Szwajcarska pianistka i kompozytorka Sylvie Courvoisier od ponad dwóch dekad jest jedną z najważniejszych postaci współczesnego jazzu i znajduje się w samym centrum nowojorskiej sceny muzycznej. Właśnie otrzymała prestiżową Szwajcarską Nagrodę Główną Muzyki 2025, a teraz prezentuje swój najnowszy album nagrany w duecie z legendarnym Wadadą Leo Smithem. Album „Angel Falls” jest to kontynuacja koncepcji znanych już w solowego albumu „To Be Other-Wise” oraz nastrojowego, wielowarstwowego albumu sekstetu „Chimaera”.

Sylvie Courvoisier jest pianistką, kompozytorką oraz znakomitą improwizatorką. Urodzona w Lozannie w Szwajcarii, w 1998 roku przeprowadziła się do Nowego Jorku. Koncertowała i nagrywała z Johnem Zornem, Wadadą Leo Smithem, Joey’em Baronem, Ellery Eskelinem, Natem Wooley’em, Fredem Frithem, Yusefem Lateefem, Timem Berne, Joëlle Léandre, Erikiem Friedlanderem, Butchem Morrisem, Tony’m Oxley’em, Herbem Robertsonem, Tomaszem Stańko oraz z Ikue Mori i Susie Ibarra (w trio Mephista). Pianistka zrealizowała kilkanaście autorskich albumów oraz kilkadziesiąt jako artystka zapraszana do projektów innych muzyków. Jej nagrania znajdują się zarówno w katalogu ECM Records, Tzadik Records (Johna Zorna), jak i szwajcarskiej oficyny Intakt Records. Jest najciekawsze sesje to m.in. „Time Gone Out” – duet z Markiem Feldmanem, „D’Agala Sylvie Courvoisier Trio”, „Crop Circles”- duet z Mary Halvorson, „Miller’s Tale”- kolektywny kwartet z Evanem Parkerem, Ikue Mori i Markiem Feldmanem, „Salt Task” – trio z Chrisem Corsano i Natem Wooley’em. Od 1998 roku Sylvie Courvoisier regularnie występuje solo lub w duecie ze skrzypkiem (i mężem) Mark’em Feldmanem. Od 2013 roku jest liderem własnego Trio z Drew Gressem (kontrabas) i Kenny’m Wollesenem (instrumenty perkusyjne). Album „D’Agala Sylvie Courvoisier Trio” został doceniony przez krytyków i znalazł się na listach najlepszych albumów roku New York Times i Los Angeles Times. Pianistka jest także współliderem Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet ( z Drew Gressem i Tomem Rainey’em), VWCR Quartet (z Kenem Vandermarkem, Natem Wooley’em i Tomem Rainey’em) oraz TISM Quartet z Tomem Raineyem, Ingrid Laubrock i Markiem Feldmanem. Od 2017 roku gra także w duecie z Mary Halvorson a od 2000 roku jest członkiemMephista– improwizującego kolektywnego trio z Ikue Mori i Susie Ibarra. Sylvie Courvoisier regularnie występuje w wielu zespołach i projektach kompozytorskich Johna Zorna, takich jak, „Cobra and the Masada” oraz „Bagatelle Marathon”. Od 2010 roku jest pianistką i kompozytorką w projekcie „La Curva” tancerza flamenco Israela Galvana, z którym zrealizowała ( w 2018 roku) „Cast-aNet” – z Evanem Parkerem, Markem Feldmanem i Ikue Mori a w 2020 roku „La Consagración de la primavera” z Cory’m Smythem, wykonując „Święto wiosny” Igora Stravinky’ego i autorskie „Spectro” na dwa fortepiany i taniec.

