CHRISTOPH IRNIGER & MARC PERRENOUD: NEW LINES 1CD
Tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger and pianist Marc Perrenoud, both from Switzerland, have long been inspired by Lennie Tristano and his circle. Tristano was no friend of repetition, but he loved paraphrasing. Many of his compositions are based on famous standards, on which he simply invented new melodies. Irniger and Perrenoud wondered how they could do justice to a singular phenomenon like Lennie Tristano without doing exactly what he detested most, namely repeating or even copying him. They now provide their answer with “New Lines.”
Prekė detaliau
Instead of playing a single piece by Tristano, they adopted his principle and selected a series of jazz classics themselves, over which they then wrote new melodic lines – New Lines. Thus, something based on three levels of inspiration – Tristano's working method, the two protagonists' favorite pieces, and their own instinct – became something new.
Irniger and Perrenoud give their compositions the freedom to emancipate themselves from their models. Charlie Parker's “Confirmation” becomes the piece “Dry Sensation,” and “Deja Vu” is based on Bill Evans' “Time Remembered.” Changes and melodies dance around each other, challenging, motivating, and inspiring each other, and developing a symbiotic life of their own, just as Irniger and Perrenoud's intuitions intertwine naturally. In the end, they break out of the framework they have set for themselves and complete the album with songs that confidently detach themselves from the spirit of their role models.
Even if you've never heard the name Lennie Tristano before, it's a joy to follow the two Swiss musicians on their mountain and valley hike, because new paths, perspectives, and tempos constantly emerge. Sometimes a piece comes across so straight and dry that it immediately makes you want a drink, then again, they get so carried away that you want to spread your arms and float down from great heights.
Irniger and Perrenoud create moods that alternate from song to song. Their approach to sound testifies to a poetic objectivity that sets them apart from the tendency in contemporary jazz to let every note linger as long as possible. As soon as a note sounds on “New Lines,” everything that can be said with that note has been said whereby the two musicians manage to remain completely calm. This very special, ever-changing synthesis of intimacy and alertness is what makes this recording so special. “This is the first time for both of us to go public in a more traditional context,” Irniger sums up. “We play standards all the time for ourselves, we jam and improvise on the classics, but we've never recorded an album in this style before. Now we just felt like doing it.” And it is precisely this desire that is perceptible in every song, every line, every note, and every interaction.
TRACKLIST:
1. Dry Sensation 03:24
2. Bluesetto 03:59
3. Luce Oscura 05:17
4. Fast Finish 01:50
5. Abandoned Eggs in a Pan 04:48
6. Belle 02:58
7. Hold Up 02:11
8. Déjà Vu 03:16
9. Gizmo 03:27
10. Night Owl 03:36
11. The Unit 03:59