Intakt inspires London
For twelve days, the Swiss record label Intakt Records organized the program at the legendary London jazz club Vortex. The response exceeded all expectations.
Oliver Weindling has been saying it again and again for years: one of his biggest goals as director of the Vortex jazz club is to see Irene Schweizer on stage. The pianist, now 75 years old, is considered one of the most influential figures in European free jazz. It is not least thanks to her pioneering work that the Swiss free jazz/improvisation scene enjoys an exceptionally strong reputation on an international level today. But traveling is no longer one of her favourite pastimes. Performances abroad have become rarer and rarer.
Now Weindling's dream has come true after all. As part of the 12-day Intakt Records Festival at the Vortex, she, whose career is so closely linked to the history of the label, performed several times. First alongside South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, with whom she has been friends since he landed in Zurich with the Blue Notes in 1964 while fleeing apartheid. During another set with Moholo-Moholo, she was joined by saxophonist Omri Ziegele. Schweizer performed a third time on stage with the English vocal artist Maggie Nicols. "It was an extraordinarily joyful experience," beams Weindling. "Irene was in a great mood for three days when she was here, and of course that made us very happy too, because I hear she wasn't always comfortable in England on previous occasions."
Resourceful concept
Intakt founder and director Patrik Landolt was also extremely pleased. "The festival was a huge success, both in terms of the number of visitors and the musical encounters. We are all happy that this adventure was so well received." The festival began on April 16 with a musical celebration to mark the 70th birthday of another Intakt musician from the very beginning, the English double bassist and founder of the London Jazz Composers' Orchestra, Barry Guy. He played once in a duo with violinist Maya Homburger, a second time alongside his old colleague Howard Riley on piano and with Lucas Niggli on drums.
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Evan Parker and Barry Guy. Photo: Dawid Laskowski
Landolt and Weindling had concocted a clever concept that would kill several birds with one stone. On the one hand, musicians who are well known on the island were brought together to improvise with musicians who are still unknown there. For example, the English piano experimenter Steve Beresford and the Swiss percussionist Julian Sartorius literally got to know each other on stage on the evening of their performance. On the other hand, each concert consisted of two sets - one by a "star" of the scene, the other by younger musicians, some of whom were performing in England for the first time. This program concept was intended to ensure that the hall was not empty during the performances of the younger bands. In addition, fresh and unusual combinations of musicians were intended to spark mutual artistic curiosity, which could lead to a recurring exchange.
Astounding response
At least the first goal was achieved. The club was sold out several times with over a hundred spectators. The exciting young Zurich band Weird Beard also played to an audience of around sixty. The response in the media was also impressive, which was in no way to be expected. From the Guardian about the Daily Telegraph up to the Financial Times all the major newspapers published articles about the festival. In addition, the CD table was so popular that supplies had to be ordered from Switzerland at the end of the first week. In the end, well over 400 CDs were sold. The finale on April 27 turned into a veritable free jazz party.
With the very first solo performance by Swiss drummer Pierre Favre in England shortly before his eightieth birthday, another of Weindling's great wishes came true. A great performance by Sylvie Courvoisier (piano), Mark Feldman (violin) and Evan Parker (saxophone), who were joined by Favre for the encore, made for a worthy finale. "The festival has only confirmed Intakt Records' reputation for being an extremely carefully curated label that you have to listen to everything it puts out," concludes Weindling. "Other labels in this field are perhaps better known and bigger. But Intakt is more ready for adventure. The safe route is not Intakt's thing. You take risks. Perhaps this willingness has something to do with the Swiss mountain landscape. I know that Patrik Landolt and his team love hiking in the mountains. It's not entirely without danger."
Just a start?
An event like this can only be successfully staged if you can rely on a strong infrastructure of your own as well as an excellently motivated and organized partner at the venue, says Landolt: "The concept, raising the necessary finances, efficient public relations and advertising - all of this is enormously labour-intensive. You need well-coordinated teams and scenes on both sides that you can rely on so that the individual pieces of the mosaic really fit together in the end. The effort is huge, but it was clearly worth it here." All signs indicate that the collaboration will continue. "The reaction of the audience has clearly shown us that we need to find a way to consolidate this relationship," says Weindling. "I am confident that the final concert was not the end of the story. Just the end of the beginning."