Legendarny Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith jest jedną z najbarwniejszych i najważniejszych postaci improwizowanego jazzu. Ostatnie lata to najpiękniejszy okres w życiu ​charyzmatycznego artysty​, który jest ozdobą najważniejszych festiwal​i, realizuje ciekawe projekty oraz nagrywa albumy dla prestiżowych oficyn ( od ECM po Intakt i TUMI).​ 83-letni Wadada Leo Smith to artysta niezwykle aktywny, współautor sukcesów i wspaniałych nagrań Mariona Browna, Anthony’ego Braxtona, koncertów z Donem Cherrym, Cecil Taylorem, Lesterem Bowiem, Johnem Zornem, Charliem Hadenem, Jack DeJohnette, Billem Laswellem. W swoim dorobku ma ponad 60 albumów nagranych dla najbardziej liczących się wytwórni​. Większość sesji to rodzaj specyficznych suit​ i utwor​ów budowan​ch impresjami i skojarzeniami z muzyką wielkich free-jazzu oraz nowoczesnych, harmolodycznych improwizacji​.

Jak odległa jest dzisiaj muzyka Wadada Leo Smith’a od harmolodic-jazzu Colemana trudno definitywnie określić. Zdaje się, że rozgrywa się także i teraz w blasku brzmień albumu „Angel Falls” bowiem Wadada Leo Smith to jedna z najbarwniejszych i najważniejszych postaci improwizowanego jazzu. Jest niezwykle aktywnym muzykiem chicagowskiego AACM, improwizatorem, kompozytorem, trębaczem, multiinstrumentalistą, etnomuzykologiem, działaczem na rzecz praw człowieka Ostatnia lata to najpiękniejszy okres w życiu kontrowersyjnego artysty: jest ozdobą najważniejszych festiwalu, realizuje ciekawe projekty oraz nagrywa albumy dla prestiżowych oficyn. Ten wyjątkowy muzyk, zawsze podąża za duchem czasu, celebrując muzyczną różnorodność i kreatywność, a także sprzeciwiając się wszelkim etykietkom. W ciągu ostatnich 50 lat przyczynił się do rozwoju muzyki w różnych kontekstach. Album „Angel Falls” emanuje magią muzycznej wolności, zdumiewającą bezpośredniością i urzeka olśniewającym zmysłem architektury dźwięku.

„ Angel Falls” jest sesją, w której arcymistrz Wadada Leo Smith, wspomagany i podżegany przez żarliwą ciekawość Sylvie Courvoisier angażuje słuchacza jako aktywnego twórcę prawdziwie błogiej, pięknej muzyki. To magia, która nie zdarza się czę...

Incredibly, trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith is 84 this year. I caught him recently in a duo with Swiss pianist Sylvie Courvoisier at Vilnius Jazz on his final European tour- an amazing gig which is fully reflected in this superb release by lntakt. The two are partners in the fullest musical sense - no comping, no showboating, just pure improvisational brilliance.
Smith emerged in the late 1960s, as an original voice on trumpet alongside Anthony Braxton. Later he was a central figure in the AACM. I recall his inspirational thoughts in a pamphlet from that time, where he offered what amounted to a Romantic ideal of improvisation, with the musical idea fixed in advance of its expression. Sylvie Courvoisier was born in Lausanne, Switzerland, and moved to New York in the 1990s, becoming a force on John Zorn's Downtown scene. A highly individual stylist, she met Smith during a 2017 concert curated by Zorn, and the trumpeter appeared on Courvoisier's Chimaera in 2023, alongside Christian Fennesz and others.
On Angel Falls, Courvoisier and Smith respectively alter their sound via piano preparations or trumpet mutes. Smith belongs to the contemporary jazz trumpet tradition that flows from Miles Davis's melancholic approach, and his tone is beautifully cloudy when muted. On open trumpet he's full and clear, with no loss of power into his eighties. The programmes of concert and album overlap. "Naomi Peak" features furious pummelling and glissandos. "Whispering Images" is entropic, almost nihilistic. The long, dramatic and haunting title track is beautifully paced. The album closes with the ethereal "Kairos", featuring luxuriant piano preparations and voicings that gesture towards Messiaen.
Like his contemporary Braxton, Wadada Leo Smith is prolific. I find his jazz work more impressive than his classical compositions. As a jazz soloist his playing is rich, expressive and lyrical, and the magical extended dialogue of Angel Falls is album of the year material.

