New CD "Open City" was released in August 2020, Intakt Records!
Christoph Irniger TS CH
Ben Van Gelder AS NL
Ziv Ravitz DR US
Raffaele Bossard DB CH
special guest: Nils Wogram TB CH
The Christoph Irniger Trio celebrates melody without once degenerating into the trivial. They are tone poems which demonstrate that accessible melodies and complex tonal worlds need not be mutually exclusive and can in fact make sense of each other. Irniger is a master of orchestration and rejects the hierarchy of soloist-plus-rhythm. Instead of using the compositions as springboards for solos, he finds interesting ways for the improvisations to underline the compositional characteristics. Melody, arrangement, improvisation: the trio fuse them all into one tightly integrated and alluring package,’ writes American jazz critic Kevin Whitehead.
In the current setting the band plays as quartet with the American saxophone player Loren Stillman - who was a member of bands of Paul Motian, Charlie Haden or Carla Bley amongst others - and presents together the album "Open City" which is released in September 2020 on Intakt Records.
The Christoph Irniger Trio was formed in 2012, with Raffaele Bossard on double bass and Ziv Ravitz on percussion. With Gowanus Canal (2012) and Octopus (2015) they have delivered two exemplary albums. The trio can be compared with an equilateral triangle; Raffaele Bossard, born 1982 in Los Angeles, raised and educated in Zug, and Ziv Ravitz, born 1976 Be’er Scheva in Israel, currently living in New York, sit eye to eye with Irniger. They are not only eminent technicians, they are also adept at interplay, like sleepwalkers. With Loren Stillman (born 1980) - and Nils Wogram (born 1972) on the record - Christoph Irniger’s trio creates music which unites intelligence and passion, timeless yet up to date.
Glenn Astarita writes on All About Jazz: "Young Swiss saxophonist, composer Christoph Irniger is one to watch. His blossoming stature on the European jazz scene is partly due to his invigorating and meticulous compositional approach.
„..a homegrown rising young sax star“ (Jazzwise Magazine, UK)
