The vibe-focused songs of Apple Cores are an appropriate precursor to Abstraction Is Deliverance, the fifth album attributed to Lewis’ quartet of Taylor, pianist Aruán Ortiz, and bassist Brad Jones. While songs like “Ware” (dedicated to late saxophonist, composer, and bandleader David S. Ware) and “Remember Rosalind” are sonic journeys, the majority of the tunes here play as vignettes, despite their length. “Per 7” features a charming call and response between Lewis and Ortiz while the rhythm section lurks, off-kilter. “Even the Sparrow” seems to get quieter and calmer as it sways along. “Mr. Crick” and “Polaris” exemplify Lewis’ lyrical playing, like he’s narrating a prologue to the stories of Jones’ bass solo and Ortiz’s funk groove, respectively.

Abstraction Is Deliverance is also the more emotional of Lewis’ two albums this year, with no small thanks to its centerpiece, a stunning version of Mal Waldron’s “Left Alone”. It’s a fitting tribute not just to the composition but to Waldron’s life itself. Waldron started out playing with legends Charles Mingus and John Coltrane, became Billie Holiday’s regular accompanist until her death, overdosed and was left unable to remember music, and then gradually regained his skills. He would record, either as leader or sideman, hundreds of albums before his death in 2002 at 77. The quartet’s “Left Alone” juxtaposes Ortiz’s sprinkled piano with Jones’ foreboding bowed bass and Taylor’s trotting drums, ultimately giving way to Ortiz’ dexterous piano solo. It’s a 9-and-a-half minute piece whose sheer weight feels like it encompasses Waldron’s story more than a biopic ever could. It’s also, perhaps, the best manifestation so far of Lewis’ ever-burgeoning ethos, one in constant conversation with the past while remaining firmly rooted in deep appreciation of the collaborative process.

https://sinceileftyoublog.tumblr.com/post/785334641415667712/james-brandon-lewis-album-review-apple-cores

It seems impossible, given the breadth and depth of his output, but it’s true: Tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis has only been “on the scene” for a little over a decade. He’s made more than 20 albums under his own name in that time, and that’s not even counting the work of Heroes Are Gang Leaders, the large, Burnt Sugar-esque ensemble he co-led with poet Thomas Sayers Ellis. Lewis is extremely prolific, and the quality of his work is never less than impressive despite — maybe because of — its variety. In this piece, though, I want to focus on just one of his groups: the quartet he’s been leading since 2020 with pianist Aruán Ortiz, bassist Brad Jones, and drummer Chad Taylor.

The group seems to have arisen out of a Lewis/Taylor duo project. “I first saw Chad Taylor playing with Cooper-Moore in maybe 2014”, Lewis recalled in a 2021 interview with Troy Collins. “Anyway, we began collaborating after I did arrangements of Coltrane tunes for a solo saxophone marathon in Philly some time ago, and then decided to use those arrangements for our duo, which we recorded as our first album Radiant Imprints.”

That album, recorded in January 2017 at Park West Studios in Brooklyn, was released the following year. In its wake, the two performed in Austria, recording the album Live In Willisau, which included a version of “Willisee”, a piece from the Dewey Redman/Ed Blackwell album Red And Black In Willisau.

“My love for the duo recording Red And Black by Dewey Redman and Ed Blackwell, as well as Chad Taylor’s love for that recording, sparked our own duo and further cemented our dedication to the depth of exploration of the duo format”, Lewis told Collins. He added, “Chad has a high level of melodic lines via the drums and it inspires me. Also, his use of mbira adds to his overall artistry in very dynamic ways. His versatility in knowing many musical genres allows me to draw from multiple influences within my own experience, giving me ultimate freedom.”

The first James Brandon Lewis Quartet album, Molecular, was recorded in January 2020 and released later that year. His previous working group had been a trio with bassist Luke Stewart and drummer Warren Trae Crudup III, which expanded to include guitarist Anthony Pirog and trumpeter Jaimie Branch. With those collaborators, Lewis swirled hard bop, post-harmolodic funk, and rock into a loud, cathartic sound, jazz you could pump your fist to. This, though, was something very different.

The tenor saxophone is the beating heart of jazz. The lineage of jazz tenor saxophone, from the 1920s to the present day, represents a legacy that living musicians must grapple with, night after night, on stages and in recording studios around the globe. Coleman Hawkins, Lester Young, Don Byas, Jimmy Heath, Sonny Rollins, Dexter Gordon, Eddie “Lockjaw” Davis, Johnny Griffin, Charlie Rouse, Gene Ammons, Hank Mobley, Fred Anderson, Archie Shepp… the list goes on and on.

The modern tenor saxophone quartet, though, exists in the shadow of John Coltrane. It’s that simple. Obviously, he wasn’t the first tenor saxophonist to record and perform with that combination of musicians, but his work in quartet format from 1962 to early 1965 has become paradigmatic. Since Coltrane’s death, saxophonists — even legends like Sonny Rollins and Joe Henderson, never mind (chronologically if not stylistically) post-Coltrane players like David Murray and David S. Ware — have often seemed to approach their quartet albums with a certain obligation toward gravitas. And that’s definitely true of the work of the James Brandon Lewis Quartet. The compositions on Molecular have a stateliness and grace that he sidesteps in much of his other music.

That’s partly because they’re written according to a set of principles Lewis refers to as Molecular Systematic Music, which he explained in a 2020 essay. Fundamentally, his concept is that the sum of what a musician has heard in their life is the DNA of what they will play on their chosen instrument. “MSM offers musicians a way to discover their own musical DNA by examining their prior musical experiences, yielding a chart in the form of a ‘molecule’ which may then be used to generate ideas for composition and improvisation.”

Of course, a group’s sound is created by all of its players, and that’s certainly true here. Pianist Aruán Ortiz is adept at blurring jazz, the music of his native Cuba, and avant-garde/modern classical composition into one unique sound. Bassist Brad Jones is a subtle, calming presence, existing at the center of the music, not so much an anchor as a celestial body everything else orbits. And drummer Chad Taylor has a rolling, tom-heavy style that blends swing with diasporic grooves. And the three of them were playing together before Lewis came on board; they have a trio album from 2018, Live In Zurich, that’s very different from the quartet’s music. The performance consists of a 34-minute medley of two pieces, followed by an 18-minute one, and ends ...

Working through a series of tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger’s compositions, the Swiss Pilgrim quintet uses this live session to personify its variant on contemporary improvisation. Well played with just a touch of extended techniques, the program is substantive, but not as daring as the audience – and possibly the musicians – considered. With the straight-ahead stance rarely breeched, forays into Rock-styled flanges from guitarist Dave Gisler and a few intense squeaks and split tones from Irniger appear to be carefully controlled departures, which underscore the linear nature of the tunes, Bassist Raffaele Bossard’s pizzicato variables usually take the form of low-key thumps, while pianist Stefan Aeby mostly concentrates on disciplined comping and coloring, with the same intent from drummer Michael Stulz’s smacks and thumps.

That means most tunes are propelled like “Emergency Exit”. Forward motion is emphasized, with moderated piano expressions widening into the melody, only slightly interrupted later on with reed honks, doubled drum pumps and expanded guitar licks. Only bisected with a few short interludes, this policy is followed pretty much throughout the set. Irniger’s reed flutters and expressive variations frequently fasten onto keyboard slides, which when joined by one or another of the players evolves with multiple counterpoint.

Intensity and emphasis are more extrusive when band members stretch out a little further as they do on “Calling the Spirits” and “Seven Down Eight Up”. The first is atmospheric enough to echo 1970s spiritual Jazz with piano syncopation and double bass buzzes preserving the broken octave evolution. This surface gives the saxophonist a base on which to express doits and honks while Gisler seems to alternate between chamber patterns and charged projections.

This seeming unwillingness to go beyond the limits of decorum affects the entire session even when as on “Seven Down Eight Up” it appears the five are prepared to go further. Effervescent with a stop-time exposition propelled by the pianist’s light-fingered groove and Bossard’s pizzicato variable, the pace picks up as intermittent bass thumps back Irniger’s note-bending ascends to intense double tonguing and near screeches seconded by the guitar’s blurred fingering flanges and Stefan Aeby’s double speed comping, The saxophonist though soon relaxes his outpourings joining with the pianist to repeat theme variations.

An adept night’s work for an appreciative audience, Human Intelligence clearly shows what this group of pilgrims offer in a live setting. A wish that this pilgrimage had been more challenging and move into unfamiliar territory exists however.

https://www.jazzword.com/reviews/christoph-irniger-pilgrim/

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

Splash is a new trio led by pianist and composer Myra Melford, featuring bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith. The project is the latest installment of Melford’s work inspired by post-abstract expressionist painter Cy Twombly. The sudden action implied by the trio’s name reflects the kinetic energy in Twombly’s paintings, making Splash a truly exciting debut; one can easily hear that without having seen Twombly’s art – although the painting from the Lepanto cycle on the album cover certainly suggests the vibrant abstractions within.

