2004 · Album
Willisau & Taktlos
Recorded 1998 (duo track) and 2004 (trio tracks) · Intakt Records · Produced by Not specified
Three Voices in Free Conversation
Schweizer and Drake sketch along the margins of shared rhythm, wit and invention.
Willisau & Taktlos arrived quietly but landed with enough force to catch the ears of people who listen carefully. AllMusic reviewer Alain Drouot heard an energetic and soulful set that balanced European restraint with raw invention. Nic Jones at All About Jazz found something rarer — three musicians so attuned to free improvisation that their creativity felt bottomless. Ken Waxman noted Fred Anderson's energy in these surroundings, and singled out Hamid Drake as an MVP, someone who could be relaxed and inventive while also anchoring the sound.
The album captures two separate sessions: a 1998 duo between Irène Schweizer and Drake at the Taktlos-Festival Zürich, and three trio improvisations from 2004 at Jazzfestival Willisau with Anderson added. The opening piece, that duo, sets the tone — Schweizer's hunt-and-peck rhythms and kinetic dynamics driving Drake forward without ever boxing him in. When Anderson enters on the trio tracks, the space opens further. These are not compositions being interpreted but genuine conversations, each player responding in real time to the others' choices, never settling into a groove, always moving.
This is free jazz played by musicians who understand that freedom requires listening. Schweizer was already established by this point, Drake and Anderson were working at the height of their powers. What Intakt Records captured here was three people who had learned how to trust silence and accident as much as technique. The record found its audience among listeners who prefer intelligence to flash.
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