Christoph Irniger Trio - Octopus (2015)

Word is beginning to get around that the Christoph Irniger Trio’s Octopus should be on the shortlist for anyone wondering where to make a start with his impressive music before going back to the earlier, 2012 album, or his other recordings outside of this trio. This music was recorded in the winter of last year (2014) and has something of a lacerating quality of a masterpiece. The music also shows Mr. Irniger to have a remarkable quality for dodging the obvious just when it seems that the music might get predictable. To do so he and his trio find inspiration in the most unlikely places, drawing attention away from the individual instruments and replacing that with a delightful ensemble sound that is full of energetic excitement, brilliance and the genuine avant-garde spirit.

Octopus might suggest a larger group for what has been written, but this trio does something amazing with the music turning it into an elaborate sonorous series of songs that are notable for attractive melodies, extraordinary harmonic and rhythmic grace and continual inventiveness. This is brave music bucking convention played with fervor that is greatly superior to much of the so-called new new-thing that is being bandied about as, well, the new-thing, when in actual fact most of what even virtuoso musicians regurgitate from the work of recently passed masters. Here, however, the musicians show undimmed enthusiasm and wholehearted commitment to projecting the unique character of each song and articulating the shape of every phrase – whether played by saxophone, bass or drums.

Tracklist:

01. Air 04:30
02. Ocean Avenue 05:22
03. Dovescape 07:06
04. Blue Tips 04:10
05. Octopus 05:38
06. Iceland 04:05
07. VGO 05:58
08. Dancin’ Structure 04:25
09. Cripple X 06:10
10. Peace in the End 02:57

Musicians:
Bass – Raffaele Bossard
Composed By – Christoph Irniger (tracks: 1, 2, 4-8, 10), Raffaele Bossard (tracks: 3, 9)
Drums – Ziv Ravitz
Tenor Saxophone – Christoph Irniger

Recorded in December, 2014, at Studio La Fonderie, Fribourg.



Thanks to the original releaser