Melford has studied Twombly’s work since witnessing a major retrospective of his at the Museum of Modern Art three decades ago. Over the last several years, Melford has explored this interest with her quintet Fire and Water (named after a series of Twombly paintings); composed a set of Twombly-related music for MZM (a trio with harpist Zeena Parkins and koto player Miya Masaoka); and plans to investigate similar ideas with bassist Joëlle Léandre. Splash is Melford’s latest response to this artistic legacy, starting a new chapter in her august career as a bandleader.

Recalling her 1990s work with the collective Trio M (with bassist Mark Dresser and drummer Matt Wilson), Formanek and Smith are also renowned improvisers, composers, and bandleaders. Together with Melford, they evoke the dynamic volatility of Twombly’s work, but as alert listeners and adept accompanists their versatile range also facilitates chamberlike options, especially when Formanek plays arco and Smith switches to vibraphone. These occasional diversions yield a delicate beauty, flush with impressionistic filigrees and pointillist asides. Beyond such relief, Melford’s expansive compositions for this trio strike a balance between formal design and vivacious spontaneity.

Jagged lyricism contrasts with steady grooves on the opener, “Drift,” where Melford’s flinty cadences careen over the rhythm section’s driving momentum before a pneumatic unaccompanied bass interlude is complemented by luminous vibraphone and piano, followed by fervent improvisations on vibes and then drums over a mesmerizing piano vamp. The more experimental “The Wayward Line” follows with frenzied collective abstraction passing through reflective tonalities, culminating in a probing piano passage at a frantic tempo. “Freewheeler” similarly surges with unflagging force, before suddenly downshifting to highlight Smith’s dulcet vibraphone, which contrasts with the leader’s propulsive determination. “Streaming” kicks off with more rambunctious drumming and funky bass, while pirouetting piano melodies dance above, eventually joined by bowed bass and scintillating vibraphone.

Working in tandem, “A Line with a Mind of Its Own” finds bass and piano performing in parallel, while Smith plays drums with lock-step precision until a pliant piano solo unifies with a melodic line. Conversely, Formanek alternates between Melford and Smith on “Dryprint,” partnering with one then the other to contrast with the odd trio-mate out – it’s as striking an approach as Twombly’s brushwork. Likewise, three untitled “Interludes” scattered about the program each feature a different soloist, while the other two musicians work from a score. Providing final respite, “Chalk” closes the album with shimmering, neo-classical modality. Melford loops repeated pitch sets in repetitive patterns that change speeds, emulating a specific painting – “Untitled, 1970” – that features three coiled lines scrawled across a canvas.

As part of Melford’s continued investigation of Twombly’s work, her sonic interpretations of his visual art come not out of literal transposition, but through implied action. The relationship between Melford’s current music and Twombly’s oeuvre doesn’t need to be fully understood to appreciate it, but it wouldn’t exist in its current form without it. Melford gives her trio-mates ample interpretive freedom on Splash, and together they demonstrate expansive sonic palettes that are as searching and expressive as Twombly’s art.

https://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD91/PoD91MoreMoments4.html

Den engelske pianisten Alexander Hawkins er i mine ører en av de aller viktigste nye stemmene i pianojazzens univers.

Den 44 år gamle Alexander Hawkins har sakte, men sikkert etablert seg på ei stadig høyere hylle i jazzens verden. Hadde han ikke kommet fra fotballøya, men fra det som en gang var det forjettede land, så hadde
Hawkins hatt jazzikalsk verdensherredømme allerede. Med hans ferske solo-visittkort på plass, så er det uansett å håpe at store deler av musikkverdenen får oppleve hans genialitet.

Forskjellige settinger

Hawkins, født og oppvokst i en akademikerfamilie i Oxford med en svært musikkinteressert far, har gått den relativt tradisjonelle veien via klassisk musikk før improvisert musikk fikk en stadig viktigere plass i livet hans. Bach og Ligeti og seinere Bartók har vært viktige inspirasjonskilder for Hawkins og er det fortsatt og måten han har kombinert det med filosofien til Chicago-kollektivet AACM og pianister som Craig Taborn, David Virelles og tidligere retningsgivere som Mary Lou Williams, Mal Waldron og Cecil Taylor, har ført til et helt unikt solopiano-uttrykk.

Korte låter

Det strålende og informative tekstheftet til cd-en, slikt finnes ikke i strømmeuniverset gitt, forteller oss hvor Hawkins kommer fra og hvordan disse 13 landskapene har vokst frem. Her er det mange typer
stemninger skapt av en teknisk briljant pianist som ikke bruker teknikken til å imponere, men til å skape noe høyst inderlig basert på inspirasjonskilder og omskapt til hans svært personlige språk.

Her er det mulig å høre noe lyrisk, varmt og empatisk – musikk skapt ut av kraft og overbevisning. Dette er musikk skapt av Alexander Hawkins og som ikke kunne vært unnfanget av noen andre. Fantastisk!

https://torhammero.blogg.no/en-av-de-nye-store-6.html

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

Erano ben sei anni che Alexander Hawkins non pubblicava un album da solista e devo ammettere che pur se i suoi multiformi lavori, con altri musicisti in varie formazioni, sono sempre stati di qualità elevatissima, il “piano solo” è sempre, a dir poco, strabiliante. Quale è la forma del jazz contemporaneo al pianoforte? Se per altri valenti compositori potremmo dire che “è anche questo”, per Hawkins credo si possa affermare che “è questo”, poiché in lui, come in pochi altri, la mutevolezza, la poliformità, l’imprevedibilità, il rigore nella casualità dell’improvvisazione, tutto questo e tutto insieme, vi trovano dimora. La musica di Alexander Hawkins è classica, ma fuori misura, è canonicamente jazz, ma senza regole immutabili.

Del resto, anche per formazione musicale e culturale, Hawkins studia la classica, la musica contemporanea (la cosiddetta musica colta) e il jazz e lo fa sincronicamente e questo non poteva certa non avere conseguenze nel suo “modus operandi”. Se ascoltando Song Bewildered (che allude a un pezzo inedito del trombettista Bill Dixon, un maestro dell’inquietudine), tratto da questo suo eccezionale album intitolato Song Unconditional, vi vien da pensare a Debussy o se ascoltando Song of A Quiet Ecstatic la vostra mente vi porta al ricordo di una quasi dimenticata Gymnopedye o ad un recondito Nocturne di Satie e se inoltre, magari, Polyphonic Song vi fa pensare a qualche parte del Munich Concert di Keith Jarrett, non temete, non è la vostra capacità di definire la musica di Hawkins a far difetto, ma solo la sua capacità, di inglobare nelle sue composizioni, echi della storia della musica classica e del miglior jazz, ricreandone armonie, frasi, ritmi, toni, stilemi e, soprattutto atmosfere, pur nella sua continua ed originalissima ricerca. Sì, si tratta proprio di Song Unconditional, perché per Hawkins sembra che il pianoforte nasconda un segreto e che questo segreto lo si possa svelare, solo ed esclusivamente, dopo aver sfogliato lo strumento come una cipolla, dopo aver cercato tutte le combinatorie possibili ed immaginabili dei suoni, solo dopo averlo “fatto cantare” sotto una soave tortura. E non è detto che il segreto dello strumento alla fin fine sia svelato. Hawkins, utilizza tutto ciò che la scrittura musicale mette a disposizione: polifonia, antifonia, voci accordali in contrappunto, accordi a blocco, contrasti di dinamica, altezza e timbro, la continua ed estenuante ricerca, fatta con il pianoforte e non solo sul pianoforte, rivela il potere di incommensurabile suggestione che la musica porta con sé. Nelle note di copertina che accompagnano il disco, Adam Shatz scrive di “meraviglie di esplorazione condensata” e aggiunge che Song Unconditional è uno degli album per pianoforte solo più impressionanti degli ultimi anni, insieme ad Avenging Angel di Craig Taborn e Nuna di David Virelles. Mi piacerebbe aggiungere a questi eccellenti lavori anche Splash di Myra Melford di cui ho scritto da queste pagine qualche tempo fa, come mi piace ricordare anche Alexander, seduto poco distante da me, mentre incantato ascoltava Myra Melford nel magnifico concerto di Palazzo Bellini in occasione di NovaraJazz Festival 2024.