Trumpeter Wadada Leo Smith and pianist Sylvie Courvoisier first played together at a concert organised by John Zorn in 2017 and have collaborated regularly since then. But this is the first time they have recorded together as a duo, a format Smith loves and regularly returns to. It was Smith who suggested they record together, Courvoisier who asked that they avoid charts. What resulted are eight tracks of stunning immediacy, a sense that sonic architecture is being discovered anew. Courvoisier remarks that, starting at noon, “We just played right through exactly the order of the CD, and exactly the amount of music on the CD, with no edits. We probably did that in two hours.” Recorded and mixed on the same day, everything was done and dusted by 5pm.

That sense of immediacy permeates every one of the eight pieces, all given their titles during a joint listen to the playback. Throughout, Smith is elegant and rarely hurried in his delivery, performing with controlled emotion whether in annunciatory fanfares or more subtle lines, sometimes with an open horn, often muted. Courvoisier is consistently inventive and unpredictable, delivering both rumbling piano rolls and a snatch of boogie-woogie, percussive interludes and romantic passages. She brings a childlike sense of wonder to the music, a joyful and spontaneous immediacy of creation, in real time. Together as Courvoisier says, “We’re like kids discovering things. … Basically, I try to erase myself and try to make him sound great.” But actually, they both sound great, complementing each other without comping, showboating or grandstanding. I hope these two fine musicians work together again soon.

https://jazzjournal.co.uk/2025/10/31/reviewed-wadada-leo-smith-sylvie-courvoisier-brigitte-beraha-ruby-rushton//

Longue de plusieurs années au sein de la scène new-yorkaise, la collaboration entre Sylvie Courvoisier et Wadada Leo Smith s’est concrétisée dernièrement autour de deux disques. Smith intervient au sein du quartet qui interprète Chimerae paru en 2023 et qui constitue d’ores et déjà à coup sûr un des sommets de l’œuvre toujours en cours de la pianiste suisse, tandis que le duo qu’ils constituent aujourd’**** pour Intakt montre une fois de plus les affinités qui les relient.

Le trompettiste a toujours su trouver l’épanouissement de son jeu en présence d’un clavier, comme en témoigne une collaboration avec Angelica Sanchez en 2013 ou plus récemment le très méditatif Central Park’s Mosaics of Reservoir, Lake, Paths and Gardens aux côtés d’Amina Claudine Myers. Avec de nombreuses nuances toutefois, les deux interprètes s’élancent cette fois dans un répertoire sans filet qui se nourrit des apports de l’autre.

Avec comme aire commune une place importante accordée au silence considéré comme un allié, les deux musiciens laissent se construire un lent dialogue qui prend le temps de laisser advenir puis se formuler les idées. Chaque geste, commun ou partagé est ainsi particulièrement abouti et la coordination entre les deux atteint un degré d’entente tel qu’on ne semble plus écouter de la musique mais plutôt assister à une chorégraphie.

Les articulations acrobatiques de Courvoisier, de même que sa capacité à utiliser l’intégralité des potentialités de son clavier dans la profondeur des basses comme dans l’espièglerie de quelques trilles aigus, tournent autour, parfois avec griserie, de la trompette puissante et immuable de Smith qui viendra soudainement se déchirer dans un cri bouleversant. Loin des compositions trop cadrées qui corsèteraient l’expressivité en la canalisant, le champ des possibles est ici totalement ouvert et dans un jeu souple et mobile les deux musiciens cherchent la bonne distance à l’autre, faisant de leur rapprochement ou de leur éloignement les conditions d’une tension en permanence régénérée et d’une intériorité qui s’épanouit dans la communion de deux individualités.

https://www.citizenjazz.com/Sylvie-Courvoisier-Wadada-Leo-Smith.html

Wadada Leo Smith enjoys recording as a duo with pianists. I have appreciated his creative merging with a variety of artists including Amina Claudine Myers, Angelica Sanchez, John Tilbury and Vijay Iyer. Perhaps, it was inevitable that he would suggest a recording with Sylvie Courvoisier. When they discussed it, Courvoisier suggested they avoid music charts. As a result of that request, the eight tracks on this album “Angel Falls” were recorded freely and uninhibited.

