INTAKT RECORDS – CD-REVIEWS

Omri Ziegele Where's Africa Trio with Irène Schweizer and Makaya Ntshoko

Can Walk on Sand

Intakt CD 167

 

 

Manfred Papst, NZZ am Sonntag, 22. November 2009

 

Christoph Merki, Tagesanzeiger, Schweiz, 24. November 2009

 

Christoph Merki, Tagesanzeiger, Schweiz, 25. November 2009

 

Christian Rentsch, Mittellandzeitung, Schweiz, 28. November 2009

 

Un disco che suona più sudafricano di quanto la formazione, trattandosi di trio composto per due terzi da svizzeri, induca a pensare. Del resto Irene Schweizer, di cui spesso si è parlato in questo sito (a differenza di altri canali), non ha mai nascosto la sua propensione "australe" - soprattutto per merito della sua vicinanza artistica a musicisti, di grandissimo rilievo, provenienti dall'altro emisfero come Dudu Pukwana, Louis Moholo, Abdullah Ibrahim o Chris McGregor, sudafricani che hanno fatto scuola nel jazz della seconda metà del Novecento. E pare che anche l'alto sassofonista Omri Ziegele abbia sedimentato il proprio linguaggio a partire dalle radici jazzistiche africane piuttosto che dai mille rivoli europei legati alle post o trans-avanguardie, antiche e recenti. Infine Makaya Ntshoko, qui unico vero sudafricano e batterista dal curriculum professionalmente legato a molti dei nomi sopra citati (a cui aggiungiamo anche Hugh Masekela).
Per meglio mettere a fuoco l'imprinting sudafricano, distinguendolo dal corpo del mainstream da una parte e dal jazz europeo dall'altro basterebbe ascoltare la splendida "Andromeda" del rimpianto McGregor: pura "gioia e rivoluzione". Un tema saltellante, ricamato su sincopi tanto naturali da poter essere scandite anche da un bambino. Il miracolo dell'ascolto si compie nel visualizzare l'allegra banda dei Brotherhood of Breath e pensare che il mondo a volte è un luogo dove la felicità sembra a portata di mano. E nell'omaggio ad altri grandi africani (e non) spiccano anche il trasparente blues di "Tyntiana" di Dollar Brand (alias Abdullah Ibrahim), la fulminea fanfara di "Giggin'" di Ornette Coleman e le due perle conclusive di Johnny Dyani, "Ithi Gqi e Mbiza", altri esempi di quel caldo umore mefistofelico dell'estremo lembo del continente nero, così lontano dal gelo metropolitano del Nord.
Qualche contrappunto di ottima fattura in alcuni temi originali frutto della penna di Omri, un languore non particolarmente appassionante e troppo di confidenziale in "Can Walk in Sand" e un vago sapore pacchiano, pur nella sua trasformazione in solo non banale per sax solo e voce (quella dello stesso Ziegele), in "Summertime", che, come ormai moltissimi classici, suona totalmente usurato. Peccati veniali, che si fanno certamente ben volere a fronte della ventata di tepore. In tempi di clima culturale scarsamente benefico, siamo sempre alla ricerca di piccoli squarci di luce…
Michele Coralli, Altremusiche, Italia, Winter 2009

 