L’indicazione è quella di ascoltare l’intera serie dei brevi brani come proposti dal disco, ma è evidente che poi ognuno di noi possa indugiare e farsi rapire da qualche singolo brano, come è capitato a me con lo struggente Her Heart Carries Gold To Match Her Eyes, con quell’incedere profondo e solenne sul quale altri suoni sembrano cercare una propria vita autonoma. Adoro i brevi accordi cristallini e “mattutini”, come da un corpo che si risveglia, di Polyphonic Song, così come amo l’aspetto più di ricerca jazz di Satin Antiphonal. Il fatto è che Alexander Hawkins è un musicista completo, maturo pur nella sua infaticabile ricerca, è un compositore, per così dire, “esaustivo” con una non comune capacità di farsi attraversare dalla musica, anzi dalla cultura musicale di almeno due secoli. Il bello è che Alexander Hawkins ha 44 anni ed è facile immaginare quante strade ancora inesplorate potrà ancora percorrere. Per la nostra gioia.

Alexander Hawkins
"Ich liebe das Staunen"
Ob als Leader oder als Sideman - Alexander Hawkins gehörtzu den gefragten Shootingstars der brodelnden britischenJazzszene. Mit Song Unconditional legt der produktive Pianistnun wieder ein Soloalbum vor - das erste seit sieben Jahren.
von Harry Schmidt

„Ich habe bisher alle fünf Jahre ein Solo-album gemacht und hatte das Gefühl, dasssich mein Material so weit entwickelt hatte,dass ich bereit war, es erneut zu dokumen-tieren." So einfach und selbstverständlichhört sich das an, wenn Alexander Hawkinssich dazu äußert, was zur Veröffentlichungvon Song Unconditional geführt hat, dasnun beim Schweizer Label Intakt erschie-nen ist, wie zahlreiche Longplayer seit dem2018 erschienenen Iron into Wind, demletzten Soloalbum des britischen Pianisten.So kann man die 13 „Songs" - dieMehrzahl von ihnen trägt diese Bezeich-nung im Titel - als „Ergebnis einer Linie"hören, ganz analog dazu, wie der 1981 inOxford geborene Musiker seinen Werde-gang als Pianist darstellt. In einem kunst-sinnigen Akademikerhaushalt aufgewachsen,kam Hawkins mit Jazz und klassischerMusik gleichermaßen früh in Berührung.Im Alter von sechs Jahren begann er mitklassischem Klavierunterricht, parallel dazuerlaubte die umfangreiche Schallplatten-sammlung seines Vaters ein tiefes Eintau-chen in die Jazzgeschichte. Im Gegensatzzur Klassik, ,wo Kontrolle und Verständnisabsolut alles sind", war er hier fasziniertvom „schwer greifbaren Wesen" des Jazz,das „der analytische, rationale Teil meines Gehirns nur schwer einordnen konnte.Alles, was ich nicht sofort begreife, sprichtmich direkt an. Ich liebe das Staunen, dasNicht-Begreifen, das Sich-darin-treiben-lassen." Chronologisch habe er die Jazzstil-geschichte in sich aufgesogen. Er begannmit dem frühen Ellington und wandte sichdann nach und nach Monk, Powell, MaryLou Williams, Mal Waldron, Cecil Taylor undDon Pullen zu.Waldrons „blutrünstige Wiederho-lungen",, der komplexe Aufbau von CecilTaylors Improvisationen, das „Gefühl desMysteriums", das Arturo Benedetti Michel-angeli oder Craig Taborn erzeugen, dasWunder von Geri Allens Home Grown, dasHawkins den „,Stein von Rosette' für dasVerständnis des zeitgenössischen Solo-klavierspiels" nennt - all das und noch vielmehr spiegelt sich auf den Tracks von SongUnconditional in Form einer synoptischenSynthese, die ihresgleichen sucht.Dass Hawkins, der seit einem Jahr-zehnt auch in den Bands des südafrikani-schen Schlagzeugers Louis Moholo-Moholound des Ethio-Jazz-Pioniers Mulatu Astatkespielt, als Jugendlicher zur Orgel, mit18 Jahren zurück zum Klavier wechselte,um dann in Cambridge Jura zu studierenund in Kriminologie zu promovieren („Ichwollte mich in eine ganz andere Richtungbewegen, bevor ich diese wieder über Bord warf"), sind nur einige weitere Facetten die-ses unkonventionellen Künstlers. Kurzum:Die oben erwähnte „Linie" ist Bestandteileiner komplexeren Geometrie, um nicht zusagen: Architektur. Denn jedes Stück aufSong Unconditional gründet laut Hawkinsauf einer „Materialeinheit, sei es eine rhyth-mische Idee, eine melodische oder eineharmonische, die suggestiv genug ist, umauf eine bestimmte Klangwelt hinzuweisen,ohne jedoch den Verlauf der Ausführung zubestimmen."Tatsächlich gleichen seine „Songs"Laborräumen zur Untersuchung derAusdrucksmöglichkeiten des Klaviers. ImOpener „Polyphonic Song" überlagern sichfünf Stimmen in luzider Polyphonie, dieHawkins zunehmend impressionistisch ver-wischt und leicht bluesig einfärbt, für „SatinAntiphonal" erkundet er Duke Ellingtonsund Billy Strayhorns „Satin Doll" im synko-pierten Idiom des Pianola-Pioniers ConlonNancarrow. In Two Trees Equal" hat der43-Jährige, gleichsam als akustische Signa-tur, ein Tonfolgenmotiv mit seinen Initialeneinkomponiert, eine Verbeugung vor Bachund Schostakowitsch. Während der Vorbe-reitungen für die Aufnahmen übte er Etüdenvon Ligeti: „Ich dachte, vielleicht sollte ichmir noch einmal dieses Repertoire zu Ge-müte führen, das so schwer zu spielen ist,dass es dich in den Hintern tritt, wenn du esnicht richtig lernst. Was ich an Ligeti liebe,ist die spielerische Natur der Wiederholun-gen, die Klangfülle, die Art und Weise, wiejede Komposition für einen kurzen Momentin einer Klangwelt lebt."
Im „Song of Infinite Variations" klingtdie einer Naturgewalt ähnliche, stupendeImaginationskraft und Projektionsfähigkeiteines Cecil Taylor an, als dessen würdigerErbe Alexander Hawkins sich hier er-weist. „Was mich bei Cecil immer stärkeranspricht, ist der Aufbau und die Stren-ge seiner Musik", sagt Hawkins hierzu,„denn wenn er sich loslöst, kann man dieVeränderung wirklich spüren, genauso wieman sie spüren kann, wenn Stockhausenin Gruppen plötzlich den seriellen Rahmenverlässt". Taxonomischen Schützengräbenund Distinktionsbedürfnissen gegenüberbleibt er indes skeptisch: „Immer mehrverstehe ich, dass Wahrhaftigkeit dasist, was sich mitteilt. Und obwohl ich dieBelagerungsmentalität der Avantgardistenschätze, möchte ich doch, dass die Leuteder Musik zuhören. Musik is...

Described as innovative and as “constructing a new sound world”, Hawkins has been making albums since 2009 both as a pianist and Hammond organist. There are thirteen compact solo instrumental pieces where the pianist explores “the expressive possibilities of the piano”; Adam Shatz in the liner notes refers to “marvels of compressed exploration”. Early on he idolised Art Tatum (Lots of technical prolificity need then!), also absorbing the music and moves of the likes of Monk, Bud Powell, Elmo Hope and Cecil Taylor.

My impression is that this is a great album for putting on in the background, but also for serious piano aficionados for appreciation and study; perhaps as a listener best appreciated selectively to appreciate the intricacies and nuances of each piece. ‘Polyphonic Song’ is an impressive opener, as Hawkins ingenuously builds towards a repetitive and haunting piano motif with astute variations before a ‘winding down’ diminuendo. The next piece is more complex, but perhaps not as arresting, to be appreciated in a different kind of way perhaps. I detected classical influences on ‘Song of Infinite Variations’ (Some of the titles are giveaways!); ‘Song Symmetrical’ is a grand reverie with beguiling serpentine piano runs. The refined obtuseness of Cecil Taylor’s pianistic style is reflected on pieces like ‘Crinkle, Crinkle’ and ‘Song of Interdependence’ while the closing two pieces use an uncustomary number of chords and less extrapolation in a satisfyingly atmospheric conclusion to an artist whose subtle sonic piano explorations has won the admiration of reviewers, audiences and fellow musicians such as saxophonist Shabaka Hutchings who made a surprise appearance on stage with Hawkins in December, 2023.

https://www.Dimensions in Sound and Space.com/post/alexander-hawkins-song-unconditional-intakt-records-2025

The nine original tracks in 64 minutes as performed in 2023 Germany by Switzerland’s resident genius sax man, Christoph Irniger, and his amazing Pilgrim quintet, make Human Intelligence Live (Intakt) an adventure. With some tracks freely improvised – spontaneous composition! – and others notated, the journey starts with “Hendrix.” (Check out guitarist Dave Gisler’s spiraling solo.) These guys have been playing together for the last 15 years, thus their chemistry is as intuitive as it is second-nature. “The Kraken,” is under two minutes and “Calling The Spirits” is over 14 minutes. This is an album to lose one’s self within. There’s new things to discover with each new listen.

https://www.theaquarian.com/2025/04/16/rant-n-roll-five-discoveries/

Myra Melford Splash is a damned exciting piano trio record. You can know that without immersing yourself in the paintings of Cy Twombly, whose work inspires the music — although the piece on the album cover (part of Twombly’s famed Lepanto cycle) certainly suggests the bright contrast, odd shapes and ordered abstraction within.

