Jazz Articles about Irene Schweizer

Irene Schweizer: First Choice - Piano Solo KKL Luzern

by Nic Jones
October 12, 2006

Comparison between the opening bars of the lengthy title track on First Choice and Cecil Taylor's solo work reveals interesting details. Where Taylor's more reflective passages tend often to preview bombast and iconoclasm writ large, Irene Schweizer's approach to the piano seems more reflective--more prone to rumination on an idea or a fragment of an idea--and it makes for music that holds the attention more by stealth than by sheer impact. Over the course of these nineteen minutes, there isn't ...

Ir: Where's Africa

by AAJ Staff
December 2, 2005

By Ken Waxman

Take your pick: this is either a return to swing-bop roots for Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer or the weirdest duo session she's ever made. That's because Schweizer, who has had a commitment to the European avant-garde since the late '60s, here plays an entire program of jazz and pop standards, plus one original.

Stranger still, her partner here is the many years younger, Zürich-based alto saxophonist Omri Ziegele, whose recorded forays with over-the-top, often electrified bands like ...

Ir

by Derek Taylor
October 28, 2005

Most independent recording labels have their bellwether artists, those musicians on the roster central to the label's identity and mission. Hatology has Joe McPhee. Peter Brötzmann is commonly associated with FMP. Tzadik revolves around John Zorn. In the case of Intakt it's Swiss pianist Irène Schweizer. Schweizer has been playing actively for nearly half a century and the last several decades of her career have been faithfully documented on Intakt. Ideally, labels and artists share a reciprocal relationship. It's the ...

Irene Schweizer and Omri Ziegele: Where's Africa

by Dan McClenaghan
April 4, 2005

This duo outing, featuring saxophonist Omri Ziegele and Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer, thrives on the contrasts of the two artists' styles. Schweizer's approach is joyous and ribald, a loose and free-flowing love affair with her instrument. Alto saxophonist Ziegele has a robust tone, a bit raw-edged, intense and imaginative. On Where's Africa the duo dives into five tunes by Don Cherry, three Monk compositions, Duke Ellington, Kurt Weill, and Johnny Mandel's “Suicide Is Painless" (the “Mash" theme song), and Rodgers ...

Schweizer-Nicols-Lewis-Leandre-Sommer: The Storming Of The Winter Palace

by Glenn Astarita
February 1, 2000

The Storming Of The Winter Palace was originally released on LP in 1988 as Swiss based “Intakt Records” has thankfully chosen to reissue this most interesting recording on CD. The 26-minute opener, “Now and Never” offers a hearty mix of disparate motifs, glistening choruses and endearing interplay among trombonist George Lewis, vocalist Maggie Nicols, pianist Irene Schweizer, percussionist Gunter Sommer and bassist Joelle Leandre. Here, Ms Nicols displays a supremely masterful vocal range complete with spurts of humor, scat and ...

Irene Schweizer: Many And One Direction - Piano Solo

by Glenn Astarita
January 1, 2000

The great Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer goes it alone on her latest release, Piano Solo – Many and One Direction. Here, the critically acclaimed pianist pursues various angles via her noteworthy affinity for rhythmic movement and altogether penetrating execution as each piece is strikingly unique......

On “Huben Wie Druben”, Ms Schweizer constructs Bill Evans-type harmonics and melodies while featuring her rhythmically active left hand, that at times conveys somewhat of a classical outlook. Here, the pianist creates enticing melodies along ...

Irene Schweizer & Han Bennink: Irene Schweizer & Han Bennink

by Glenn Astarita
October 1, 1999

The last several months we have been covering Swiss pianist Irene Schweizer and her past and recent accomplishments performing in duet scenarios with notable modern jazz/free improvising drummers. We regard these significant collaborations with utmost importance and some degree of revelry. Recorded live January 1995 at Jazzclub Moods, Zurich, Switzerland – the teaming of Ms. Schweizer and renowned Dutch drummer Han Bennink offers yet another glimpse of the fascinating and stylistic interplay which has become something of a trademark these ...