The two artists compliment each other, in a restless, spontaneous kind-of-way. Both are free spirits and master musicians. The original songs they sing together offer us continuous calibration and improvisation. They become a conversation between trumpet and piano right from the opening tune, “Old ‘Upnea and Lightning.” The trumpet takes the lead. Courvoisier’s piano chords fall into place, like rain to a thirsty earth. They both feed and compliment the production.

“The title reflects the world’s highest continuous waterfall in Venezuela,” Courvoisier explains. “I like the image of an angel falling down,” she refers to their album title.

The pianist and trumpeter first played together in 2017 at a concert organized by John Zorn. After that initial meeting, the two musicians exchanged phone numbers and have played together a hand full of times since that initial meeting.

The two bring artistry that draws from years of performance and decades of composing. Each has mastered the Avant-garde. They let freedom ring, allowing themselves to seek out their hidden most emotional introspection and creativity. Without charts, their music offers a new dimension of freedom and exploration. They listen to each other intently. The musical conversation is often tentative, sometimes explosive, but always unpredictable. Amazingly, they started recording this project at noon and by 5pm it was mixed, mastered and finished.

“We just played right through exactly the order of the CD, and exactly the amount of music on the CD, with no edits. We probably did that in two hours,” Sylvie stated proudly.

Composer, trumpeter and author, Wadada Leo Smith is one of the creative music world’s most heralded artists. Born December 18, 1941, in Mississippi, he grew up steeped in the Southern musical tradition, first performing in Blues bands and then traditional bands. He relocated to Chicago, joined the iconic AACM collective, and began to explore more freedom and Avant-garde exploration of jazz and other genres of music. The result is what you hear today.

Pianist, composer Sylvie Courvoisier is a Brooklyn-based native of Switzerland. She won the American Academy of Arts and Letters Music Award in 2025. She is highly capable of balancing the chamber music of her European roots with the Avant-garde jazz scene. Playing in and around NYC for more than two decades, Courvoisier has mastered both European classical music and Jazz, a music heralded as America’s only true musical art form. You hear her handling jazz, the Avant-garde, her European inflections, and a taste of the blues on their song, “Naomi Peak.”

Together, these two amazing musicians present a package of excellence and unique ingenuity.

https://www.makingascene.org/sylvie-courvoisier-wadada-leo-smith-angel-falls//

The piano enters stealthily, its ethereal elements exposed. A tentative trumpet follows, the flutter of the player’s tongue creating a sound not quite foreign to human ears and certainly not familiar. As if a veil of purple fog was playing with dewy blades of grass in a forest meadow, the piano continues suggesting an awakening as the trumpet moves toward a clarity found when that first ray of sunshine breaks through. The recording is called Angel Falls. Angel Falls is the Anglo name for the world’s tallest waterfall at 979 meters, and a plunge of 807 meters. It drops over the edge of the Auyán-tepui mountain in the Canaima National Park and is located in the Gran Sabana region of Bolívar State in Venezuela. The pianist on the recording being revealed here, Sylvie Courvoisier, remarks on another possible reference: “And I also like the image of an angel falling down.” Contemplate the concept. Does a falling angel make a sound; we know waterfalls do. When does a falling angel become a fallen angel?

There’s a chill of a certain kind I feel whenever the sound of Wadada Leo Smith’s trumpet first issues from whatever device I am listening to. It’s something akin to the shiver of anticipation before entering a place I’ve never been armed only with a general understanding that it will be unlike any other previous excursion, even if the surroundings seem intimately familiar. Smith’s latest work with pianist Sylvie Courvoisier continues this tradition; uniquely original yet satisfyingly familiar. This doesn’t mean in any way that listening to this new disc, titled Angel Falls, is predictable or comfortable, somnolent or static. It is none of those; instead it renews the concept of music while reconstituting the concept of jazz. Once again, Smith takes the elements of jazz and transcends them, creating a music that is not only of this earth. In Courvoisier, he has once again found an ideal counterpart–one whose playing ensures the music created will be considerably more than the sum of its parts. Exponentially more. Courvoisier’s piano playing assumes the piano’s traditional role of providing rhythm to the soaring and floating tones created by Smith’s trumpet while also creating melodies and harmonies of its own.

