but also straddling multiple themes or motifs at once. And although the performances are marked by serious heat and intensity, there’s also a palpable sense of ease and familiarity among the musicians, who all display a willingness to try different things, whether it’s Bennink delivering an exegesis on drumsticks-as-instrument in the opening minutes of “Freizeit” or the spontaneously soulful singing Dyani imparts on “All Inclusive.” Each improvisation is stuffed with contrasting ideas, radically changing timbres—as Carl switches between instruments and the pianist uses preparations—and internal challenges to one another. I don’t know if I’d agree with Schwèizer’s assessment that nobody plays like this today, but I sure wish more people would try! On the horizon in the series is a late 1980s solo performance and recordings from the Feminist Improvising Group—the radical ensemble formed by Maggie Nicols and Lindsay Cooper, which included the pianist for most of its history—the first officially released document of the ensemble’s work.

https://petermargasak.substack.com/p/insideoutside?r=3bsno&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&triedRedirect=true

UNEARTHED GEM

An uncut gem but still shining from 1981, Irène's Hot Four showcases a live Zürich jazz festival date when free jazz was at its wildest and wooliest period. The sizzling band included Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer (1941-2024), and German saxophonist-clarinetist-accordionist Rüdiger Carl, with added heat applied by Dutch drummer Han Bennink, plus South African bassist Johnny Dyani (1945-1986). The group/album name invokes the passion exhibited by earlier jazz combos, yet the performance mixes spontaneity with control. Carl's improvising encompasses tremolo accordion pumps and altissimo reed split tones or scooped squawks; Bennink smashes, slaps and shakes every idiophone available; and Schweizer's dynamic output includes linear expositions, emphasized glissandi and internal string judders. Only Dyani's string pumps and stops steady the program. This is especially evident when keyboard patterns and stabs approximated broken-chord freedom and boogie-woogie freneticism in turn.

The peak of all this intensity occurs on "All Inclusive', the extended pre-encore concert climax. As the saxophonist overblows harsh tones of bar-walking-style honks and triple tongued screams, Bennink responds in kind with rim shot clips and echoing pops augmented with triangle clanks, gearwheel ratchets, kazoo squeaks and megaphone-amplified yells; even the bassist augments his thumps and adds some sotte voce vocalizing. Switching from prestissimo chording with pseudo-ragtime syncopation to emphasize a swing groove, Schweizer (aided by Carl's flowing accordion wails) uses key stops and jerks to guide everyone into a rousing finish. Early and later amplification of heightened moments confirms the extreme malleability of the program. This also confirms how in-the-moment improvisations can moderate any excesses-usually on Bennink's part-to propel all timbres into group tandem evolution.

A dedicated champion of feminist responses to too-assertive male domination of free music, Schweizer, who passed away almost a year ago and would have been 84 this month, explored numerous avenues of creative sounds-both metered and completely spontaneous. This never-before-released performance remains one highpoint of her accommodation with ferocious free improvising.

Beim Internat. Jazzfestival Zürich wurde am 8.11.1981 Irène's Hot Four (Intakt CD 438)
mitgeschnitten. Und bringt nun ein Wiederhören mit RÜDIGER CARL an Saxophones, Clarinet
& Accordion, JOHNNY DYANI an Bass & Vocal, HAN BENNINK an Drums, Percussion,
Megaphone und IRÈNE SCHWEIZER am und im Piano. Dyani starb 1986, Schweizer
letztes Jahr, doch damals war das die geballte Ladung, messerscharf und heavy, mit
African Bass, 'All Inclusive'. Wer da erdet, wer da fliegt, wer da hämmert, wer da rollt, das
wechselt von Minute zu Minute und verzahnt sich doch synchron. Gegen den breitärschigen
Geist hinter den 60 Millionen Franken für die Renovierung des Opernhauses spielten
sie den roten Hahn, mit extra trotzigem, knurrigem, aufgekratztem 'File under popular'. Mit
postkolonialer Verve, geradezu postpunkiger Ruppigkeit, als 'Reise', ach was, als Heiho-
Marsch durch Feuer und Flamme, als Werbung für 'Freizeit'. Röhrend, wuselig kapriolend,
mit Stein- und Schrottschlag, Bocksprüngen, pachydermem Groove. Wallung und Hymnik
vor den Sonnenwagen gespannt, Art Ensemble of Chicago und Bergisch-Brandenburgisches
Quartett als 'eine' unbändige Rasselbande mit Akkordeon und Klimbim, Stilbrüchen
und Krawall. Toll genug für eine tobende Ovation und eine anarchische 'Encore'!

