DAVE GISLER TRIO with Jaimie Branch and David Murray - See You Out There (March 18, 2022 Intakt Records)

Two years after the acclaimed live album Zurich Concert, which featured trumpeter Jamie Branch, the Dave Gisler trio adds another guest for a studio album – the giant of modern jazz – David Murray. Just as the trio immediately hit it off with Branch, Murray is furiously integrated into the band's punchy music, with the presence of both the trumpeter and tenor saxophonist opening up the group's sound. the resulting body of sound, propelled by punkish energy and the driving force of rock, the free-form aesthetics of the sixties and the cadences of modern jazz, navigates into open musical realms. "But there’s no doubt that as Branch’s final note resounds, Gisler and his collaborators will soldier on driven by a need to make music together," writes Peter Margasak in the liner notes.

1. Bastards on the Run

2. Can You Hear Me?

3. See You Out There

4. The Vision

5. Get it Done

6. Medical Emergency

7. What Goes Up...

8. High as a Kite

9. Get a Döner

10. Better Don't Fuck with the Drunken Sailor

Dave Gisler: Guitar

Raffaele Bossard: Bass

Lionel Friedli: Drums

Jaimie Branch: Trumpet

David Murray: Tenor Saxophone

All compositions by Dave Gisler (Suisa). Recorded November 1 and 2, 2021, at Rotfarb Studio, Uznach, Switzerland, by Lara Persia. Mixed by David Torn. Mastered at Hardstudios Winterthur by Michael Brändli.

Cover art & graphic design: Fiona Ryan.

Liner notes: Peter Margasak.

Photo: Palma Fiacco.

Produced by Dave Gisler and Intakt Records.

Published by Intakt Records.

PRE-ORDER

Joe Haider Trio - Waltz for Ever (DOUBLE MOON RECORDS 2018)

Worth Listening to Again and Again!

If you did not know better, you would shake your head in disbelief: Joe Haider was actually born in 1936. In other words, he was born in Darmstadt three years before the outbreak of the Second World War. During that World War, he danced waltz with his mother – his father was busy elsewhere. Later, the pianist Haider, who became familiar with European music tradition at a conservatory and African-American jazz aesthetics thanks to working with countless US luminaries, composed waltzes for all his wives; he was married a total of three times. Now, he is continuing to “waltz further” into the end of time. At any rate, this is suggested by the title of his sixth trio album, Waltz For Ever, which oscillates between wisdom and power.

Haider, a Swiss national by choice, is accompanied on this wonderfully varied album by two Swiss jazz musicians, who were born in 1980 (Claudio Strüby) and 1982 respectively (Raffaele Bossard). Bassist Raffaele Bossard is already a longtime companion of Haider and has already recorded four albums alongside the pianist.

As a companion, Bossard acts at the same time solidly and with agility, and his improvisatory digressions are characterized by a wonderful balance of gravity and virtuosity. For Bossard, the bass is a bass and not an oversized guitar. Bossard is omnipresent on the Swiss scene; among others, he is active in the groups Pilgrim of saxophonist Christoph Irniger, Mats-Up of trumpeter Matthias Spillmann and Plurism of drummer Dominic Egli. This is the first recording with Haider for the very busy drummer Claudio Strüby. Strüby has become known in recent years through his work in the crossover trio Rusconi, but has also cooperated with “elder statesman” Andy Scherrer. Strüby’s supple, punchy playing style, full of surprising accents, fits optimally into a piano-trio context.

The majority of the pieces on Waltz For Ever were composed by Haider. When composing, Haider is initially inspired by people, situations and stories. However, composing craftsmanship is required when working out the pieces, for example, in the choice of keys or in the thematic fine tuning. Katy’s Katzenvilla actually existed, and Haider remembers vividly even today how one day two cats carried a whole sack of sausages from the dining table over a fence into a nearby forest. Haider is a gifted narrator of anecdotes. Much of his lovely storytelling can also be found in his piano playing. Haider does not want to amaze his listeners, but instead enchant them. If you ask Haider about pianists who have influenced him, he first mentions two rather unfamiliar names: Claude Williams and Dick Twardzik. He also mentions Dave Brubeck, Sonny Clark, Tommy Flanagan and Bill Evans. Then there was McCoy Tyner as later influence. Actually, Haider is a forgiving type, and yet he remains unforgiving on some points. Consequently, a question mark can be added to the title The Reconciliation, Haider said. In fact, it is not a love, peace and harmony piece, but a rather attacking number.

