Jazz Articles about Pierre Favre

About Pierre Favre

Album Review

Pierre Favre: The Art of Sound(s)

Read "The Art of Sound(s)" reviewed by Neri Pollastri

by Neri Pollastri
July 13, 2026

Un incontro tra quattro musicisti legati sia da una comune poetica, l'improvvisazione, sia da forti e duraturi legami, che avviene nella terra d'origine di uno di loro --il Friuli di Andrea Centazzo--ma si avvale del cosmopolitismo di tutti quanti: le origini francesi e l'internazionalismo di Pierre Favre, che di Centazzo fu il primo maestro; il respiro europeo di Francesca Gemmo; quello americano, via Cage, di Sergio Armaroli; l'esperienza statunitense dello stesso Centazzo. Un incontro all'insegna delle percussioni, perché ...

Album Review

Pierre Favre: Bird Food

Read "Bird Food" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
May 31, 2026

Captured live at Radio Studio Zurich in 1968, this is the earliest known recording of the Pierre Favre Trio, dormant for more than half a century until Favre and trombonist Samuel Blaser unearthed it while sorting through forgotten tapes. That it survived at all feels faintly miraculous, the jazz equivalent of finding cash in an old winter coat. The lineup now reads like a rough sketch of European free jazz before the paint dried. Pierre Favre anchors the ...

Radio & Podcasts

Pierre Favre, Micah Thomas & Columbia Icefield

by Maurice Hogue
May 18, 2026

This episode of One Man's Jazz is loaded with music from new releases. Highly regarded pianist Micah Thomas drops a teaser of his upcoming Lucid , while trumpeter Nate Wooley & Columbia Icefield may have released their last album. A Silence Opens pays tribute to steel guitar virtuoso Susan Alcorn, a key member of the band, as well as homage to Wooley's mentor and friend, Ron Miles. There's also a tribute to percussionist Brahim Fribgane who instilled Moroccan influences in ...

Album Review

Pierre Favre & Sergio Armaroli, Andrea Centazzo, Francesca Gemmo: The Art Of Sound(s)

Read "The Art Of Sound(s)" reviewed by Mark Corroto

by Mark Corroto
November 10, 2025

It would not be prudent to overlook history when considering the music created by the improvising artists of The Art of Sound(s). As William Shakespeare wrote in The Tempest: “By that destiny to perform an act / Whereof what's past is prologue, what to come in yours and my discharge." In other words, this 2024 recording could not exist without the accumulated experiences and creative legacies of its four musicians. At the center stands Swiss drummer Pierre Favre, ...

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Album Review

Pierre Favre Ensemble: Le Voyage

by Nic Jones
February 11, 2011

Pierre Favre is a scion of the improvisation scene in Europe and beyond. There's always been a reflective element in his drum and percussion work that suggests a slightly conservative disposition which has been manifested in a kind of politeness and reticence. Those two qualities in many respects sum up the music on this disc. While the antithesis of those qualities does not necessarily make for compelling music, in this case of this recording the overall mood is slightly soporific, ...

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Album Review

Pierre Favre: Albatros

Read "Albatros" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
February 1, 2011

Renowned Swiss drummer Pierre Favre imparts his kaleidoscopic tonal palette into these intricately exercised and probing duets with fellow countryman, guitarist Philipp Schaufelberger. The musicians cover a gamut of twists, turns and subtle theme building maneuvers, including airy environs and an abundance of tradeoffs. Moreover, Favre balances out the set with structured patterns and asymmetrical rhythms in concert with his melodic fills. “Seeing" presents an ambient vista, with Favre's delicate drumming and soft cymbal hits offering a ...

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Album Review

Pierre Favre / Philipp Schaufelberger: Albatros

by Nic Jones
November 27, 2010

A sense of “music-minus-one" is pretty pervasive on Albatros. Regardless of what instrument is played, the presence of an additional musician might have elevated the music and the discourse from which it springs, to a more ear-catching level than that attained by this configuration of musicians. As it is, this duo of guitar and drums is marked by perfunctory air. The waddling progress of “Pino Caro" seems faintly contrived, while “Seeing"--all three-and-a-half minutes of it--is heavy with ...