Zürich und seine Stargates nach Afrika - das Café Casablanca, wo Ziegele und Irene Schweizer jahrelang den 47. Breitengrad gen Süden verschoben und ihre 'Herzstücke' grillten - einst der Jazzclub Africana, in dem Schweizer in jungen Jahren Dollar Brand und den Blue Notes gelauscht hatte. Das mit dem südafrikanischen Drummer Makaya Ntshoko entwickelte Programm mischt die afrikanischen Anregungen - 'Tyntiana' von Dollar Brand, 'Andromeda' von Chris McGregor, 'Ithi Gqi' & 'Mbiza' von Johnny Dyani - mit transatlantischen - 'Giggin' von Ornette Coleman (nur kurz angerissen), 'Soul Eyes' (Mal Waldron), 'Butch & Butch' (Oliver Nelson). Ziegele singt sogar, wortwörtlich, Gershwins 'Summertime' und stimmt auf dem Altosax drei eigene Songs an, in denen sein Faible für die heimwehsüße und Luftwurzeln treibende Melodiösität und den Township-Groove der Ogun-Szene widerhallt, die ganz den Blue Notes verbunden war. Die hatte ihn in London besonders angesprochen. Bei drei Stücken verdoppelt Jörg Wickihalder noch das heliotrope Gebläse. Mit dem 70-jährigen Ntshoko trommelt ein Original-Jazz Epistels an ihrer Seite, der Anfang der 60er den Jazz vom Kap mit aus der Taufe gehoben und auch nach seiner Übersiedlung in die Schweiz wieder mit Brand gespielt hatte, dazu auch mit Waldron, Tchicai und vielen anderen. Dass Linernoteautor Christian Rentsch zum Lob der Schönheit und Melodienseligkeit dieser warmblütigen Musik einen Popanz des Eitlen, Pathetischen, Krampfhaften und Hochgestochenen, genannt 'zeitgenössischer europäischer Jazz', meint dingfest machen zu sollen, ist unfreiwilliger Dada.
Rigobert Dittmann, Bad Alchemy Magazin 65, Deutschland, Winter 2009

 

Pirmin Bossart, Jazz n' More, Schweiz, Januar / Februar 2010

 

Peter Rüedi, Die Weltwoche, 14. Januar 2010

 

Jörg Konrad, Jazzpodium, Deutschland, Februar 2010

 

Philippe Méziat, Jazzmagazine, France, Fevrier 2010

 

Omri Ziegele, der wortgewaltige Saxofonist aus der Schweiz, hat diese typischen südafrikanischen Klänge inzwischen wahrlich verinnerlicht. Gleich beim ersten Stück meint man einen alten Hadern wiederzuerkennen (von Johnny Dyani?, Dollar Brand?), dabei ist es eine brandneue Komposition des jungen Mannes. So weit, so authentisch. Aber da ist ja zum Glück viel mehr drauf auf dieser CD als nur nostalgisches Afrika-Feeling. Immer wenn Irène Schweizer, die große alte Dame (inzwischen darf man das ja sagen, ohne despektierlich zu klingen) des freien Klavierspiels, mitmischt, kommen ganze Heerscharen von kleinen akustischen Helferlein daher, die für gute Stimmung und Ausgewogenheit sorgen. Makaya Ntshoko begleitet sparsam und trotzdem effizient das Geschehen am Drumset. Jürg Wickihalder ist in seiner Gastrolle eine zusätzliche Attraktion, ein beredter Stichwortgeber. Wie sehr man das Erbe der 'Blue Notes' (Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana, Johnny Dyani, Mongezi Feza, ...) plündern kann, ohne auf epigonale Weise reduziert nur das Immergleiche zu reproduzieren, wird die nächste 'African Trio'-CD beweisen. Originalität ist immerhin eines der wichtigsten Merkmale des Jazz. Aber schön ist er schon, dieser 'Can Walk On Sand' genannte Soundtrack der gepflegten Innerlichkeit.
Ernst Mitter, Freistil Nr. 29 , Österreich, Februar/März 2010

 

Mit Irène Schweizer hatte der Zürcher Saxofonist schon 2005 ein Album mit - zumindest betitelter - afrikanischer Spurensuche herausgegeben, seitdem intensivierte sich auch das Spiel mit dem schon lange in Zürich lebenden südafrikanischen Schlagzeuger Makaya Ntshoko. In den 11 Stücken stellt das Trio nun Songs aus Ntshokos Heimat, Klassisches von Gershwin, Waldron, Coleman und Oliver Nelson sowie drei Eigenkompositionen Ziegeles vor. Der Gestus wechselt von kapriziös über melancholisch-beseelt bis zu farbenfroh und heiter. Soul Searching àla carte, melodieverliebt und traumbesessen.
by HONKER, MADE MY DAY, TERZ 02.10, Germany

 

 

