Jazz Articles about Jurg Wickihalder Overseas Quartet

Jurg Wickihalder Overseas Quartet: Furioso

by John Sharpe
March 11, 2009

Irrespective of the connections, the soprano saxophone clarion call opening Furioso immediately evokes the ghost of Steve Lacy. The debut disc from Swiss soprano saxophonist Jurg Wickihalder's Overseas quartet might be better titled Vivacissimo, such is the joy and vitality which springs out from every digital pit and pore.

Though it was at Boston's Berklee College of Music where Wickihalder met the other members of his quartet, it was Lacy who remained a seminal influence from their first ...

Jurg Wickihalder Overseas Quartet: Furioso

by Nic Jones
January 14, 2009

The whole issue of how deep influences run is pervasive in a lot of places here. In this set largely of free bop, leader Jurg Wickihalder's soprano sax playing often evokes the spirit of Steve Lacy in everything but the quack. It's notable from the opening “Warm-up Party" where Wickihalder and Achille Succi on bass clarinet dance around each other's line in a composition that has about the air of Herbie Nicholls. The comparison is kind of rendered pertinent by ...