Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares Presents: Christoph Irniger Trio
Friday, September 24, 2021, 7:30 pm until 9:00 pm
Featuring Michaël Attias. Tickets are $15.00.
Christoph Irniger Trio featuring Michaël Attias: Christoph Irniger: tenor saxophone, Michaël Attias: alto saxophone, Raffaele Bossard: bass, Ziv Ravitz: drums. Location: Shea Theater, 71 Avenue A, Turners Falls, MA. Single tickets: $15 atwww.jazzshares.org or at the door.
Christoph Irniger, born in 1979, is a Swiss saxophonist, composer and band leader. NZZ am Sonntag calls him “undoubtedly one of the greatest talents of his generation”. Jazz N More (CH) writes: “He always creates something new by leaving well-trodden sound paths. Don’t just look a little left and right, but dig deep into the bushes.”
Irniger is the leader of Pilgrim (with Dave Gisler, Stefan Aeby, Raffaele Bossard & Michael Stulz), which performed in Springfield, MA in December, 2019 as part of Pioneer Valley Jazz Shares. They have produced two recordings, Mt. Tongariro (Between The Lines, 2011) and Italian Circus Story (Intakt Records, 2014). The trio that will appear at the Shea Theater in Turners Falls, MA on September 24, featuring Raffaele Bossard and Ziv Ravitz, also has two releases, Gowanus Canal (Intakt Records 2013) and Octopus (Intakt Records, 2015)
Irniger loves jazz. His playing is deeply rooted in this tradition and influenced by its exponents. He says: “For me, jazz is the music that processes the music of its time. It’s more about how you play than what you play.” Irniger hears melody above everything, while also engaging with density and complexity of sound. Peter Haffner writes: “The pieces are tone poems that show that the catchy melody and a complex soundscape do not have to exclude each other, but can really bring them to bear.”
He has collaborated with Nasheet Waits, Ohad Talmor, Bänz Oester, Vinnie Sperrazza, Dave Douglas, Dan Weiss and Nils Wogram, and was a member of the Lucerne Jazz Orchestra for seven years. Irniger is the initiator of the “Jazz im Seefeld” jazz series and was co-initiator of the “Jazzwerkstatt Zürich” festival and teaches at the Zurich University of the Arts and the Zurich Conservatory Music School.
Michaël Attias has earned a reputation as one of the most questing and keenly collaborative figures on the 21st-century New York jazz scene, with a background and outlook that make him “an emphatically cosmopolitan saxophonist and composer,” according to The New York Times. Migrations spanning North Africa, the Middle East, Western Europe and the American Midwest ultimately brought Attias to New York City in 1994, where he continues to pursue his muse as improviser, composer and bandleader. The Village Voice described Attias’ music-making as, “perpetually shifting tunes, richness of timbre and a singular personality—you can almost see his music expanding and contracting.” As a leader, he has released eight critically-acclaimed albums, including the 2019 Out Of Your Head release échos la nuit (featuring Attias solo on alto saxophone and piano), and the 2017 Clean Feed debut of Attias’ Nerve Dance quartet. As a sideman, he has performed and recorded all over the world alongside some of today’s most original and compelling musicians, luminaries such as Anthony Braxton, Paul Motian, Oliver Lake, Anthony Coleman, Ralph Alessi, Tony Malaby, Kris Davis and countless others.