Flott hyllest
Omri Ziegele er en godt og vel 50 år gammel musikant som er født i Israel, men oppvokst i Sveits. På begynnelsen av 80-tallet studerte han i London og kom raskt i kontakt med det sør-afrikanske eksilmiljøet med Chris McGregor, Dudu Pukwana og Louis Moholo i spissen. Tjue år tidligere hadde den nå legendariske sveitsiske pianisten Irène Schweizer foretatt den samme reisa og hun møtte også noen av de samme musikantene, men faktisk først etter at hun hadde returnert til Sveits.
Til tross for at begge har hatt sterk tilknytning til frijazzbevegelsen, har de aldri lagt skjul på sin store fascinasjon for det varme, flotte, sterkt melodiske og rytmiske uttrykket som særpreger sør-afrikansk jazz. Både som duo, ofte på Café Casablanca i Zürich, og som her sammen med den sør-afrikanske trommeslageren Makaya Ntshoko, har de utvikla et sterkt empatisk forhold både til hverandre og til dette uttrykket.
Med låter av Dollar Brand, nå bedre kjent som Abdullah Ibrahim, og andre sør-afrikanere som McGregor og Johnny Dyani, samt musikk av Ornette Coleman, Mal Waldron, Oliver Nelson og George Gershwins «Summertime», der faktisk Ziegele faktisk også synger, og noen Ziegele-komposisjoner, blir vi tatt med inn i en varm og inkluderende atmosfære. På tre av låtene gjester også en annen sveitsisk alt- og sopransaksofonist, Jürg Wickihalder, og det gir musikken et ekstra trøkk.
Mest overraskende her er å høre Schweizer som den straighte melodikeren. Det har hun også et flott grep på og den relativt ukjente Omri Ziegele forteller oss at han har mye genuint på hjertet. Musikken sprer varme og empati – det er et svært så godt signal.
Av Tor Hammerø, Side2, Oslo, Norway

 

Altoist Omri Ziegele’s Where’s Africa project could easily be renamed “Here’s Africa” what with the inspired addition of drummer Makaya Ntshoko to its ranks. Ntshoko was a member of the celebrated cadre of South African expatriates that included players like Louis Moholo, Dudu Pukwana and Johnny Dyani. Breaking ranks with his countrymen, he ended up settling in Stockholm and became house drummer at the Café Montmarte for a time in the late-60s. In the years since, he’s gigged around Europe, most recently releasing an excellent set by his working band The New Tsotsis on Steeplechase last year. Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer, herself no stranger to the variegated musical traditions of the Europe and Africa, completes the core trio and comes across with some of her most melody-minded playing of recent memory.
The name of the game for this intensely enjoyable outing is ebullience and effervescence. Ziegele selects an eclectic songbook to accompany three of his originals that spans Oliver Nelson to Chris McGregor to Dollar Brand. Most, like the 39-second sprint through Ornette’s “Giggin’”, are mere morsels, but others like the sumptuous duo rendering of Mal Waldron’s “Soul Eyes” have plenty of meat on the bone. Ziegele sounds little like Lacy, but his treatment of the tune, mirrors the composer’s famous forays with the former Steve Lackritz in structure and temperament. Solos by he and Schweizer bookend an elegant middle passage of close colloquy. Saxophonist Jürg Wickihalder guests on three of the pieces, his piquant soprano and alto especially effective enhancing harmonies on the two slices of Dyani-penned township bop that close the set out.
Fidelity is bright, clean and intimate in its capture and there are moments when Ziegele’s colorful phrasing almost borders on the shrill, so sharp-toned is his sound. Ntshoko is a valuable rhythmic rudder, switching smoothly between mallets and sticks and swinging with a supple balance of power and restraint. Schweizer is similarly suited and sounds as if she’s having a ball negotiating the structures of the songs. The one potential sore-thumb piece is Ziegele’s solo reading of Gershwin’s “Summertime” where he interjects sung-shouted snatches of the song’s initial two verses between oblique variations on the theme. It’s a raw, emotions-on-sleeve performance, partly at odds with the polished beauty that’s come prior, but that’s probably the point. The three wrap up their conclave in well under an hour and that decision for relative brevity works in their favor too, priming the palate for what's hopefully more to come.
Derek Taylor, masterofasmallhouse.blogspot.com, February 8, 2010

 

