Label: Intakt Records, 2023

Personnel - Christoph Irniger: tenor saxophone; Stefan Aeby: piano; Dave Gisler: guitar; Raffaele Bossard: double bass; Michael Stulz: drums.

Zurich-based saxophonist and composer Christoph Irniger has been carving out a niche in the fertile European jazz scene. His project Pilgrim is a refined jazz quintet where harmonic structures can have a positively strange effect on the listener. Celebrating their 10th anniversary is Ghost Cat, the group’s fifth recording that includes six compositions, all but one by Irniger.

The phlegmatic pragmatism of “Marvel” strikes up an instant connection from the very beginning. It’s stratified from the ground up with cymbal insistence, sparse piano chords colored with rewarding extensions, and reflective saxophone sentiment. Bass and guitar arrive at a later phase, reinforcing the brittle texture with a very musical purpose.

“Seven Down Eight Up” is a freakish excursion in its extraordinary rich. Pianist Stefan Aeby claims the spotlight, culling ideas from Monk, Jarrett, and Mengelberg. He develops and integrates them according to his own whim. The music, spiked up by Dave Gisler’s distorted guitarism, acquires a staggering rhythm, and one can appreciate Irniger’s considerations over half-muted bass rumbles, temperate guitar feedback and painterly drum work.

Irniger and Gisler profess the melody together on “Ghost Cat” and “Walking with Dinosaurs”. An enigmatic guitar solo over an out-of-the-ordinary bass accompaniment and coruscating drumming smears the former piece, whereas the latter, terminating the proceedings, has an excellent if challenging bass groove locked in with the drums. This leaves the saxophone, the guitar and the piano free to create and communicate. Before that, the 13-minute long “Calling Spirits” call our attention, especially when the soloists hone their phrases with dominant power and admirable conviction.

Not being your ordinary composer, Irniger stands firm in his post-bop ventures, leading this project with authenticity and dedication.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Seven Down Eight Up ► 03 - Ghost Cat ► 06 - Walking with Dinosaurs

Label: Intakt Records, 2020

Personnel - Christoph Irniger: tenor saxophone; Raffaele Bossard: bass; Ziv Ravitz: drums; Loren Stillman: alto saxophone; Nils Wogram: trombone.

Formed in 2012, the trio of Swiss tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger - featuring Raffaele Bossard on bass and Ziv Ravitz on drums - appears on Open City with an augmented frontline, a result from the addition of alto saxophonist Loren Stillman and guest trombonist Nils Wogram. The album title (alluding to New York City) was taken from the 2011 novel of the same name by Nigerian-American Teju Cole, an inspiration in some measure for a new set of music - eight compositions by Irniger and two by Bossard.

The rhythmic delineation of Ravitz introduces “My World”, which opens the session with a strong sense of ‘song’, yet mixing a bit of avant-garde elegance and rock stamina. On occasion, the two sax players create a somewhat off-center feel when blowing in parallel in certain sections of the theme statement due to the quirky intervals produced.

The title track brings fragmented angular melodic ideas in the head. The improvisations are divided in two sections: first Stillman, whose bold intervallic leaps help forming phrases of wise metric, and then a swinging shared moment where Irigner and Wogram are set adrift to chatter and exchange ideas. There are other tunes denoting a similar posture, cases of “The New Dope”, where we can indulge in a passionate saxophone duel, and Bossard’s animated “40 Years of an Old Wise Lady”, in which the group commemorates at a moderately busy pace, adding some muscle to the process.

On “Calling”, Irniger and Stillman coax the folk and the blues right out of their horns, but on the quieter pieces, “Time” and “Ballad”, it’s Wogram who shines brightly as he uses a skilled language to draw a mellow, beautiful brass sound. The latter piece in particular features all three horn players working solidly together.

The unorthodox rhythm that sets Irniger’s “Hot and Humid” captures with bracing clarity the drag and affliction associated with scalding temperatures, while Bossard’s “Mass Media Minion” is catapulted by a groove in seven and crafted with a freewheeling attitude.

Boasting a direct style that strives for sincerity, Irniger provides us with a compellingly structured avant-garde jazz session that goes down nice and easy.

Favorite Tracks:
02 - Open City ► 05 - 40 Years of an Old Wise Lady ► 07 - The New Dope