Smith and Courvoisier first played together in a 2017 concert organized by composer and sax player John Zorn, an avant-gardist in his own right. The musical attraction was instant and within a few months the two recorded a live performance with drummer Marcus Gilmore. Other collaborations followed. The booklet accompanying the disc notes Smith’s love of the piano and trumpet duet. That love and the two artists’ comfort with the format defines the work. Muted or open, Smith’s trumpet whispers, talks and ultimately sings; Courvoisier’s fingers remark, respond and encourage the musical conversation we are privileged to listen in on. There’s a sonic intuition present between the piano’s ivories, the horn’s valves and the souls that guide them that turn their musical manifestations into a celestial celebration the musicians seem happy to share. The sum is certainly greater than its parts—parts which have proven they can also stand alone without fear or hesitation.

https://www.counterpunch.org/2025/10/23/a-jazz-double-bill/

The history of humankind resounds with the sound of piano/trumpet duets. But not like this one. Not like Angel Falls. Because the true beauty of Angel Falls is that grandmaster Wadada Leo Smith, aided and abetted by the fervent curiosity of Brooklyn- based/Switzerland native pianist Sylvie Courvoisier, enlists the listener as an active creator in truly beatific, beautiful music.

That is a magic thing that does not happen often. All too often, the audience is reduced to listening and observing. Left only to marvel, judge, compare. But magic can be many things. And when it comes to duets as inspired as Angel Falls, the magic does what magic is meant to do: calm the savage beast and inspire greater dreams.

The two are coaxing. Without words. As Smith stutters and sputters, "Vireo Belli" becomes a ruminative scripture playing against Courvoisier's penetrating presence. The pianist—whose recent foray with guitarist Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells, (Pyroclastic, 2025) holds a sure lock on this year's best-of-lists—stuns and seduces in harmony, co-creating the singular "A Line Through Time" and the spiky "Sonic Utterance."

Familiar with each other's artistry through their work with John Zorn, Marcus Gilmore, and Nate Wooley Angel Falls is a through-composed passion play from the opening adagio, the limpid "Olo'Upnea and lightning" to the closing epiphany "Kairos."Propelled by Courvoisier's cunning, metabolic approach—equal parts high Euro-chamber and downtown avant- garde—and Smith's stately, mortal wisdom, "Whispering Images" becomes enshrined in time. "Naomi Peak" creates a warm, anticipatory air of prologue. "Angels Falls:" A mystery unraveled.

But pay no attention to titles. Not so much for the reason that they might mislead, but that they hold any pertinence at all. Angel Falls, recorded in two hours (perhaps, while the rest of us were napping) at Oktaven Audio in Mount Vernon, NY, by Ryan Streber, is a whole music that takes you by surprise. It is a far less abrasive language of debate. Like magic, like Angel Falls, neither happens often.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/angel-falls-sylvie-courvoisier-intakt-records__212888

It is an intense encounter lasting just over an hour. The Lausanne-based pianist Sylvie
Courvoisier, recently honored with the Swiss Music Prize, meets the trumpeter Wadada Leo
Smith, who comes from a family rooted in the Delta Blues in Louisiana and, at 84, has lost
none of his creativity. The former pioneer of the AACM movement is an exceptional figure in
modern jazz, and it was he who, after a first meeting—a concert organized by John Zorn in
2017—expressed his interest in continuing the dialogue with Courvoisier. This led to further
musical encounters in a trio. Following Smith's participation in Courvoisier's sextet
"Chimaera," this is their first joint CD as a duo, recorded and mixed in a single day, as if it
were a live concert, in New York, where both live and work.