This could almost be a band "on a hiding to nothing" considering it self-consciously mines the seam of vibrant music first tapped by the likes of Chris McGregor and Harry Miller. Given the fact that it's only a trio, it's inevitable perhaps that the group lacks the sheer sonic impact of McGregor's much larger bands, but even by comparison with Miller's group Isipingo, which was usually a sextet, the music this band produces is wanting in depth and fire.
It's sometimes down to brevity for why this is so. The reading of Dollar Brand's "Tyntiana" runs less than four minutes and the music simply doesn't catch fire because the player's seem stymied by the piece itself, as if the improvisational fire simply doesn't catch.
It's also sad to note that the absence of a bassist is really felt, especially on Oliver Nelson's boppish "Butch & Butch" where Schweizer and Ntshoko, even while they manage to mark the one minute and twenty three seconds of its passing with some fervor, simply don't do the same in terms of killing the impression of the reading as merely perfunctory.
McGregor's "Andromeda" has been lifted to stellar heights on record by both the composer's Brotherhood Of Breath and the Dedication Orchestra and while those readings were the antithesis of the perfunctory, the lasting impression here is of a casual warm-up for all of Ziegele's impassioned rhetoric.
A different frame of reference applies to the leader's entirely solo reading of "Summertime" and it serves to indicate how there should perhaps be a moratorium declared on recording the Gershwin composition. Ziegele's vocalizing is best ignored but because it's an integral part of the reading it has the effect of making his fractious lines seem even more disingenuous. Overall, it's unlikely to replace the memory of Sidney Bechet's reading of the piece.
There's a nice pitch to Johnny Dyani's "Ithi Gqi" where the trio is rounded out by the addition of Jurg Wickihalder on soprano sax, who even while he hews pretty close to the Steve Lacy model indicates also how the majority of the music here is best served by larger ensembles. The unison horns nail the exuberant line very nicely, and while Schweizer's drive is different to that of, say, McGregor, she turns in one of her most telling solos of the whole program.
Nic Jones, www.allaboutjazz.com, USA, February 23, 2010

 

 

Andy Hamilton, The WIRE, March 2010

 

REA, Schweizer Illustrierte, 8. März 2010

 

Por si alguien se quedó con la duda tras Where's Africa (2004, Intakt CD 098), en Can Walk On Sand nos encontramos con más aromas africanos de la mano del saxofonista Omri Ziegele, la pianista Irène Schweizer y el septuagenario batería sudafricano Makaya Ntshoko, que en esta ocasión es el invitado y añadido al dúo.
Si en la anterior grabación el saxofonista recreaba unas cuantas melodías más que memorables, en Can Walk On Sand Ziegele retoma esa estrategia, aunque también aporta tres temas propios. Entre esas piezas ajenas incluye composiciones de Johnny Dyani, Chris McGregor, Dollar Brand (ahora conocido como Abdullah Ibrahim) e incluso de Oliver Nelson que aparecen magníficamente expuestas por una Irène Schweizer que muestra aquí su lado más melódico. También hay rendiciones al talento de Ornette Coleman (con un "Giggin" apenas sugerido que no llega a los cuarenta segundos) y Mal Waldron (con su eterno "Soul Eyes"), así como una versión vocal de "Summertime" un tanto sui géneris, en la que Ziegele demuestra que lo suyo, bastante mejor que el cantar, es tocar el saxo alto. Tal y como le ocurría a Where's Africa, Can Walk On Sand es otra grabación sumamente recomendable, con una música magnífica que no renuncia a mostrar parte de la luminosidad de África.
Pachi Tapiz, www.tomajazz.com, Spain, 11 de Marzo de 2010

 

Duncan Heining, Jazzwise, Great Britain, April 2010

 