Come scrive con acume Bert Noglik nelle liner notes, questo è un manifesto istantaneo. Jazz con la rabbia di Charles Mingus, l'audacia di Fats Waller e l'energia del punk. Una botta di vita!

IRÈNE SCHWEIZER – RÜDIGER CARL – JOHNNY DYANI – HAN BENNINK
Irène’s Hot Four ★★★★☆

Die erstmals zugängliche Live-Aufnahme dieses Quartetts der Pianistin Irène Schweizer, die im vergangenen Sommer verstarb, dokumentiert einen Kipppunkt. Schweizer ist 39 Jahre alt, als sie mit diesem Set 1981 das Jazzfestival ihrer künstlerischen Heimatstadt Zürich abrennt. Ist das noch Free Jazz, wenn vier Leute so genau aufeinander hören, aber nie gleich, und das Resultat nicht nur von Muskeln, sondern hörbar von Spaß kündet? Frisch!
(Intakt)

⸻

English translation:

The first-time accessible live recording of this quartet by pianist Irène Schweizer, who passed away last summer, documents a tipping point. Schweizer was 39 years old when, with this set in 1981, she set fire to the jazz festival of her artistic hometown, Zurich. Is this still free jazz, when four people listen to each other so closely, yet never the same, and the result speaks not just of muscle, but audibly of joy? Fresh!

Wie sehr ich dich vermisse! Seit 1966 haben wir immer wieder zusammen gespielt und aufgenommen. Es war immer ein Riesenspaß. Du warst ein großartiges Vorbild für dein Land und den Rest der Welt. Vielen Dank für deinen Beitrag an die Improvisationsszene. Du wirst mir immer in Erinnerung bleiben. Alles Liebe.” So kondolierte Schlagwerker Han Bennink im September 2024 zum Tod Irene Schweizers. Die Pianistin hat auf ungezählten Aufnahmen und in noch weit mehr Konzerten zuvor ihre musikalische Botschaft in die Welt hinaus geschickt und die lautete: Freiheit und Unabhängigkeit.
Am 08. November 1981 gastierte die Grande Dame des Schweizer Jazz mit ihrem Quartett Irene's Hot Four beim Zürich Jazz Festival. Die Besetzung existierte damals nur knapp zwei Jahre, belebte jedoch mit ihrer unglaublichen Energie und explodierenden Intensität die europäische Szene enorm. Zur Band gehörten der Saxophonist, Klarinettist und Akkordeonspieler Rüdiger Carl, der Bassist und Sänger Johnny Dyani und eben jener unnachahmliche Derwisch am Schlagzeug, Han Bennink. Übrigens gastierten Irene's Hot Four einen Tag nach dem Züricher Konzert in der Berliner Philharmonie zum Jazzfest Berlin und wurden von Pianist, Autor und Jazzredakteur Michael Naura mit folgenden Worten angekündigt: „Meine Damen und Herren, wir verlassen jetzt das Land der sogenannten schönen Harmonien und des artig trottenden Rhythmus und ziehen jetzt andere Saiten auf.“ Und dann erschütterten und begeisterten Irene's Hot Four das Hochkulturpublikum im damaligen Westberlin.
Es ist eine Freude heute die vier Züricher Titel auf diesem Album zu hören. Was heißt hören – es ist ein aktionistisches Erlebnis, ihnen akustisch zu folgen. Sie agieren derart selbstbewusst, dramaturgisch, provozierend, dass man sich gar nicht vorstellen kann, dass Irene mit ihren ersten Bands Dixieland spielte und Han Bennink einst einer der bemerkenswertesten Swing-Schlagzeuger der Niederlande war.
Hier werden Töne zerlegt, Melodieschnipsel, soweit diese zu erkennen sind, analysiert, seziert, neu zusammengesetzt. Es wird verdichtet, ein- und ausgegrenzt, immer mittendrin im Auge des Jazztaifuns. In manchen Momenten klingt das Quartett nach Passagen aus einem Hörtheaterstück. Dieses Konzert ist ein Rohdiamant, ungeschliffen, rau, wunderschön. Man sollte es am Stück hören und möglichst laut (es gibt ja sicherheitshalber Kopfhörer ….)

https://www.kultkomplott.de/Artikel/Musik/#article_anchor_3550