The result is a CD that is simultaneously challenging, beautiful, and fragile, but above all
full of poetry and that curiosity and delight in the unknown that makes improvisation in jazz
so unique. And what is truly impressive: The two listen to each other very well and move
together along a "line through time" ("A Line Through Time"), as one of the most beautiful
recordings on this album is titled.

Un faccia a faccia su disco che s'aveva da fare, prima o poi. È il culmine di svariati incontri precedenti, dall'ultimo "Chimaera" (Intakt, 2023) guidato dalla pianista svizzera, in cui Smith è stato parte integrante di un ragguardevole sestetto (con Nate Wooley, Christian Fennesz, Drew Gress e Kenny Wollesen) all'iniziale incontro del 2017 in studio, in trio con Marcus Gilmore, sinora rimasto inedito. Con i tasti bianchi e neri il trombettista ha un legame particolare, basti pensare al recentissimo e compiuto duetto con Vijay lyer ("Defiant Life") e ad altri rilevanti dialoghi passati (Amina Claudine Myers, Angelica Sanchez, Aruán Ortiz). "Angel Falls" agita le acque dell'improvvisazione in piena libertà, per quanto Wadada rimanga ben ancorato a un lirismo surrealista (specie quando impiega le sordine), che rischiara di continuo il pianismo sostanzialmente spettrale di Sylvie Courvoisier. La quale crea senza sosta benefiche tensioni e arditi inciampi, anche con l'ausilio di tecniche estese sullo strumento, pratica che ha ormai interiorizzato alla perfezione. La coppia procede di continuo al limite, affacciandosi sul bordo del precipizio, facendo venire a noi la vertigine. Insieme, l'istante successivo sa come ritrovare il bilanciamento e la forza per proiettarsi in alto e in avanti. Non vi sono schemi fissi né coordinate precise, eppure i brani scaturiscono con estrema naturalezza e si srotolano compiuti, lungo una sequenza che nella sua ora di durata pare poco più di un battito d'ali.

Eine Musik, die sich jedem Schema entzieht – frei, spirituell, klanglich überwältigend. „Angel Falls“ ist kein Album im klassischen Sinn, sondern eine Begegnung zweier außergewöhnlicher Persönlichkeiten: der Schweizer Pianistin Sylvie Courvoisier, einer der bedeutendsten Stimmen des zeitgenössischen europäischen Jazz, und des legendären amerikanischen Trompeters Wadada Leo Smith, einer Schlüsselfigur des avantgardistischen Jazz.

Beide erschaffen gemeinsam einen Klangraum, der zugleich meditativ und eruptiv ist. Die Improvisationen entstehen aus einem fast telepathischen Verständnis füreinander – jeder Ton, jede Pause, jedes Atemholen scheint Teil einer größeren, ungeschriebenen Partitur zu sein. Zwischen melodischer Schönheit und frei fließenden Kaskaden entfaltet sich eine tiefe, fast rituelle Energie.

„Angel Falls“ ist ein Werk von seltener Intensität – spirituell, kompromisslos, voller innerer Logik und emotionaler Klarheit. Eine Begegnung zweier Meister, die mit ihrer Musik nicht nur kommunizieren, sondern philosophieren. Unbedingt hörenswert.

Angel Falls – Das Mysterium des gemeinsamen Atems

Das brillante Duo Angel Falls von Sylvie Courvoisier und Wadada Leo Smith ist nicht aus dem Nichts entstanden. Es ist das Ergebnis gegenseitiger Bewunderung und entstand nach einer Reihe von Begegnungen in größeren Ensembles. Die Pianistin und der Trompeter spielten erstmals 2017 bei einem von John Zorn organisierten Konzert zusammen. Smith war sichtlich beeindruckt. Courvoisier erinnert sich: „Gleich nach dem Konzert fragte er mich nach meiner Telefonnummer. Ein paar Monate später nahmen wir mit Marcus Gilmore in New Haven eine Trio-Platte auf.” Obwohl diese Aufnahme noch nicht veröffentlicht wurde, gab es seitdem regelmäßige Kooperationen, darunter weitere Trios, ein Smith-Ensemble mit zwei Klavieren und natürlich Courvoisiers „Chimaera”, ebenfalls bei Intakt, auf dem der Trompeter zusammen mit seinem Kollegen Nate Wooley zu hören ist.