What’s more important is that those elements make Splash a blast to listen to. Pianist Melford’s expressionistic squiggles really pop against bassist Michael Formanek and drummer/vibraphonist Ches Smith’s deceptively steady grooves on “Drift.” Inversely, it’s they who stand out against her determined propulsion on “Freewheeler.” “A Line With A Mind Of Its Own” finds all three players somehow in relief against each other, each playing their own version of the idea expressed in the title while also working in tandem. One never knows where any or all of them will go, but it sure is fun to find out.

A powerful sense of kinesis drives the entire album (not unlike the graffitiesque forms in Twombly’s art, but, again, that’s a minor point). In the first two of Splash’s three “interludes,” that kinesis functions ironically; frantic or pointed piano, bass and vibes figures converge into placid, meditative wholes. (The closing “Chalk,” though not an interlude, does the same.) The third accomplishes a more daunting task as a tranquil whole deconstructs itself into oblong shards — without sacrificing the tranquility.

It’s “Drypaint,” however, that best showcases the motion at work in this music. Formanek transitions back and forth between Melford and Smith, partnering with one then the other to draw angular, segmented lines that aggressively clash with whoever is the odd trio-mate out at any given moment. It’s as striking and fresh an approach as Twombly’s.

https://downbeat.com/reviews/editorspicks/april-2025#15465

"The one thing I concluded was not to try and reproduce a live event—I thought, live goals are different. There might be more improvisation, more risk," Christoph Irniger reflects in the liner notes to Pilgrim's 2023 studio album Ghost Cat (Intakt). The saxophonist and composer reinforces the idea with this electrifying live recording, captured at Red Horn District in Bad Meinberg, Germany, in November 2023.

For 14 years, Irniger's quintet—pianist Stefan Aeby, guitarist Dave Gisler, bassist Raffaele Bossard and drummer Michael Stulz —have been refining their chemistry, releasing half a dozen albums along the way. Here, they embrace unpredictability, performing without a set list and allowing composed material to flow seamlessly into group improvisations. The result is a performance that feels both risky and deeply intuitive—in the best possible way.

The quintet's synergy is evident from the start. The concert opens with "Hendrix," where Stulz's meditative touch on pads and cymbals draws the ensemble in before Gisler launches into a blues-soaked homage to Jimi Hendrix. "Calling the Spirits" sustains the introspective mood with bowed strings, plucked piano insides, bells, and airy saxophone, gradually building into soaring solos reminiscent of Wayne Shorter's final ensemble. Irniger knows exactly when to shout and when to whisper, skillfully balancing power with restraint.

Elsewhere, "Secret Level" evokes the percussive chants of Kahil El'Zabar, while "Seven Down Eight Up" playfully stutters with glitch-like bursts of notes. The quintet constructs complexity through continuous deconstruction and reinvention, a feat made possible by their deep musical connection.

By the time the concert reaches its closing piece, "Back in the Game," the journey has come full circle. Irniger's final notes serve as both a reflective farewell and a musical remedy—an uplifting conclusion to an exhilarating, boundless performance.

https://www.allaboutjazz.com/human-intelligence-live-christoph-irnigers-pilgrim-intakt-records

Wir beginnen mit zwei (zumindest zum Teil) deutschen Produktionen: Als erstes hätten wir da "Human Intelligence Live"(Intakt) von CHRISTOPH IRNIGERs Quintett PILGRIM. Der Schweizer Tenorsaxophonist hat an seiner Seite u.a. Dave Gisler und dessen Gitarre begeistert schon im opener "Hendrix" auf einer soliden p-b-dr-Grundlage mit Soli im Stile des Namengebers. Die 2023 live und ohne feste set-list in einem Jazzclub in Bad Meinberg aufgenommene Platte ist keine der großen Ausbrüche, sondern eher eine der feinen KlangErkundungen, wie sich z.B. bei "Secret Level" nachhören lässt. Die 13minütige KurzSuite "Seven Down Eight Up" hingegen durchlebt die Freiheiten des Jazz in allen hier beteiligten Instrumenten, hat aber auch elegische und klassisch-rhythmische Teile. Kann man so machen! 4
Ähnliches lässt sich vom im Kölner "Loft" aufgenommenen "Rhythm Riot" (Jazzsick) des Trios um den Pianisten CHRISTIAN PABST sagen. Hier federt unter den KlavierLinien und dem zurückhaltend-soliden Schlagzeug (Erik Kooger) André Nendza's feiner Kontrabass. 4
Verglichen mit dem vom norwegischen SchlagzeugBerserker und den niederländischen GitarrenTerroristen sonst Gewohnten ist das, was der PAAL NILSSEN-LOVE CIRCUS WITH THE EX GUITARS zu Beginn von "Turn Thy Loose" (PNL) erklingen lässt, beinahe brav. Aber das ändert sich recht schnell und aus kurzen TonSchnipseln erwächst bald eine große, hier aber doch immer auch melodiös eingehegte (hört die erste Hälfte von "Bota Fogo"!) FreeJazzOrgie. Trompete, AltSax, Akkordeon, akustische und elektrifizierte Bässe, PNLs Schlagzeug und die The Ex-GitarrenFraktion samt der experimentellen Sängerin Juliana Venter spielen sich Schritt für Schritt in und durch die Ekstase! Inkl. "the band's new mosh pit dance piece, "Calls: Let They Free!" ". 5
QUENTIN ROLLET & JEROME LORICHON verbinden auf "Planisphère" (Prohibited) SchrillJazzBläsereien mit ElektroLärm. Rollet lässt überblasenes SaxFauchen zu einem bedrohlichen Röcheln werden und schiebt zarte MelodieLinien über indefinente Geräusche, die Lorichon u.a. einem Buchla 208 entlockt. Die Rückseite ist etwas, ähm, - nunja! - beatlastiger oder rhythmischer wäre völlig verkehrt, vielleicht: Schlag-orientierter. Obschon auch hier diverse Kunstfertigkeiten aus BlasinstrumentenMundstücken den GesamtKlang dominieren. 5
Wenn die Trompeterin Hilde Marie Holsen und Magnus Bugge (AnalogSynths) als BILAYER gemeinsam musizieren, geschieht für gewöhnlich Magisches. "Illrie" (Aurora) ist ihre zweite Kollaboration mit der ebenso abenteuerlustigen AvantStreicherin SARAH-JANE SUMMERS. Es beginnt mit fein texturiertem OberflächenLärm, in den sich nach ca. 2 Minuten eine wunderbare BratschenLinie schleicht. In "Stifølgje" (die Bezeichnungen der Stücke verweisen jeweils auf alte westnorwegische Dialektworte) greift etwas nordische Folklore und in "Aminje" verschwimmt die Violine dann zu einem zart beißenden Pfeifen. Sehr schön. 5
Auch bei "Peak Plastique" (Unsounds) gesellt sich eine Geigerin zu einem eingespielten Duo. ANNA McMICHAEL spielt hier mit Erik Griswold (p) und Vanessa Tomlinson (perc.) aka. CLOCKED OUT eine fein zwischen Minimal Music und experimenteller Avantgarde ausgependelte Musik. Schade, dass es die "nur" als download gibt. 4
SULLIVAN JOHNS "Pitched Variations" (Moving Furniture) erscheinen in der "Contemporary Series" des Amsterdamer Feinschmeckerlabels und genau da gehören sie auch hin. Wir hören lang stehende StreicherTöne, zu denen sich mal früher mal später eine zweite Stimme gesellt. Dazu treten (verfremdete) FagottSounds und sehr sparsame Elektronik (die dann am ehesten als Rückkopplung oder EndlosDelay). Dem Grunde nach bin ich von sowas ja ein großer Fan, hier befällt mich ab und an jedoch eine gewisse Langeweile. Wobei der "Bassoon Pitch" - wenig überraschend (ich liebe das Fagott!) - in seiner Verschachtelung von kurzen tiefen Stößen und in jedem Sinne höheren Erwiderungen schon sehr geil ist. 4
Aber wir waren ja eben schon mal (fast) bei Minimal Music. Dieser rechnet mancher auch das Werk von YANN TIERSEN (zumindest in Teilen) zu – ich lasse hier mal offen, ob das musikwissenschaftlich korrekt ist. Sicher ist hingegen, dass die neue Arbeit des Bretonen sehr interessant ist. Denn nach knapp 45 Minuten feinsinnlich-impressionistischer (von der zerkauten Banalität einer "Amélie" weit entfernter) KlavierTräumereien zeigt Tiersen auf "Rathlin From a Distance | The Liquid Hour" (Mute) unvermittelt sein anderes Gesicht: nachdem man die besagte Dreiviertelstunde aus der Ferne auf die bei Birdwatchern beliebte schottische Insel Rathlin gestarrt hat, beginnt nun nämlich die semi-elektronische "flüssige Stunde". Ein "Stourm" weht über den "Caledonian Canal", StreicherPatterns oszillieren um kurze BläserMelodien, die sich in ein elektronische Klopfen und Rauschen auflösen, aus dem schließlich ein beinahe clubtaugliches Stampfen, Dudeln und mechanisches Singen wird. Es pluckert eine drum-machine, SynthBässe strukturieren tief unten die scharfen Samples...

