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1989 · Album

Irène Schweizer & Andrew Cyrille

↑ Andrew Cyrille

Irène Schweizer & Andrew Cyrille

Two Voices Pushing Against Each Other

Schweizer and Cyrille lock into each other from the first phrase, with no time spent looking for a common language.

Andrew Cyrille is the reason this album works as more than a piano-and-drums duo on paper. Schweizer comes in with a rhythmically angular line, chopping it into short staccato phrases, and Cyrille answers with the full range of his kit and a set of gongs, feeding back her pulses as accented replies or contrapuntal inversions. The rapport is what stands out.

AllMusic reviewer Thom Jurek wrote that the two establish their connection immediately, with no stalling and no searching for a language. That is a fair description of what the recording sounds like. Cyrille is not simply keeping time behind a pianist; he is a full participant, reshaping her statements and sometimes lengthening them because she seems to enjoy the response.

This was recorded live at the Jazz Festival Willisau in September 1988 and released by Intakt Records in 1989, with a CD reissue in 1996. It is a good place to hear Cyrille in a freely improvised setting away from the more structured contexts he is often known for. If you want to hear what a duo can do with nothing between them but attention, this is worth your time.

Who's playing
Irène Schweizerpiano
Andrew Cyrilledrums
Listen next
By Andrew Cyrille
Special People 1981
More Free Jazz
The Eighth 1983
Cecil Taylor
Recording Info
Track listing
1Smashing Napf6:53
2Soft Inside3:23
3From Staefa to Willisau Via Music13:01
4As Time Goes On4:08
5Fiction of the 13th Kind12:41
6A Monkish Encore4:37
Musicians
Further Reading
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Where next?

More by Andrew Cyrille
Special People 1981
♫
To Hear the World in a Grain of Sand - World Music: Live at the Donaueschingen Festival 1986
Something in Return
Nuba 1979
All 37 albums →
More Free Jazz
The Eighth 1983
Cecil Taylor
Touchin’ on Trane 1993
Charles Gayle
Earth Passage - Density 1981
Joseph Jarman
Lifelong Ambitions 1981
Muhal Richard Abrams
All 112 Free Jazz artists →

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