Joëlle Léandre is a living legend. It is almost impossible to list all the international greats of free music with whom Léandre has played in her decades-long career. With Zurich Concert, the magician and rebel on the double bass presents an impressive solo statement. “It is no coincidence that she once described the bass as her bedrock, her spinal column and the place where she stores her memories. Joëlle Léandre does not play music, she lives it ... (she) spins a continuous thread of sound which never snaps. On the contrary, she keeps spinning it onwards. We hear both high energy and quiet tenderness, but the transitions are always seamless and organic. In her bass playing and with her voice. No stopping, no pause within the individual improvisations. Onwards, ever onwards. A true magician of sound,” writes Nina Polaschegg in the liner notes.

Cover art: Rosina Kuhn
Graphic design: Paul Bieri
Liner notes: Nina Polaschegg
Photos: Palma Fiacco

All compositions by Joëlle Léandre (SACEM). Recorded March 17, 2022, at Taktlos-Festival at Kunstraum Walcheturm, Zürich, by Willy Strehler. Mixed in November 2022 at Klangdach by Willy Strehler. Produced by Taktlos-Festival and Intakt Records. Published by Intakt Records.