Swiss alto saxophonist Omri Ziegele and pianist Irene Schweizer began playing as a duo in 1997 emphasizing a shared repertoire of standards and tunes by Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, Don Cherry, and such South African expatriates as Abdullah Ibrahim, Chris McGregor and Johnny Dyani, whom Schweizer had met in Zurich in the ‘60s and Ziegele had encountered in London in the 1980s. The Schweizer/ Ziegele duo recorded Where’s Africa in 2005, a CD emphasizing jazz repertoire from Ellington to Monk and occasional forays into the specifically African material. Four years later the duo has added one of those South African expatriates, drummer Makaya Ntshoko, and re-emerged as a trio with Ziegele as leader. Ziegele is an intensely lyrical and expressive player with roots in Coleman and a certain stylistic resemblance to Dudu Pukwana. A powerful free improviser, Schweizer has also had a continuing penchant for material that is both strongly rhythmic and melodic and that’s the defining quality she shares with Ziegele. The fondness for tunes is evident in the briefest performances: Ornette Coleman’s “Giggin’” flies by in 39 seconds, Oliver Nelson’s “Butch & Butch,” 1’23, neither encumbered by improvisation though the two bracket an extended version of Mal Waldron’s ballad “Soul Eyes,” a fine vehicle for Ziegele’s often fluting sound. He also plays an unaccompanied version of Gershwin’s “Summertime” that ends with Ziegele alternately vocal and saxophone parts. As raw as the results might be, they point to Ziegele’s enthusiasm, a passion for song that surmounts an occasional excess. It’s the joyous bounce of the music that links it so strongly to the South African community in European jazz. It’s as apparent in Ziegele’s own compositions, like the bluesy, modal “Rare Bird,” as it is in Ibrahim’s “Tyntiana,” McGregor’s “Andromeda,” and Dyani’s “Ithi Gqi” and “Mbiza,” the last two with saxophonist Jürg Wickihalder making it a quartet. All in all, it’s a lively, emotive joyous set and an intriguing account of a musician finding unlikely roots.
Stuart Broomer, Point of Departure ( Issue 28), 6 April 2010

 

Crescita e percorsi fondati su pressioni geo-politiche sembrano il tratto biografico che accomuna e solidarizza i protagonisti del Where’s Africa Trio. Ormai riconosciuta come Gran Dama del pianismo dal non quieto incedere, la veterana Irène Schweizer ha segnato la sua prima attività nel free tedesco-occidentale e quindi con le accolite del Feminist Improvising Group, mantenendosi tuttora assai operosa con partner di statura planetaria; l’anziano e assai più segnato batterista Makaya Ntshoko lasciò il Sudafrica negli anni ’60 per seguire i travagli della scena europea e quanto al titolare, il giovanile 50enne Omri Ziegele migrò da Israele per cimentarsi con omologhi USA e britannici, ma preferendo strategicamente l’adottiva Svizzera. Tributando ampio spazio a composizioni di Coleman, Dollar Brand e Johnny Dyani, il trio non omaggia la sua denominazione elaborando africanismi né neo-tribalità, presenti piuttosto in spirito (o se si vuole nei caratteri arcaici della duttile batteria di Ntschoko), privilegiando tratti linguistici che esplicitano prolungate e rodate frequentazioni da jazz club: trovando spunto nell’iniezione d’arguzia di Schweizer, di cui colpirà la cantabile disposizione a un fresco spirito bop, la vena melanconica, ma più esattamente compassata del sax di Ziegele (doppiato in alcuni momenti da Jürg Wickihalder) non lesina misurata verve producendo nell’interplay con il piano inusuali standard di squillante godibilità come Tyntiana e Butch & Butch. Curato ed estensivo il percorso nel repertorio, ma più che in questo o nelle fisiche geografie lo spirito del viaggio sembra dirigersi lungo "quarant’anni di tenacemente vissuta, e talvolta sofferta, storia del jazz", secondo i dichiarati intenti dei protagonisti di questo appagante recital.
Voto artistico: 8
Voto tecnico: 8.5

Romualdo Del Noce, Suono n° 439, Italy, 4.2010 (Article as Image)

 

Bjarne Soltoft, Jazznytt, Norway, Nr.2 / 2010

 

Martin Schuster, Concerto, Österreich, April/Mai 2010

 