Wer wie ich Christoph Irniger und seine Pilgrims schon oft im Konzert erlebt hat, weiß, wovon ich spreche: Aus so einem Konzert geht man beseelt nach Hause. Die positive Energie des glücklichen Miteinanders trägt einen einfach nach Hause.

In den Clubs, wo man eng zusammen sitzt und mit Christoph Irniger selbst sprechen kann, entsteht eine Atmosphäre, die die Musiker trägt und das Feedback der Besucher, die Musiker anspornt, ihr Bestes zu geben. Auch wenn die Tour langwierig und ermüdend ist. Christoph Irniger sagte mir, dass er lieber zehn Konzerte in kleinen Clubs gibt, als auf großen Bühnen, wo man die Zuhörer kaum sehen kann. Spätestens ab „Calling The Sprits“ ist die Energie spürbar, die die Konzerte der Pilgrims auszeichnet. Schaut, wo sie spielen, und geht hin. Dieses Release ist die beste Werbung dafür.

Das Quintett Pilgrim, um den Züricher Tenorsaxophonisten Christoph Irniger, ist über die Jahre zu einem der aufregendsten Ensembles des jungen europäischen Jazz gereift (Jazziz Magazine) und legt im März 2025 ihr sechstes Album “Human Intelligence Live” bei Intakt Records vor.

In ihrer glänzend durchdachten, aber dennoch großzügig offenen Musik, setzt das Quintett Mehrdeutigkeit als Werkzeug ein. Einige Kompositionen sind frei improvisiert während andere vollständig notiert sind, die meisten aber liegen dazwischen, mit einer Flexibilität, die ein Leben voll von Freiheit widerspiegelt, in dem fundierte Entscheidungen spontan getroffen werden. Der dazugehörige Soundtrack oszilliert zwischen rätselhafter Selbstreflexion und wilden Eruptionen, wobei die Musiker einen vollen, dichten Rundum-Sound schaffen, der sich nur schwer kategorisieren lässt.

Fertige Noten sind für Pilgrim nichts anderes als eine Überschrift, ein Thema einer möglichen Geschichte oder eine Tür, die in einen weiteren musikalischen Freiraum führt. Egal, welcher Musiker ein Thema aufgreift, er wird die Geschichte jeweils anders erzählen. Was sich in absichtsvoll kontrolliertem Vorgehen nicht durchsetzt, hinterlässt seine Spuren in unterbewusster Verarbeitung und Reifung. Es kann in anderer Qualität wieder auftauchen und Eingang finden. Dass dies keine frommen Wünsche oder Gemeinplätze sind, ist immer wieder an den überraschenden Umschlagpunkten in Pilgrims Musik erlebbar. Diese sorgen dafür, dass das Spiel scharf und sich wirklich ereignend bleibt. In den Liner Notes der aktuellen Aufnahme schreibt Kevin LeGendre: “An dieser Musik ist nichts künstlich. Die Gruppe beeindruckt durch grosse Geschlossenheit und enormen Einfallsreichtum, was das Resultat der wachsenden Empathie der Musiker untereinander ist, sowie der Präzision des Spiels jedes Einzelnen.” Oder Peter Margasak zur vorletzten Aufnahme “Crosswinds”: “Irniger und seine Bandkollegen haben einen reichhaltigen zeitgenössischen Sound entwickelt, der Ideen einiger der wichtigsten US-amerikanischen Vordenker in Sachen Harmonie mit einem ausgesprochen europäischen Flair vereint.“

https://radiohoerer.info/release-tipp-christoph-irniger-pilgrim-human-intelligence-live-intakt-records/

È sempre arduo mettere a confronto musica e pittura, ma è anche sempre molto stimolante ed è ancora più complicato portare avanti un discorso musicale riferendosi ad un singolo pittore e far nascere così una dialettica serrata tra musica e pittura. Il più delle volte i musicisti che lo hanno fatto non sono andati oltre l’evocazione di un artista, attraverso i titoli dei brani, magari con riferimenti vaghi o più semplicemente attraverso una dedica o qualche nota di copertina. In questo caso, invece, Myra Melford fa di più e si cimenta in un vero e proprio corpo a corpo con un artista molto originale e molto noto in Italia come Cy Twombly che visse anche lungamente a Roma. Per questo cimento, la grande pianista statunitense trascina con sé anche la sua formazione appositamente costituita e composta dalla stessa Myra al pianoforte, Michael Formanek al contrabbasso, Ches Smith alla batteria e alle percussioni. Date queste premesse, direi che c’è di che raccontare e da raccontare molto di questo disco.

Questa volta ci troviamo di fronte ad una grandiosa musicista che ha studiato a fondo l’opera di un artista, prendendo le mosse da una storica mostra intitolata CY Twombly: a Retrospective che si tenne al MoMa di New York tra il settembre del 1994 e i primi mesi del 1995. Da quella forte esperienza visiva Myra Melford creò poi un suo quintetto, Fire and Water, con cui pubblicò due album direttamente ispirati alla pittura di Twombly. Stesso esperimento di diretto confronto con la pittura del grande artista, con Zeena Parkins all’arpa e Miya Masaoka al koto e poi in duo con la bassista Joëlle Léandre e, a proposito di questa ultima mi piace ricordare la loro presenza in contemporanea e i loro straordinari concerti nell’ultima edizione di NovaraJazz. Tornando all’ultimo lavoro i riferimenti a Twombly sono espliciti nei due brani iniziali, Drift e The Wayward Line. Per entrambi potremmo parlare dell’analogia della meccanica del gesto musicale che traduce il movimento in suono, come il gesto del pittore trasferisce la sua dinamicità in forma (e colore), sono il nucleo delle due composizioni. Sarebbe molto suggestivo (e anche facilmente realizzabile con l’aiuto del web) un ascolto del disco dinnanzi alle riproduzioni delle opere di Twombly. In The Wayward Line in particolar modo, il pianoforte di Myra, sembra snocciolare note e accordi che hanno una assonanza visiva (se mi si passa il necessario ossimoro) con le oniriche e mutevoli creazioni di Twombly, così effimere e così apparentemente casuali, ma essenzialmente necessarie nella loro apparenza primitiva, se non primordiale, eppure intrinsecamente raffinate come lo fu già il segno umano tracciato nelle grotte di Altamira. Negli Interludi (Interlude I-II-III), come nella miglior tradizione jazz, Myra, lascia spazio agli altri strumentisti in un ricamo sonoro di ineguagliabile bellezza. In Interlude III poi, a mio modo di vedere, raggiunge “cime abissali”(per citare Zinove’ev) di straordinario intimismo sonoro, così come Twombly fece con la visione embrionale e “in fieri” della natura. Dal pezzo ecco quei “Dolci romori”, per citare un altro grande poeta D’Annunzio, che paiono essere latenti e l’anello mancante all’opera pittorica di Twombly perché possa diventare opera totale.