When selecting the three pieces from the “Great American Songbook”, Haider was guided by personal reminiscences. He learned to love the ballad Darn that Dream listening to a version by the blind Spanish pianist Tete Montoliu. Haider used to play the song Nature Boy, which was made famous by Nat King Cole, in duo performances with the trumpeter Charlie Shavers. And Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye was on his wish list after hearing a touching version by Ray Charles. Of course, the fact that this piece with the lines Ev’ry Time We Say Goodbye /I die a little receives an additional dimension at Haider’s age goes without saying.

But for now, his motto is: Now more than ever!

Tom Gsteiger

Joe Haider, piano

Raffaele Bossard, bass

Claudio Strüby, drums

1 Waltz For Ever  06:19

2 Inspirations  05:19

3 Katys Katzenvilla  06:44

4 Nature Boy  04:12

5 Dance Of The Flames  06:43

6 Darn That Dream  07:00

7 The Reconciliation  04:43

8 Every Time We Say Goodbye  05:43

Matthias Tschopp Quartet - Untitltled (WIDE EAR RECORDS 2018)

My first contact with the art of Jean-Michel Basquiat was at an exhibition of the Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, Switzerland. It was overwhelming - powerful, expressive, rich in colours and drama, full of serial and aleatoric components, motives, improvisation, and numerous references to Bebop and Hip Hop.

It took me almost a year to translate Basquiat's work Untitled into music. I applied the twenty-six letters of the alphabet to the tonal range of the baritone saxophone, in order to generate melodies out of the countless words I found in the picture. I composed musical fragments on selected elements of the painting, collected information about Howard Hughes, bought Charlie Parker records and an old tape recorder, tried to find the original soundtrack of the comic hero Human Torch and looked for ways to integrate genius and madness, life and death in a piece of music.

The result is Untitled Part I, a suite of musical events that can last nineteen to ninety minutes; recorded live at Shedhalle Zug in March 2017. More info...

1. Untitled Part I - Eroica 05:36

2. Untitled Part I - Nothing To Be Gained Here 06:02

3. Untitled Part I - Receiver 04:10

4. Untitled Part I - Billie's Ear Wax 05:28

5. Untitled Part I - Codine vs. Morphine 01:57

6. Untitled Part I - Howard Hughes 07:00

7. Untitled Part I - Sky 03:10

8. Untitled Part I - Black Teeth 04:11

9. Untitled Part I - Brown Head 01:19

10. Untitled Part I - Words 01:07

11. Untitled Part I - The Human Torch 06:03

12. Untitled Part II - Mark Rothko 03:59

13. Untitled Part II - Jackson Pollock 03:51

14. Untitled Part II - Friedensreich Hundertwasser 04:16

15. Untitled Part II - Rolf Winnewisser 06:29

Matthias Tschopp baritone sax

Yves Theiler piano

Raffaele Bossard bass

Alex Huber drums

Joe Haider Jazz Orchestra & The Sparklettes - Back to the Roots (DOUBLE MOON RECORDS 2018)

Joe Haider is a cantankerous personality of the European jazz world. If our listen to him speak, you are confronted with deep Swabian dialect, but if you can hear him play, with a profound swing. This music and the associated feeling of dazzling freedom have accompanied him during his whole life, ever since the surprised boy was lifted by a GI onto a tank in the days after the end of WWII and was brought into contact with chocolate, music and the American way of life. Even if the modern, hard bop, blues and even a pinch of soul have influenced his style over the decades, the now 82-year-old pianist and Swiss national by choice from Darmstadt, who was active in Stuttgart and Munich for a long time, continues with his special blend of rhythmic presence and matter-of-factness rooted in tradition.

