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Jazz Articles about Nik Bärtsch
Nik Bartsch's Ronin at Dazzle
by Geoff Anderson
Nik Bärtsch's Ronin Dazzle Denver, CO October 24, 2018 “Zen Funk." That's how Nik Bärtsch describes his music. “Zen:" the seeking of true enlightenment, often through meditation. “Funk:" a highly rhythmic, syncopated form of music. Zen Funk, yeah, that's it. The funk ranges from subtle to structural to urgent. The repetitive nature of the funk lines can be trance-inducing, leading to a meditative state which, of course, leads to true enlightenment. ...
Continue ReadingSzun Waves, other new releases and some archive cuts
by Bob Osborne
Blurring the boundaries between jazz, ambience and electronica, the sophomore album from Szun Waves New Hymn to Freedom, is the album of the week on the show. This new release is a document of six entirely live improvisations with “no edits or overdubs." The album title is apt, it is jazz, but it also bedded in the British electronic tradition, creating a refreshing new sound. The show also focuses on Guillermo McGill and Marion Brown with two tracks ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch: Awase
by Hrayr Attarian
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 synergy marks all six tracks. The cinematic “Module 34," for instance, consists of atmospheric and expansive refrains that resonate against Bärtsch's cascading piano. The ...
Continue ReadingNik Bartsch's Ronin at Constellation in Chicago
by Hrayr Attarian
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 to 200-member audience captivated with their collective performance. Bärtsch opened the concert with tolling notes from the piano strings. Multireed player Sha ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch's Ronin at World Cafe Live
by Geno Thackara
Nik Bärtsch's Ronin World Cafe Live 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 Festival going on, in which case, maybe the top twenty.) To the unfamiliar, the music of Nik Bärtsch's Ronin may seem similarly odd and yet ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch's Ronin at (Le) Poisson Rouge
by Tyran Grillo
Nik Bärtsch's Ronin (Le) Poisson Rouge New York, NY May 6, 2018 On May 6, 2018, Swiss pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch brought his refashioned Ronin outfit to New York City. The band's name comes from the word meaning “masterless samurai," and indeed listeners can't help but feel that Bärtsch and his melodic warriors have gone rogue for so long that their footprints are practically indistinguishable. At the way station known as (Le) ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch's Ronin: Awase
by Mike Jurkovic
After “Modul 60," the reflective and tranquil opener to Awase, from pianist Nik Bärtsch's groove-metric quartet Ronin, “Modul 58" comes at you with such an insistence and power that it leaves you, after its persistent eighteen minutes, catching your breath, marveling at how you went from zero to mach 10 in the blink of an eye. Bärtsch describes the music of Ronin--featuring bass clarinet/alto saxophonist Sha, bassist Thomy Jordi, and drummer Kasper Rast--as “Zen Funk" or “Ritual Groove ...
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