Con Freewheeler, che richiama esplicitamente e senza esitazioni la quasi omonima opera di Twombly del 1955 (vernice, pastello, matita), la riflessione si trasferisce sulle opere più grafiche (e calligrafiche) del grande artista americano. Qui siamo centrifugati direttamente dentro quell’impero dei segni di cui Twombly fu uno dei maestri assoluti della storia dell’arte moderna: anche i tasti del piano di Myra, come la punta delle matite o dei pastelli di Cy sembrano vorticare impazziti in un gesto circolare dinamico e creativo nel senso proprio del termine. Lasciatomi trasportare dal suono ho osato immaginare che la “rotondità grafica” di Freewheeler non foss’altro che la versione moderna, mi si passi l’azzardo, della “Creazione degli astri e delle piante” del Michelangelo della Sistina, con quel dar vita al tutto, col semplice roteare del braccio. Anche Chalk è riferito ad un’opera grafica di Twombly ovvero Untitled del 1970, della Menil Collection di Houston: si tratta di un’opera austera, quasi granitica, il cui senso Myra Milford ricrea in maniera esemplare con un suono che sembra provenire da immoti mondi, giocando tra il suono profondo del piano e la leggerezza soave delle percussioni. Streaming è invece il commento sonoro alle grandi tele di Scattering of Blossoms and Other Things una sorta di “Orangerie” in versione moderna per bellezza ed intensità. Arduo compito, per altro pienamente assolto, quello di Myra e dei suoi Splash: “Una improvvisazione intricata che in realtà riguarda solo un suono complesso“, come lo definisce la stessa compositrice. Il piano, quasi impressionista, sembra un ronzare d’api e un volteggiare di pollini attorno a corolle, come quelle prorompenti e potenti e t...

Ihre Musik hat nichts von ihrer komplexen Wirkung verloren. Myra Melford wandelt schon seit Jahren auf den Pfaden avantgardistischer Hochkultur. Dabei war die europäische Moderne ebenso ein selbstverständlicher Teil ihrer Herangehensweise, wie sie beinahe wild, auf jeden Fall spielerisch, überschäumende Rhythmen afrikanischer Kulturen vertont und melodisch arabeske Fragmente in den Ring wirft.
Geändert hat sich ihr musikalischer Bezug bzw. ihre theoretische Ausgangsbasis, das philosophische Konstrukt ihrer Arbeit. Schon seit langem beschäftigt sich die im kleinen Evanston, Illinois bei Chicago geborene Instrumentalistin mit dem US-amerikanischen Maler, Fotografen und Objektkünstler Cy Twombly. „Ich habe wirklich über das Gefühl nachgedacht, das ich bei Twombly habe:“, sagt sie im Booklet ihres neuen Albums „Splah“. „dass seine Linien auf eine bestimmte Weise beginnen und an einem völlig anderen Ort enden können und trotzdem als Komposition funktionieren.“
Das würde im musikalischen Kontext bedeuten, dass Improvisation und Komposition sehr nahe beieinander stehen, dass die scheinbare Improvisation gedanklich einer Komposition entspricht – und umgekehrt. Dafür braucht die zierliche Pianistin Mitmusiker, die diesen praktischen und treibenden Gedankengängen auch zu folgen in der Lage sind. Mit dem Bassisten Michael Formanek und dem Schlagwerker Ches Smith hat sie mit Sicherheit ein ideales Duo zur Seite. Beide gehören in die oberste Liga spontan komponierter Tonkunst. Sie leiten jeweils eigene, großartige Bands und gehören seit Jahren zu den gefragtesten Sidemans der Szene. Sie reagieren spontan, wuchtig, rücksichtsvoll, polarisierend im musikalischen Sinn, manchmal unberechenbar und damit im kreativen Sinn herausfordernd.
So wird „Splash“ zu einem Abenteuer, zu einem den jeden Rahmen sprengenden Ereignis. Musik am Puls der Zeit. Immer eine faszinierende Balance zwischen Emotionen und Intellekt anstrebend und damit die dramaturgische Spannungskurve hoch zu haltend.

https://www.kultkomplott.de/Permalink/Artikel/3487/#article_anchor_3487

Christoph Irniger’s Quintet returns with a groundbreaking live album, Pilgrim: Human Intelligence Live, set for release on March 21, 2025, via Intakt Records. The album captures the quintet’s gorgeously intricate yet improvisationally free approach to jazz, recorded live at Red Horn District in Bad Meinberg, Germany, on November 29, 2023.

Led by Zurich-based tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger, the quintet has become one of the most dynamic and innovative forces in contemporary European jazz. On Human Intelligence Live, Irniger and his bandmates—Stefan Aeby (piano), Dave Gisler (guitar), Raffaele Bossard (bass), and Michael Stulz (drums)—deliver an electrifying performance that blends spontaneous improvisation with meticulously composed moments.

About the Album
Pilgrim: Human Intelligence Live showcases the quintet’s unique ability to balance structure with freedom, with a blend of fully notated compositions and free improvisation. The music effortlessly shifts between reflective moods and wild, energetic outbursts. Irniger describes the album as a journey for listeners who enjoy taking their time to immerse themselves in evolving music. The album captures the quintet's chemistry, which can be heard in real time as the musicians make spontaneous decisions, take risks, and find their way together.

Irniger explains in the liner notes: “The music develops through stages of emotion—there are doubts, questions, resolutions. It's like living together in society, and how I’d wish it to be.”

The Quintet’s Evolution
Since its formation in 2010, Christoph Irniger’s Pilgrim has been a leader in European jazz, constantly evolving and incorporating influences from across the jazz world. The quintet’s sound is at once cohesive and imaginative, combining fluid improvisations with tight ensemble playing. The album’s tracks explore a wide range of moods and complexities, from the meditative to the intense, and everything in between.

Track Highlights
Hendrix (5:31)
A slow-burning tribute to Jimi Hendrix, this track features a stellar guitar solo from Dave Gisler and combines simplicity with complexity, drawing inspiration from both Hendrix and Thelonious Monk.

Calling the Spirits (14:27)
A deeply spiritual piece celebrating the power of music to unite communities. It was originally released on the studio album Ghost Cat and reflects Irniger's belief in the transformative power of music.

Secret Level (3:38)
This track, originally released as a ghost track on Ghost Cat, explores the idea of a "secret level" in video games, but here, the level is easy to find but hard to escape from, creating a metaphor for life’s challenges.

Human Intelligence (Interlude) (2:18)
A brief but powerful reflection piece, where the complexity of the music takes a step back, leaving space for thought and personal reflection.

Seven Down Eight Up (13:06)
Inspired by Aikido principles, this track delves into the idea of resilience and overcoming obstacles, written during a time of personal recovery for Irniger.

The Kraken (1:48)
A Wayne Shorter tribute piece that evokes the imagery of the legendary saxophonist's ability to embrace an entire concert hall with his presence and musical energy.

Human Intelligence (6:14)
A full version of the interlude track, this piece represents the quintet’s collective ability to engage in mindful evolution and the growth that arises from reflection and resolution.

Emergency Exit (12:25)
A complex suite built around the theme of finding one’s way out of difficult situations, symbolizing the different emotions one experiences during life’s challenges.

Back In The Game (5:23)
Closing with a track from the first quintet album Italian Circus Story, this piece evokes the feeling of a film’s exit music, reflecting the cyclical nature of life and the confidence that things will come together.

Recording Details
Pilgrim: Human Intelligence Live was recorded live on November 29, 2023, at Red Horn District in Bad Meinberg, Germany. The album was mixed in September 2024 by Christoph Utzinger in Bern and mastered in November 2024 by Alex Huber in Zug. The album features artwork by Jamie Breiwick and graphic design by Paul Bieri, with liner notes by Kevin Le Gendre and photos by Markus Ecker.

https://jazzchill.blogspot.com/2025/03/christoph-irnigers-quintet-releases.html

Für Christoph Irniger bedeutet Jazz zu spielen einen kreativen Beitrag zur Gegenwart zu leisten. Dabei ist Fes ihm weniger wichtig was er spielt, als vielmehr wie man etwas spielt. Trotzdem weiß der Schweizer Saxophonist genau, dass in diesem Kontext der Tradition eine wichtige Rolle zukommt. So fallen in der theoretischen Analyse seiner Musik entsprechend Namen wie Johann Sebastina Bach, Thelonious Monk oder auch Jimi Hendrix. Was jedoch nicht bedeutet, dass seine Aufnahmen und Auftritte nach diesen Favoriten klingen.

Gerade ist auf dem Zürcher Label Intakt, bei dem Irniger in den letzten Jahren einen Großteil seiner Musik veröffentlicht hat, „Human Intelligence" erschienen, eine Live-Aufnahme seines Quintetts Pilgrim, welches schon seit 2011 besteht. Das Album beinhaltet eine große, eine weit gefasste, eine moderne und abwechslungsreiche Musik. Voller Energie und Intensität gespielt, bestehend aus notierten Passagen und ungestümen Improvisationen, knappen Skizzen und mächtigen Themen. Irniger nannte sein Prinzip des Musizierens einmal geordnete Freiheit" und erinnerte dabei an das Keith Jarretts American Quartett. Natürlich klingt das in seiner Band wieder völlig anders, sind doch die einzelnen Mitglieder jeweils individuell sozialisiert und bringen entsprechend unterschiedliche Erfahrungen mit in die Musik. Irnigers glänzend durchdachten, großzügigen Kompositionen spülen jede Menge Ideen und Emotionen an die Oberfläche. Und vor allem: der Saxophonist lässt diese Spontanität auch bei seinen Mitmusikern zu. So gerät „Human Intelligence" ebenso subtil melodisch, wie raffiniert freiheitlich.

