Results for "Nik Bartsch"

Article: Album Review

Sonar with David Torn: Vortex

by John Kelman
May 12, 2018

It might be all too simple to explain away Sonar, the Swiss twin-guitar/bass/drums quartet now in its eighth year together, through a series of touchstones. King Crimson, by way of that band's co-founder/guitarist Robert Fripp's Guitar Craft? Check. The influence of Nik Bartsch and Don Li's innovative meshing of Steve Reich-ian minimalism with deceptively complicated polyrhythmic ...

Article: Live Review

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin at (Le) Poisson Rouge

by Tyran Grillo
May 11, 2018

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 ...

Video

Awase

Featuring the music of Nik Bärtsch
Duration: 5:18
May 11, 2018

“Awase”, a term from martial arts, means “moving together” in the sense of matching energies, a fitting metaphor for the dynamic precision, tessellated grooves and balletic minimalism of Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin. Six years have passed since the last release from the Swiss group. In the interim, trimmed from quintet to quartet size and with new bassist Thomy Jordi fully integrated, Ronin has become a subtly different band. Bärtsch speaks of a new-found freedom and flexibility in the approach to the material, with “greater transparency, more interaction, more joy in every performance”. The freedom here extends to revisiting early Bärtsch modules alongside new compositions including, for the first time on a Ronin record, a piece by reedman Sha. Awase was recorded at Studios La Buissonne in the south of France in October 2017 and produced by Manfred Eicher.

Article: Album Review

Nik Bärtsch's Ronin: Awase

by Mike Jurkovic
May 7, 2018

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. ...

Article: Interview

Nik Bärtsch: Possibility in Paradox

by Geno Thackara
April 24, 2018

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 ...

Article: Radio & Podcasts

Minimalist Jazz & An Interview With Caroline Davis

by Ludovico Granvassu
April 20, 2018

Jazz and minimalism? An interesting combination that produces fascinating and hypnotic results which we will delve into in this episode of Mondo Jazz. We also interview saxophonist Caroline Davis about her latest album, Heart Tonic, plus a loungy tribute to Cecil Taylor, and a preview of live performances by Patrick Zimmerli and Derek Gripper. ...

Article: Live Review

36th International Tampere Jazz Happening

by John Ephland
December 4, 2017

36th International Tampere Jazz Happening Tampere, Finland November 2-5, 2017 They were the winner of this year's Europe Jazz Network (EJN) Award for Adventurous Programming. Receiving the award at April's jazzahead! conference in Bremen, Tampere Jazz Happening and Artistic Director Juhamatti Kauppinen celebrated what has become 35 years of top-drawer programming. The ...

Article: Album Review

Bjorn Meyer: Provenance

by Karl Ackermann
November 17, 2017

Bassist Björn Meyer strongly believes that there are multiple functions for bass. Born just outside of Stockholm, he started out playing piano and some guitar but when he randomly picked up a bass, he realized that he had found his instrument. Self-taught, he had been inspired by the diverse styles of Marcus Miller and Jaco Pastorius. ...

Article: Album Review

Bjorn Meyer: Provenance

by Geno Thackara
November 11, 2017

From the fact that his best-known role consisted of a decade in Nik Bartsch's Ronin (not to ignore his other style-bending collaborations either), it's already clear that Bjorn Meyer isn't interested in what a bass or bassist is normally supposed to do. In keeping with that attitude, his solo debut puts his low-end string work to ...

Article: Album Review

Bjorn Meyer: Provenance

by Mark Sullivan
October 4, 2017

Swedish electric bass guitarist Björn Meyer has worked with Persian harpist-singer Asita Hamidi (the program is dedicated to her memory), Swedish nyckelharpa player Johan Hedin and Tunisian oud master Anouar Brahem, and was a member of Nik Bärtsch's Ronin for a decade, often filling a lead instrument role. So he has a history of fitting his ...