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Nik 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 ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch: Possibility in Paradox
by Geno Thackara
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 for a bundle of seeming contradictions: steadily repetitive and ever-changing, precise yet improvisational, highly cerebral and body-movingly catchy, it develops structures of sometimes breathtaking ...
Continue ReadingECM Showcase at NYC Winter Jazzfest 2017
by Tyran Grillo
ECM Showcase at NYC Winter Jazzfest 2017 Tishman Auditorium, The New School New York City January 7, 2017 Music has been a comfort in troubling times ever since there were humans to bring about troubles to begin with. Rare, however, is that music which seeks not only to placate but also demonstrate. The world of ECM Records, insofar as it has come to be defined through nearly five decades of mapping, demonstrates in every sense ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch’s Mobile at the Rubin Museum of Art
by Tyran Grillo
Nik Bärtsch's Mobile Rubin Museum of Art New York, NY May 6, 2016 When is music a ritual? A relevant question in regard to pianist and composer Nik Bärtsch, one of few modern musicians to live out his worldview in every thought and action. His “Ronin" project laid fresh tracks in the vast network of ECM Records--no small feat considering the label's diverse, decades-long locomotion. But behind Ronin's curtain, in his native Zürich, ...
Continue ReadingNik Bartsch's Mobile at The Rubin Museum of Art
by Budd Kopman
Nik Bärtsch's Mobile Rubin Museum Of Art New York, NY May 6, 2016 Having seen Nik Bärtsch's Ronin live (albeit eight years ago), listened to Continuum and read the detailed review which notes the differences between the groups, did not lessen the impact of Mobile in concert. The venue was perfect--a small auditorium which held about three hundred, facing a raised stage. There, the Mobile quartet was arranged with Nik ...
Continue ReadingNik Bärtsch's Mobile: Continuum
by Claudio Bonomi
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 una sezione d'archi composta da due violini, una viola e due violoncelli. L'approccio stilistico è noto e affonda le radici in un patrimonio musicale ...
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