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Sha: Monbijou
by Mike Jacobs
Aside from an existing appreciation of the saxophonist's creativity, it would be a mistake to approach Sha's Monbijou with any preconceptions. While this is a notion that has applied to his main group, Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, the tack Sha takes on this album is well removed from even that. Considering the integrated groupthink which characterizes nearly all of his work in (and outside of) Ronin, part of that remove is to be expected-- after all, this is a ...
read moreSha's Feckel: Greatest Hits
by John Kelman
With Stoa (ECM, 2006), the world at large was introduced to Nik Bärtsch and his hypnotic, booty-shaking Zen Funk. But the Swiss pianist's rapid ascendance, thanks to the international reach and reputation of ECM Records, was only the tip of the iceberg. Not only had Bärtsch released six previous albums since 2001, on his own Ronin Rhythms Records--four with his now-longstanding Ronin, plus a solo piano record and the album that started it all, Ritual Groove Music (2001), with his ...
read moreNik Bartsch's Ronin: Llyrìa
by AAJ Italy Staff
Prosegue l'opera del pianista svizzero Nik Bärtsch attraverso i suoi perfetti" moduli compositivi, dopo i precedenti Holon (2008) e Stoa, sempre per la ECM. Forte di un suono orchestrale denso e preciso, i Ronin di Nik Bärtsch sono una band che suona uno spartito accuratamente preparato. La pre-scrittura dei moduli non lascia nulla al caso, lo studio del loop come modello quasi lecorbusiano su cui si appoggiano variazioni, dai toni incerti e talvolta melodrammatici. Tutti i moduli sono sorretti dalle ...
read moreSha's Banryu: Chessboxing Volume One
by John Kelman
With a group possessing as strong and unique an identity as Swiss pianist Nik Bartsch's Ronin--heard most recently on the remarkable Holon (ECM, 2008) and in performance in Kristiansand, Norway at Punkt 08--It's not surprising that the debut album by its reedman Sha possesses many of the same characteristics. Ronin, after all, is more than just a group; it's a musical philosophy combining minimalist tendencies with deep grooves and improvisation so subtle that it's at a near subconscious level. Chessboxing ...
read moreNik Bärtsch's Ronin: Holon
by AAJ Italy Staff
“I always leave the concert hall when i start tapping my foot”. Partendo da questa frase di Morton Feldman, monito semiserio (e frase iniziale delle brevi note di copertina) sull’opposizione tra il momento dell’ascolto concentrato e quello della danza e della liberazione, il pianista svizzero Bärtsch cerca di superarne l’intima contraddizione. La chiave di volta dice di averla trovata nelle arti marziali e nella profonda unione tra impegno di cuore, cervello e fisico che queste richiedono. In questo suo secondo ...
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