Duette mit Klavier bilden einen beständigen Strang in Smiths Werk. Angesichts seiner Vorliebe für dieses Format – er hat mit so unterschiedlichen Pianisten wie Vijay Iyer, John Tilbury, Angelica Sanchez und Amina Claudine Myers aufgenommen – war es nur eine Frage der Zeit, bis er eine Platte mit Courvoisier vorschlug. Es war jedoch die Pianistin, die vorschlug, auf Noten zu verzichten. Das Ergebnis sind acht Tracks auf „Angel Falls”, die eine atemberaubende Unmittelbarkeit besitzen und dennoch ein neu entdecktes Gefühl für Klangarchitektur vermitteln.

Jeder Titel ist ein lebhafter, unruhiger Austausch von Klang und Textur, eine sich wandelnde Gemeinschaftsproduktion, die abwechselnd unbeständig und melodisch, weitläufig und elliptisch, verletzlich und selbstbewusst ist. Smith und Courvoisier ergänzen sich durchweg, ohne auf offensichtliche Spielzüge zurückzugreifen. Es gibt kein Comping, kein Showboating, sondern ein ständiges Gefühl der fortwährenden Kalibrierung: schräge Elemente, die in perfekter Balance gehalten werden.

Eine solche Kunstfertigkeit basiert auf lebenslanger musikalischer Erfahrung. Auf diesem Album kommt die Inspiration bemerkenswert unvermittelt zum Ausdruck. Courvoisier verrät: „Wir haben einfach die Reihenfolge der CD gespielt, ohne Schnitte. Das haben wir wahrscheinlich in zwei Stunden geschafft.“ Es wurde am selben Tag aufgenommen und abgemischt. Sie begannen um 12 Uhr mittags und um 17 Uhr war es fertig.

Die organische Qualität der Musik spiegelt sich in den Titeln wider, die bei einer anschließenden gemeinsamen Anhörung der Aufnahme vergeben wurden. Viele von ihnen nehmen Bezug auf die elementaren Kräfte der Natur. Über das Titelstück, das nach dem höchsten Wasserfall der Welt in Venezuela benannt wurde, sagt Courvoisier: „Und ich mag auch das Bild eines fallenden Engels.“

Smith zeigt eine großartige, poetische musikalische Präsenz. Elegant und selten gehetzt spielt er mit kontrollierter Leidenschaft, sei es in majestätischen Fanfaren oder durch Töne, die durch subtile Artikulation und Anschlag nuanciert sind und durch seinen geschickten Einsatz von Dämpfern noch erweitert werden. Sein Stiefvater war ein Delta-Bluesmusiker und dieser Geist ist auch in seinen experimentelleren Stücken nie weit entfernt. Doch Smiths Sorge um die Form vereint so unterschiedliche Einflüsse, dass sie zu einem unverwechselbaren Klang werden.

Eine Eigenschaft, die Courvoisier mit dem Trompeter teilt, ist, dass sie beide absolut einzigartig sind. Es fällt schwer, sich jemanden vorzustellen, der eine ähnliche aufregende Mischung aus zeitgenössischer klassischer Strenge, improvisatorischer Unvorhersehbarkeit und Free-Jazz-Temperament präsentiert. Ein auffälliger Aspekt ihres Programms ist die enorme klangliche Vielfalt, die sie aus dem Klavier herausholt. Im Gegensatz zu vielen anderen agiert Courvoisier jedoch ganz im Moment. „Wenn ich einen Klang in meinem Kopf höre, der nicht gedämpft werden darf, oder wenn ich etwas Pikanteres möchte, bereite ich mich sofort darauf ...