Irène Schweizer/Andrew Cyrille confirm what should be universally known by now - Andrew Cyrille is a master percussionist, a veritable one-person orchestra. Cyrille's vibrant encounter with Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer is a fine introduction, for those who still need it, to this important exponent of European free music. Irène Schweizer is a beneficiary of Cecil Taylor's liberation of the piano: certainly, whole hunks of Taylor's earlier, bouyant intricacies, circa Looking Ahead, and his latter-day volcanic masses of sound crop up in Schweizer's work. But it is the infusion of a Central European lyricism, and the impish spin on clichés like the chromatic, two-beat vamp of «As Time Goes By», and the rhapsodic chords that open «Fiction Of The 13th Kind», that sets Schweizer apart from the Taylors clones. She elicits consistently strong performances from Cyrille, especially on marathon melt-downs like «Fiction», where even the low-volume, call-and-response section, featuring Cyrille's rim effects, has a bristling intensity. Still, Schweizer has many facets, inlcuding the smouldering romantic revealed on the intro of «A Monkish Encore», all of which are well-forwarded on this recording.
Bill Shoemaker, Down Beat, 1996, USA

Cover Design: Ruedi Wyss
Liner Notes: Howard Mandel

Smashing Nap and Fiction of the 13th Kind were recorded on September 2, 1988 in Willisau. All other pieces were recorded live at the Jazz Festival Willisau, on September 3, 1988. Engineer: Peter Pfister Mastered December 1988 at Studio Peter Pfister by Irène Schweizer and Patrik Landolt Fotos: Dany Gignoux, Leonhard Mühlheim, Manfred Rinderspacher
First Release on Intakt LP 008/1989

Produced by Intakt Records, P. O. Box 468, CH 8024 Zürich, Switzerland Executive Production: Rosmarie A. Meier and Patrik Landolt