Consequently, it is fitting that Joe Haider returns to his roots with his new album "Back To The Roots", which he has never really forgotten. He does it with a mixture of nonchalance and sustainability, which already results from his choice of co-musicians. Because, he uses an orchestra with nine musicians on one hand, whose brass-centered members enable a wide variety of modern, jazzy tonal qualities. This scaling-up of the quartet sound makes it possible to create both big band associations as well as references to the typical sound ideas of small ensembles, which often characterize styles. The three saxophonists Daniel Blanc, Thomi Geiger and Domenic Landolf, who also play flute and clarinet in addition to their customary instruments, confront the trumpeter Dave Blaser, trombonist Rene Mosele and bass trombonist Lucas Wirz. All of them are trained in experimental projects in addition to traditional styles, which in turn benefits the intricacies of the arrangement. Besides Haider himself on the piano, the bass player Raffaele Bossard and drummer Dominic Egli round out the sound of the nonet.

The CD was recorded in Winterthur in September 2017. A vocal quartet also joined the instrumental ensemble in the studio. They were old acquaintances of the bandleader, because the singers Doris McVeigh, Isabelle Ritter, Nina Gutknecht and Xenia Zampieri had met in 1999 at the Swiss Jazz School in Bern where Haider had taught since the eighties and of which he is now also the director. An a cappella quartet was formed from the friendship, which has since performed with a wide-ranging repertoire in other countries too. Together with the Joe Haider Orchestra, the Sparklettes launch into a soul swinging sound, then again to a ballad-like iridescent program or one between modern harmonies and experimental expressiveness that leads to a lot of blues in the pedigree of Joe Henderson and Charlie Parker and all the way to Isla Eckinger and original compositions. In spite of the potential opulence arranged transparently, a typical Haider jazz cosmos develops over nine pieces, which has a good effect on the addition of the multiple vocal elements.

1 Back to the Roots  06:50

2 The Inner Ear  05:58

3 The Goal Stands at the Beginning  06:12

4 The Other Blues  09:17

5 Ko Ko  06:37

6 If I Was A Little Bird  07:37

7 The Shade of Jade  06:43

8 She Was Looking at the Moon  10:16

9 Movin' Out Now  07:34

Joe Haider Jazz Orchestra

Joe Haider - Piano

Daniel Blanc - Flute

Thomi Geiger - Saxophone

Domenic Landolf - Saxophone

Dave Blaser - Trumpet

Rene Mosele - Trombone

Lucas Wirtz - Tuba

Raffaele Bossard - Bass

Dominic Egli - Drums

The Sparklettes

Dave Gisler Trio - Rabbits on the Run (INTAKT RECORDS May 2018)

New Release

Over the past few years Dave Gisler has earned himself an

impressive reputation in the free-thinking force field of contemporary

jazz as a maverick sound architect on the electric guitar. with

Lionel Friedli, the impulsive style-busting force of nature on the

drums, and the agile bassist Raffaele Bossard, with his earthy tone,

Gisler brought two of the most sought after musicians on the Swiss

jazz scene. Since 2016 these three fans of choice yet rough-edged

musicianship have been navigating their ship through open musical

seas with punky energy, the driving power of indie rock, the free

aesthetic of the 1960s and the cadences of modern jazz.

The debut album, Rabbits on the Run, is a stock-take of the moment,

a shimmering array of this genre-busting trio’s potential. without

falling into superficial musical eclecticism, the trio celebrate stylistic

diversity, orientating themselves on factors independent of style,

such as intensity, contrast or energy. Rabbits on the Run; in flight

the rabbit leaps sideways. And it is surprising changes of direction

and atmospheric turning points which characterise our trip through

the all-encompassing sonic cosmos of this promising trio.

Dave Gisler, guitar

Raffaele Bossard, bass

Lionel Friedli, drums

All compositions by Dave Gisler (SUISA). Recorded in June, 2017 at

Studio Black Box, Noyant la Gravoyere, France by David Odlum. Mixed

November, 2017 by David Odlum. Mastered December 2017 by David

Odlum and Peter Deimel. Cover art: Simone haug. Graphic design:

Jonas Schoder. Photo: Michelle Ettlin. Liner notes: Florian keller.

Produced by Dave Gisler and Intakt Records, Patrik Landolt.

Intakt CD 304