Where’s Africa (Intakt, 2006) was the first documented collaboration between Swiss saxophonist Omri Ziegele and the pianist Irene Schweizer in a program of music that reflected the diverse worldwide sources of creative music from Dollar Brand and Don Cherry to Ellington and Monk and beyond. Now, Ziegele and Schweizer have added South African drummer Makaya Ntshoko (a veteran of Brand’s early groups) to the equation on this latest set of originals and reimaginings. Brand and Gershwin enter the program, as do Mal Waldron, Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, Ornette, and Oliver Nelson. Though she’s known more for her place on a post-Cecil axis and as one of the founding figures of continental European free jazz, Schweizer’s volcanism is tempered for clean, delicious swatches of post-bop and high life in Brand’s “Tyntiana,” taken at a fast and sunny clip with Ntshoko’s loose crack and the curling, breathy alto of Ziegele (who reminds one of Carlos Ward, albeit more sputtering in his loquaciousness).
“Soul Eyes” is a duo of parallels, opening with an extended, oblique alto cadenza, Ziegele’s piling trills obscuring thematic referents until Schweizer enters and they explore a push-pull of tripled cadence and wistful measurement. The pianist’s unaccompanied feature voices modern stride a la Solo Monk, but with a crystalline touch and sneaky arpeggios. The title track, as well as the two Dyani covers, feature fellow Swiss saxophonist Jürg Wickihalder, who adds a sugary pensiveness derived from a rather individual interpretation of Steve Lacy, to Ziegele’s peppery approach. It would be interesting had the set been a little more interwoven, because shorter themes like “Butch and Butch,” Ornette’s “Giggin’,” and McGregor’s wonderful “Andromeda” theme (rarely heard in such a stripped-down context) could do well in a Cherry-esque ragtag suite, not to mention Ziegele’s nutty alto-and-vocal take on “Summertime.” Can Walk on Sand is a finely uplifting slab of modern creative music, drawing from a mulitiplicity of traditions but remaining solidly its own.
Clifford Allen, Ni Kantu Blog, USA, August 25, 2010

 

Michael Riediger, Schorndorfer Nachrichten, Deutschland, 20. September 2010

 

Klangwelt Afrikas
Wenn einer auf Sand laufen kann, ist er „native“ oder tief in einer Kultur und Lebensweise eingetaucht. Der Schweizer Altsaxofonist Omri Ziegele, ein gebürtiger Israeli, ist mit Irene Schweizer, der „Grand Old Lady“ europäischer Jazzpianisten, und dem in Europa lebenden südafrikanischen Schlagzeuger Makaya Nthsoko tief in die Musik, in die Klangwelt Afrikas eingetaucht. So tief, dass auch eigenwillige Versionen von George Gershwin (Summertime), Mal Waldron (Soul Eyes) und Ornette Coleman wie sehnsuchtsvolle Heimwehmelodie von Dollar Brand, Johnny Dyani und Chris McGregor klingen – kraftvoll schön, melodienselig und klangverliebt. So ungebrochen und so berührend in heiterer Melancholie und süsser Hingabe, wie zeitgenössischer Jazz in Europa eigentlich überhaupt nicht klingen darf.
Michael Scheiner, Passauer Neue Presse, Deutschland, 9. Oktober 2010

 

If like me you are a long-time admirer of the intense and powerfully Free music of Irene Schweizer, then you are in for a delightful surprise on CAN WALK ON SAND. She is joined here in the Where’s Africa Trio by alto saxophonist Ziegele and drummer Ntshoko, adding the soprano sax of Wickihalder on three tracks. In the early ‘60s Schweizer, it turns out, spent a period in London to study Hard Bop by hanging at Ronnie Scott’s. While she was there she ran into that now famous band of South African exiles who would soon make up the Brotherhood of Breath. Twenty years later in the ‘80s the Zurich-based Ziegele made a similar journey and wound up hanging with Louis Moholo and Dudu Pukwana, among others. So these two Swiss players of Free music share a common love of the grooves and tart intonations of Township Jazz. You’ve heard of Wooden Shoe Swing in Amsterdam? By adding Ntshoko on drums, what we’ve got on CAN WALK ON SAND is something like Swiss Watch Jive.
They cover tunes by Chris McGregor, Johnny Dyani, and Abdullah Ibrahim, as well as Ornette and Gershwin and three originals, but all with sour sweet tones and bouncing rhythms of South African Jazz. It is a joy to hear Schweizer display her chops in this new context, and the trio brings a slightly odd turn to the township tradition. This one is great fun, and you need to go out and discover it.
Phillip McNally, Cadence Magazine, USA, oct-nov-dec 2010

