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Omri Ziegele
Where's Africa Trio with Irène Schweizer and Makaya Ntshoko
Can Walk on Sand
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).
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.
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.
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.
Flott hyllest
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
Michael Riediger, Schorndorfer Nachrichten, Deutschland, 20. September 2010
Klangwelt Afrikas
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.
I wish I was a liar |