Christoph Irniger hat sich zu einem großen europäischen Stilisten entwickelt. Seine Musik lebt von substanziellem Können und dem Mut zum Risiko, vom empathischen Gruppengedanken, von beeindruckender Einfachheit bei exzessiver Komplexität. Wie liest es sich im Booklet so passend: An dieser Musik ist nichts künstlich.

https://www.kultkomplott.de/Artikel/Musik/Archiv/

In Postmodern Theory, hyperreality is defined as a state where the domain of reality has become so heavily mediated by signs as to become inaccessible in itself, leaving us entirely where reality is a simulation that simulates itself, what French semiotician Jean Baudrillard calls the simulacra, texts that bear no relation to anything outside of themselves. Baudrillard argued that social production has shifted from creating real objects to instead producing signs and symbols. This system of symbolic exchange, detached from the real, constitutes hyperreality.

An example of this is any attempt to create a vegan version of an animal product like eggs and cheese. A better example is the music piped into the majority of our commercial establishments. It is no longer that created by the original musicians, but the same music made by nameless, often inferior cover bands, adding a cultural layer between the real and synthesized. The supreme example is the band Mostly Other People Do The Killing and their recording, Blue (Hot Cup Records, 2014) where the band reproduces, note-for-note Miles Davis’ pivotal Kind of Blue (Columbia, 1959), to what ends, anyone can guess.

All of this in introduction to Christoph Irniger and his Pilgrim Quintet. There is a sacred place in jazz after Ornette Coleman’s 1959 The Shape Of Jazz To Come (Atlantic) where jazz artists attempted to float a sound that was at the triple point of free jazz, advant garde, and the mainstream, creating a tension between the traditional chordal paradigms and freely express chaos. In the area of vocal jazz Emilia Vancini’s sublime And If You Fall, You Fall (Espira, 2020) provides a similar meeting of approaches as does Martial Solal’s Live at the Village Vanguard: I Can't Give You Anything But Love (CAM Jazz, 2010) and his recordings with alto saxophonist Lee Konitz, e.g., Star Eyes, Hamburg 1983 (HatOLOGY, 1998).

Tenor saxophonist Irniger takes this spirit a step further with a live collection of songs, some freely improvised, with other meticulously notated, but the majority living in between these creative extremes. It is an artisitic highwire act that Irniger and company put on and build upon. Human Intelligence Live, is Irniger’s sixth recording and was recorded at the Red Horn District in Ban Meinberg, Germany in November 2023. the Pilgrim Quintet consists of Irniger, pianist Stefan Aeby, guitarist Dave Gisler, bassist Raffaele Bossard, and drummer Michael Stulz. the recording’s nine selections run a gambit between the lengthy rumination of “Calling All Spirts” and the Tony Williams Lifetime-inspired “Emergency Exit.”

This is anxious, often bombastic music not intended for casual listening. Irniger demands the listener’s attention, drawing them in gradually and then hold them captive. The opening track, “Hendrix,” is a study in gradual evolution, starting slowing and all the while building into a noisy and ecxtatic climax. It is the very definition of cresendo. the piece begins with Stulz’s muted toms and cymbals overwhich Irniger’s throaty tenor and Aeby’s careful chording evolves into a plush chordal bed for Gisler’s electric exposition recalling Eddie Hazel’s ergot-inspired guitar orgy on Funkadelic’s 1971 release, “Maggot Brain.” A tacit homage to Jimi Hendrix, it could just as easily include Thelonious Monk as a target.

In another lengthy exposition, “Seven Down Eight,” the ensemble produces a noisy and arbitrary cityscape, like a wild Monday morning in Manhattan. This music hums with excitement and anticipation, demonstrating that its performance requires every bit the musicianship of a band leader calling a tune on the bandstand without imforming the rest of the band what it is and every member knowing their role. This is free music that makes internal sense readily accessible by even novice listeners. Compelling and authoritative, as well as measured and thoughtful, Irnger and his quintet produce a wholey organic brand of music that is real and not some abstract copy of itself or other’s music. There is no simulacra here, only the genuine article.

https://www.wildmercuryrhythm.com/p/christoph-irniger-and-pilgrim-human

Tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger leads the quintet Pilgrim, a Switzerland-based unit in a live program entitled Human Intelligence. They are a relatively young unit with five albums already released, blending through composed pieces with improvisation. The lines between the two are often blurry, and made even more apparent in this live setting where only minor edits were made to bring the album to fruition. This performance was captured at Red Horn District in Bad Meinberg, Germany in November 2023. Joining Irniger are pianist Stefan Aeby, guitarist Dave Gisler, bassist Raffaele Bossard, and drummer Michael Stulz.

Opener “Hendrix” begins with crashing drums and cymbals, each strike about three seconds apart, before the the unison lines of Irniger and Gisler, the latter of whom eventually unleashes a slow burning guitar over meditative series of chords. Meditative is not the term that usually comes to mind with Hendrix but Gisler’s searching solo certainly captures the spirit of the iconic guitarist and as he catches fire so does the quintet, morphing from the pensive to the explosive almost instantly. The fourteen-and-a-half minute “Calling the Spirits” was released on the studio album Ghost Cat. It begins in ambient, rather mysterious fashion with electronics and bubbling percussion. Irniger enters around the two minute mark building his intense solo slowly and then engaging in vigorous dialogue with the guitar. The piece pauses to give him more space and morphs into dark piano chords and minimalist playing from Aeby. Like most of these pieces, we’re not at all sure where they are headed, focused on their improvisations, led by Irniger and Gisler’s probing lines to an explosive but abrupt finish.

“Secret Level” is a short meandering piece, also appearing as a ghost track on Ghost Cat. It is about the secret level that computer games used to have, easy to find but hard to get out of. Later the extended piece “Emergency Exit” is about the struggle to exit out. Human Intelligence” (as opposed to AI) is first played as an interlude, with a full version later with quintet furiously building the piece to a galvanizing crescendo, led by Irniger. “Seven Down Eight,” also from Ghost Cat. It’s an angular, briskly paced piece inspired by the book Listening by NIk Bartsch. In one chapter he talks about falling seven times and standing up eight times. When Irniger wrote the piece he was having back problems that led to surgery and he had to pause for six months. His solo emulates his struggles and new ways to adapt. In the latter half the full quintet joins and the sound faintly echoes Ornette Coleman’s Prime Time sound.“The Kraken” is just a short snippet from their live album Big Wheel Live, a quick nod to Wayne Shorter.

“Emergency Exit” consists of a 10-bar form with a melody, chords, and a bassline, played as a suite that use combinations and improvisations with and over the material. It’s the same stuff that sounds somewhat different in each section. As mentioned, it is intended to reflect the protagonist finding his way out of the secret level, going through different emotions and coming to a ressolution at the end. The quintet, with alternating members in the lead, builds drama and keeps us guessing. The closer “Back in the Game” appeared on their debut Italian Circus Story with the song title intentionally named after the Clint Eastwood movie of the same name. They decelerate towards a calm, fading ending, after dealing with their usual pauses and severe dynamic changes. The audience response is cut here, which is unfortunate, given that it’s the end of the set.

As a reference point, portions of this album resemble Nels Cline’s new Consentrik Quartet, which was just released a week prior. Similarly, Pilgrim blends the acoustic and electric in their dramatic way which keeps the listener fully engaged throughout.

https://www.makingascene.org/christoph-irniger-quintet-pilgrim-human-intelligence-live/

Each new album in the budding discography of Canadian saxophonist, flutist, and composer Anna Webber sounds like a step forward in the nebulous intersection between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. The wryly titled simpletrio2000 is the third album by Webber’s Simple Trio, following the group’s sophomore release Binary (Skirl, 2016), and debut, Simple (Skirl, 2014). Initially formed in 2013, Simple Trio is Webber’s longest-running band. The ensemble, which includes drummer John Hollenbeck and pianist Matt Mitchell – both veteran composers and bandleaders – performs Webber’s intricate compositions with an attention to detail that is anything but simple, although the complex music is often delivered with a buoyant flair.

