NIK BÄRTSCHS RONIN
With a new lineup of the Zen-Funk quartet RONIN, Swiss musician Nik Bärtsch continues to work on his "Ritual Groove Music". Influenced by Far Eastern Zen Buddhism, the pianist has been developing a ritual form of music since 2001, with phrases and motifs that often repeat, pulsate, overlap, and merge into one another. It is a highly unconventional form of music, very reduced in its stylistic elements yet surprisingly diverse. Elements from various musical worlds have been incorporated. Funk, new classical music, and sounds of Japanese ritual music blend into a sonically and rhythmically highly differentiated music.
At the center of it all is the man in the black Aikido uniform with a shaven head: Nik Bärtsch, "the high priest of jazz". His compositions, called "modules", are numbered chronologically, starting softly, often just with the piano. As the other instruments join in, a mesmerizing groove develops, volume and dynamics increase, fall, and then the crescendo begins again, leading to a final explosion.
Ronin also know how to visually present themselves; their program follows a sophisticated, visually surprising dramaturgy. This is not something you see very often at a jazz concert!
Lineup: Nik Bärtsch, composition, piano, Fender Rhodes | Kaspar Rast, drums | Sha, alto saxophone, bass & contrabass clarinet | Jeremias Keller, bass
Doors open: 7:30 pm