Christian Wolfarth percussion

Michel Wintsch - piano, synthesizers
Christian Weber - bass
Christian Wolfarth - percussion
 

"For pianist-keyboardist Michel Wintsch, bassist Christian Weber and drummer Christian Wolfarth, the journey would appear to be far more important then the destination. On their new album, Willisau a crisply recorded document from a 2012 performance at the Willisau Jazz Festival, the Switzerland-based trio offers a series of group improvisations that trace a linear path from idea to idea with a momentum that is restless and often exhilarating.
The opening track which, at 32 minutes, accounts for more than half the album, offers a compendium of the trio's individual strengths but, more importantly, showcases their advanced sense of collective invention. Weber and Wolfarth function no more as a rhythm section than Wintsch's piano acts as a melodic lead. Indeed, none of the musicians seem overly concerned with the traditional role of their respective instruments, preferring instead to investigate the sounds and textures that lie at the extremes of conventional technique.
Yet there are few moments on Willisau that come across as unmusical or formless; instead, the trio's improvisations lay bare the exploratory process that leads from place to place and mood to mood. While Wintsch is able to summon abstract chromatic shapes, agitated runs and elusive fragments from the piano, he is equally willing to employ a synthesizer to generate restrained electronic flourishes. The strange sonic textures and dynamic shifts are just as likely to emerge from Weber's searching bass or Wolfarth's intricate rhythmic interventions. However, none of them are content to stay in the same place for too long: As soon as they have reached anything that looks like a destination, they have already started to pull the music in a new direction."

Jesse Simon (Down Beat, june 2014)


"Willisau follows up the Swiss trio's The Holistic Worlds Of (Monotype, 2012) and once again the artists are seemingly intent on routing one's imagination through multiple locations, while not embarking upon a utilitarian approach to the core jazz or avant- jazz piano trio concepts. In fact, the band proffers an antidote to the norm, which can be an exciting proposition, especially if you're looking for something outside the scope of modern mainstream jazz and bop fare. Enamored by a crystalline audio engineering process, the live concert setting contains the esthetic of a studio date.

This democratic engagement kicks off with the thirty-two minute "2.8 Feet Below, Tiny Fellows, Distant Neighbours," as the journey begins amid gobs of counterpoint, contrasting rhythmic structures, and unconventional theme-building stratagems. Pianist Michel Wintsch employs a synthesizer for subliminal effects and off-kilter type oddities. And the trio's asymmetrical navigations, meander around dark pathways and song-forms that may suggest the detection of hidden valleys, and so on. Spiked with dynamic linear runs, bassist Christian Weber's foreboding bowed-lines cast semblances of terror, along with Wintsch's spooky synth treatments and trickling piano ostinatos, the voyage into mysterious environs moves onward. 

The trio mixes it up and with drummer Christian Wolfarth's jangling cymbals patterns, additional prismatic colors become another factor within the moving parts. They flirt with minimalism and render a few reflective moments, and then the pianist re-energizes the flow via flailing arpeggios and fractured story-lines. The piece comes to a heated climax and closes with dark sound-shaping electronics in parallel with Wintsch's bristling chord voicings. One of the two remaining works "North West," is a brief and rather jittery jaunt, articulated with staggered currents and maddening cadenzas, where notions of angst and disorientation come to fruition. 

One of the outwardly noticeable afterthoughts is that the respective musicians often emulate human voices and emotions within the overall scope. As a team, this unit would be hard to beat. Given their upstanding stature in the global progressive jazz community, the artists' communicate immeasurable synergy during this blockbuster effort. (Excitedly recommended...)"

Glenn Astarita (allaboutjazz, january 2014)

"Troisième album pour un trio dix ans d'âge dont l'instrumentation (p, b, dr) pouvait augurer d'une approche conformiste. Il n'en est rien ! Selon le contrebassiste: "Si Wintsch et Wolfarth jouaient de l'harmonica et de la cornemuse, le trio existerait quand même." Hors de toute chapelle. les WWW ne répondent qu'à l'appel de la muse. Excellent !

David Cristol (JazzMagazine, january 2014) 
 

"WWW"  à Willisau...Une formation qui a une place de droit sur le World Wide Web: don't act ! Ce trio trouves son origine en 1999 à Zürich. Depuis la musique se construit lors de rencontres épisodiques enregistrées que chacun réécoute ensuite pour nourrir l'inspiration de rencontres suivantes. Il en résulte une musique qui se libère des contraintes harmoniques et rhythmiques et ne garde de la tradition du trio "jazz" que l'esprit d'ouverture et de jeu collectif. Enregistrés lors du célèbre festival de Willisau, ce disque restitue, en trois longues plages, une approche vraiment innovante d'une formule qui, au-delà des instruments de chacun, met en véritable interaction trio musiciens d'envergure. Édifiant !"

Thierry Giard (CultureJazz.fr, january 2014)