Results for "Kaspar Rast"

Kaspar Rast

Five Albums From Bands That Broadened The Jazz Paradigm

by Mike Jacobs
March 24, 2021

In this installment of BackTracks we take a look at five albums that not only helped expand the jazz paradigm, but also helped establish the band as a re-merging entity (and an ethos) in jazz. Lost TribeMany Lifetimes Arabesque Jazz 1998 In 1998, a first listen to this album ...

Festival International de Jazz de Montréal 2019: Week 2

by Mark Sullivan
July 11, 2019

Various Venues Festival International de Jazz de Montréal Montréal, Canada July 2-6, 2019 The festival celebrated its 40th anniversary this year with the usual dazzling array of musical offerings. And a few that were unusual: including concerts celebrating the 50th anniversary of ECM Records (founder Manfred Eicher was awarded the Bruce ...

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin At The Bop Stop

by Matt Hooke
November 10, 2018

Nik Bartsch's Ronin Bop Stop Cleveland, Ohio October 28, 2018 The way Nik Bärtsch dresses reveals a lot about his music. He steps up to the piano wearing a Samue, the traditional dress of Zen Buddhist monks, and sneakers. One represents a spiritual tradition thousands of years old, requiring the utmost ...

Nik Bärtsch: Awase

by Hrayr Attarian
May 26, 2018

The exquisite Awase is Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch's eighth release with his band Ronin. Although the ensemble has had a few personnel changes, the album maintains the creative energy and the spirit of its previous work. The title refers to a principle of martial arts that translates to coming together and an appropriately dynamic ...

Nik Bartsch's Ronin at Constellation in Chicago

by Hrayr Attarian
May 14, 2018

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin Constellation Chicago, IL May 10, 2018 On May 10th 2018, Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch brought his quartet, Ronin to Chicago's Constellation. In the venue's intimate studio B the ensemble stretched out on material from its latest album to date, the sublime Awase (ECM, 2018). It kept the close ...

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin at World Cafe Live

by Geno Thackara
May 11, 2018

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin World Cafe Live jny: Philadelphia, PA May 8, 2018 Of the oddest sights Philadelphia's art scene might offer on any given Tuesday night, a stern-faced figure in samurai hatama whacking a piano with a mallet should probably be in the top five. (Unless there's something like the Fringe ...

Nik Bärtsch: Possibility in Paradox

by Geno Thackara
April 24, 2018

Like the master-less samurai his primary band is named for, Nik Bärtsch forges a path and follows a code all his own. The pianist's music is best described by his own key phrases “ritual groove music" and “Zen funk," merging Eastern minimalist simplicity and patient trance with the interplay and communal aspect of jazz. It makes ...

Nik Bärtsch's Mobile: Continuum

by Claudio Bonomi
May 9, 2016

Nik Bärtsch, pianista svizzero famoso ai più per le sue gesta con i Ronin, torna alla ribalta con un nuovo album che, semmai ce ne fosse ancora bisogno, ne conferma il talento e il genio creativo. Qui è a capo dell'ensemble acustico Mobile, che per l'occasione si esibisce in una formazione allargata includendo ...

Continuum

by John Kelman
April 15, 2016

Few musicians have continued to hone a concept as singularly unique and instantly recognizable, irrespective of context, as that being explored by Swiss pianist Nik Bärtsch since he first formed Mobile with Don Li, Kaspar Rast and Mats Eser in 1997. First emerging on record in 2001 with Ritual Groove Music (Self-Released, reissued Ronin Rhythm, 2006), ...