 

I wish I was a liar
Is it possible to successfully tell the story of such a momentous historical event as the storming of the Winter Palace in Petrograd in 1917 through jazz, a form of music which emerged a century ago from the cosmopolitan heart of New Orleans, a city where the delta of the Mississippi meets the Gulf of Mexico?
And also when the jazz narrative is told by three women - a Swiss pianist, a Scottish singer and a French bassist - and two men, a German drummer and an African American trombonist born in Chicago?
Perhaps these questions are summarily answered by vocalist Maggie Nichols, who wrote this sonic essay with pianist Irene Schweizer, and who at one point in the 10-minute proceedings - recorded live in March 1988 at the Taktios Festival in Zurich - declares from the midst of her mostly wordless lyrics: "And why not? And why not?"
Audacity here certainly, and brilliant jazz musicianship too - mostly in a free ensemble setting, stirred up into a relentless excitation by the five revolutionary improvising spirits.
The album's first track, the 26 minutes of Now And Never, begins with an astonishing collective passage, with Lewis' gruff slides tunnelling beneath Nicol's embroidered, lyricless vocals, Leandre's bass buzzing like some monumental insect, Sommer's flickering cymbalism and crashing drums before Schweizer's rampaging entry of keyboard runs and flourishes.
The frantic present tense of the piece continues with Nicols suddenly breaking into words, their Anglicism creating a strange absurdity as she sings of a mad rush for bargains at a jumble sale, and you wonder exactly what her aroused and hyper-engaged bandmates are making of it all in their own diverse languages and ways of living.
But the meaning is in the music as Schweizer's pace becomes lightning, with Sommer's sprinting snares and Lewis' snorts and Nicols declaring: "I wish I was a liar!"
No lies either in The Storming Of The Winter Palace which follows.
I would play it with John Reed's Ten Days Which Shook The World beside you and a DVD of Eisenstein's October, then see how each fills out the other.
Lewis' trombone is fearsome and prophetic with Schweizer's pianism groundshaking.
Leandre plays a pulsating bowed bass, breaking up the earth and concrete as Sommer's drums roll and pound as if they are signalling and urging the revolutionaries.
The piece moves with the sound of a system, and its power is at last ruptured, a sheer invitation to the imagination.
There's a very different musicial ambience throughout the album Can Walk On Sand, which in its own way celebrates another profoundly welcomed defeat of reactionary power.
The Where's Africa Trio - made up of the redoubtable Schweizer, Swiss alto saxophonist Omri Ziegele and the septuagenarian South African drummer Makaya Ntshoko - plays a selection of diverse tunes, some of which are compositions by South African revolutionary musicians who were exiles of apartheid and living in Europe for up to four decades.
These include pianists Dollar Brand - later Abdullah Ibrahim - and Chris McGregor, and bassist Johnny Dyani, all of whom were Ntshoko's contemporaries.
Ntshoko was the drummer in the Brand Trio in the early '60s and on the pianist's epochal album of 1964, Duke Elington Presents The Dollar Brand Trio.
Schweizer must have known the second track Tintiyana like his own drumsticks, so often did the Brand trio play it.
Ziegele's gyrating alto spins out his notes and there is a romping chorus from Schweizer.
Malwaldron's tender melody Soul Eyes is given a moving testimony and the trio skips through the briefest versions of Ornette Coleman's Giggin'.
The African rhythms of McGregor's great Afro European band The Brotherhood Of Breath burst out of Schweizer's jumping choruses of Andromeda, and Ziegele's airy timbre rises from his own compositions, Can Walk On Sand and Rare Bird.
But is is in the final two tunes - Ithi Gqi and Mbizo by the mercurial Dyani, where a second altoist Jurg Wickihalder is added - that the long years of the South African's musical defiance of apartheid is powerfully recreated by Schweizer, Ziegele and survivor Ntshoko for our own times, like a sonic beacon from past decades of brave struggle.
Chris Searle, www.morningstaronline.co.uk, Tuesday 06 September 2011, Great Britain

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