Each Simple Trio release has explored different facets of composition. Although rhythmic complexity has long been part of Webber’s arsenal, for the band’s third effort, she focuses on polyrhythms. The pieces are built on jagged, start-stop rhythms and the repetition of elaborate contrapuntal lines that lend the proceedings a sense of tension and release, rather than discord. Webber’s multi-sectional compositions often assign two musicians to notated scores while allowing the third to improvise. Although much of the music is spirited, the album includes moments of restraint that counterbalance more frenetic passages. The ten tracks also include short solo pieces spotlighting each member, providing additional moments of introspection amid tightly woven group interplay: the intervallic lyricism of “Fixed Do” for tenor saxophone; the dramatically hastening piano chord progression “g=GM/r2” (the formula for determining acceleration due to gravity); and the resounding tuned drums feature “Ch9tter.”

“Slingsh0t” opens the recording with chiming refrains that progress into a terse harmonic sequence underpinned by brisk tempos in oscillating rhythmic patterns. “Idiom VII” advances polyrhythmic dalliances even further, evoking phrases played simultaneously backwards and forwards as tempos rush and falter with impressive accuracy; the flute-driven “Foray” exudes similar microtonal drama. “Five Eateries (In New England)” evokes a range of Ivesian textures in Mitchell’s plunging lines, Hollenback’s angular groove, and the leader’s warm tenor. The pointillist opening of “miiire” and the slow burn of “8va” provide temporary respite, while the final cut, “Movable Do (La-La Bémol)” is built on a cyclical motif underpinned by a labyrinthine clockwork groove, as Webber and Mitchell take turns alternating lead and support positions.

Throughout the program, Webber switches between tenor saxophone, flute, and bass flute, directing the mood with an array of tone colors and extended techniques. Mitchell’s staccato chording imbues the music with a shimmering percussive quality, while Hollenbeck’s precise, orchestral drumming provides a solid foundation, irrespective of meter. Together these three offer a continued inquiry into the limits of Creative Improvised Music, tempered by a subtle sense of humor. Marking a decade since the unit premiered, simpletrio2000 confirms the group as one whose distinctive approach boldly continues to push the music forward in an unforced and satisfying manner.

https://www.pointofdeparture.org/PoD90/PoD90MoreMoments4.html

Christoph Irniger about Directions in Jazz

Combinations over Content: The Swiss saxophonist is giving in to the moment completely on his new, entirely live-recorded album.

Name: Christoph Irniger
Nationality: Swiss
Occupation: Saxophonist, composer, improviser, band leader
Current release: Christoph Irniger's new live album Human Intelligence is out via Intakt.
Recommendations für Zurich, Switzerland: You should come on a sunny and warm day and go to swim in the bathing facility "Unterer Letten" in the Limmat river. Where in the world can you swim, in the middle of a big city, in a river with a water quality which you can almost drink? ;-)
Topic I am passionate about but rarely get to talk about: I am super passionate about playing Ice Hockey. In the winter times I train twice a week, play games and for fun whenever I can. It's a very intense and fast sport, where you need a lot of skill and creativity.

What were some of the musical experiences which planted a seed for your interest in jazz?

Probably the main reason I got into Jazz was my second saxophone teacher, with whom I studied from the age of 15 till 20. This guy was a young cat, who had just started studying at university and introduced me to the great American Songbook and improvisation.

At the same time, I started playing in a Funk band with some friends and dove into the world of this music, mostly inspired by Maceo Parker, Tower of Power and Mandrill to name a few. I started checking out saxophone players that were stylistically rooted in both worlds, such as Michael Brecker, Bob Berg, Joe Farrell, etc.

The deep love for “classic” jazz came – as I remember – after reading a magazine (DU Magazin: Giant Steps) about the history of the tenor saxophone. In this magazine, there were recording recommendations to check out which I bought mostly and fell in love with.

What does the term jazz mean today, would you say?

To me Jazz is more about how you play, than what you play.

For me it is much more a way of making music, than it represents a particular sound or content, and I think it always processed the music of its time, using composition, interpretation and of course improvisation.

As of today, what kind of materials, ideas, and technologies are particularly stimulating for you?

Out of many things, one very important part for my creativity and main idea is trying to be open for anything all the time (“Zero Gravity,” as Wayne Shorter used to say). Hunting and gathering, not only on a musical or/and technical level, but also in every aspect of what life gives and not judging right away - which is the same as in the concept of mindfulness - because it could close some doors, where fun could lie.

Of course, there comes a point where you must define or decide which way to go, what should be said and what not. But there is no right / stimulating or wrong / repulsive, but just more or less tension / fit, which you can also refer to as musical language (melody, harmony, rhythm, etc.).

Besides practising my instrument and composing (which is a mussel I am trying to train regularly) I find a lot of ideas to cultivate my creativity by watching interviews (what is maybe one of the positive things that came up more since Covid). It is often more a certain idea, than a technical tool, which helps bringing all the things you practise to the point.

Many times, when artists talk about their creative process, I catch up a phrase, which immediately help to sort things out an bring clarity and glue between the parts, what results in a way of improvising, personal language or a new composition.

Some of my favourite Channels are Pablo Held and Rick Beato.

Where do most of your inspirations to create come from – rather from internal impulses or external ones? Which current social / political / ecological or other developments make you feel like you need to respond as an artist?

Rather from internal impulses, which are basically a combination of the joy of playing the saxophone, composing or making music in general - as way of artistic expression, as also the pure craftmanship - and the social environment that music and Jazz is taking place.

I don't see my music as a response to a certain development and more as a tool to bring people together and build a community. I am not a big talker and don't see myself as someone to change the world, but I see the work in the community on a smaller scale as essential for the good and I am trying to do what I can.

Music has become a lot more global, and incorporating elements from other parts of the world or the musical spectrum is commonplace. Do you still think there are city scenes with a distinct, unique sound? How does your local scene influence your work?

There are definitively scenes with a distinct and unique sound, like New York or Berlin. As in language in general, there are also in music different ways of pronunciation, dialect and/or slang.

I do think also that musicians around the world tend to foc...

Autant le dire d’entrée de jeu : c’est un très très beau disque ; de piano, solo ; de jazz bien sûr, mais pas que…. de musique, tout simplement. Quelques mois avant son quatre-vingtième anniversaire, et avant ses adieux à la scène, Joachim Kühn s’est offert, sur l’île d’Ibiza où il réside depuis plusieurs décennies, un condensé de son art d’improvisateur-compositeur. Sur un instrument d’une très belle qualité, il nous délivre la quintessence de ce qui nous a réjouis depuis la fin années 60 : pas en tant que style pratiqué, ou d’adhésion esthétique aux courants successifs. Nous sommes ici au cœur de la musique, sans distinction d’école, d’obédience, que sais-je…. Des escapades fougueuses bien évidemment, mais aussi des trésors de nuances, d’expressivité, de lyrisme et d’audace. Des aventures sur le clavier qui se tiennent toujours au plus près de l’exigence musicale. Avec aussi un très bel hommage à son frère, le clarinettiste Rolf Kühn, mort l’année qui précéda ces enregistrements. Pas d’ostentation, rien que la profonde sincérité d’un Maître de musique. Chef d’œuvre, tout simplement!

https://lesdnj.over-blog.com/2025/03/joachim-kuhn-echappee-piano-solo.html

Après « Umbra » et « Umbra II », voici « Umbra III », troisième épisode de la série initiée par Elias Stemeseder et Christian Lillinger. Cet opus complète une saison féconde en collaborations, dense en rebondissements. Rappelons-en succinctement le principe : Stemeseder et Lillinger construisent l’ossature de morceaux et invitent d’autres musiciens pour leur donner corps. « Modular Ensemblestruktur mit Gastmusikern » en allemand dans le texte. Après avoir convié Brandon Seabrook, DoYeon Kim, Peter Evans et Russell Hall, c’est au tour du pianiste Craig Taborn de rejoindre le duo le temps d’un chapitre. Taborn se prête à l’exercice avec une finesse et une résilience remarquables, son jeu ductile se lovant dans celui de ses hôtes. Autre pianiste et claviériste aventureux, audacieux, Elias Stemeseder fait montre d’un jeu habile en diable intense, jamais en reste. Pour sa part, Christian Lillinger confirme ce qu’on savait de lui : un batteur acrobatique hors pair. Si leur précédent album avait été enregistré au mythique studio de Rudy Van Gelder d’Englewood Cliffs, celui-ci a été capté live lors du Jazzfestival Saalfelden en Autriche en août 2021, entre deux périodes de confinement. Une atmosphère particulière se dégage de cette session, tenant à la fois de l’espérance et de l’urgence à vouloir la communiquer à un public chanceux d’y assister.

https://jazzmania.be/stemeseder-lillinger-taborn-umbra-iii/