URS LEIMGRUBER · MARILYN CRISPELL · JOËLLE LÉANDRE · FRITZ HAUSER — Quartet Noir (1999) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded live at the Victoriaville Festival in 1998, this 67-minute spontaneous composition is explosive not only for what happens in it, but for what doesn't. The guns don't blaze here very often, but they are just as deadly with silencers on. And needless to say, when Urs Leimgruber is the least-known musician in a quartet, you have some heavyweight players. The quartet is aptly named, given its performance, which uses night not only as a metaphor, but as an m.o. for improvisation, where texture, space, and economy become a hypnotic wilderness of sound devoid of light and all sensation but hearing. The opening section is the longest, at 14 minutes. It is the area where the band members establish the language from which they will speak. That syntax develops very slowly on this record, moving one step at a time but no less packed with ideas for its easy, even tortoise-like pace. There is nothing tentative in the manner in which these players relate to one another, but it is subtle. Crispell clearly has control; she keeps each element blending into the others with her colorful swaths of clustered notes and mode-changing lines. Leandre and Hauser forge their own sense of rhythm for Leimgruber to create the group's melodic sensibility and intervalic coordination. Finally, in the very last of eight movements, dawn begins to break and the light startles the players. Crispell drives into the coming storm first, charging in a flurry of augmented chords and single-note runs. Leimgruber follows as Hauser triple-times everyone. As tension reaches a fever pitch and everyone has been wakened from their somnambulant pondering in this beautiful abyss, Leandre brings in the final aspect of a dawn rooted to not only the sun, but the earth, and the piece comes to a winding, floating halt -- leaving, I am sure, everyone in that audience wondering just what had taken place during that hour when they were hypnotized. 
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    Quartet Noir Part I    14:32
2.    Quartet Noir Part II    6:25
3.    Quartet Noir Part III    2:45
4.    Quartet Noir Part IV    10:29
5.    Quartet Noir Part V    4:28
6.    Quartet Noir Part VI    6:07
7.    Quartet Noir Part VII    8:48
8.    Quartet Noir Part VIII    9:05
Credits :
Double Bass – Joëlle Léandre
Drums, Percussion – Fritz Hauser
Piano, Percussion – Marilyn Crispell
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER · FRITZ HAUSER — L'énigmatique (1992) Hat Jazz Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This 1991 pairing of two of Europe's finest free jazz and improv characters is a lesson in duo dynamics. Long before this date, Urs Leimgruber and Fritz Hauser knew each other well enough to dive deep into the sonic waters and trust that everything would come out OK. It came out better than that, in fact; this session is, for lack of a better term, a stunner. The sense of hearing that Leimgruber and Hauser show toward one another is so deep that they are able to display an economy of expression almost completely absent from the scene they participate in. On "The Arrival," Hauser moves first with a complex, constant 12/16 time signature while Leimgruber plays snake charmer over him. The music winds through two kinds of phraseology, involved only with sound and feeling and never method. The pace is very fast yet no extra notes are played, making the music sing. On "Distant Smell," tonal variation and spatial relationships are explored and elongated into a trancelike improvisation where the whisper of cymbals shimmers underneath soprano overtones by Leimgruber. He needs no drums to make his horn moan against the hushed ring of Hauser's "anti-percussion." And you can feel in this tune, and in the others here, genuine surprise on the part of the players. Leimgruber's tone on soprano is like Jackie McLean's alto -- the edge is part of the charm. His angularity in scalular investigation provides a wedge for intervallic expression by Hauser. On the title track that closes the set, Leimgruber multi-tracks his horns and Hauser's rhythms. The interwoven melody lines by soprano and tenor, playing like traffic signals against the rhythms, are playful and graceful, and they swing. Short, punchy phrases animate Hauser into Raymond Scott territory rhythmically. But the real gem here is the ten-minute "Long Forgotten Night," with its deep resonating percussion played from tom toms and log drums. From hushed phrases to long, droning soprano lines, Hauser and Leimgruber call out of the desolation to one another, attempting to speak in the darkness and lessen the distance the darkness seems to impose. What is "forgotten" by the musicians is the outside world; in this piece they exist in a void, and therefore have no one but each other to communicate with -- and they accept their fate and go about the business of communicating in the blackness. This sparse, hunted piece puts an already exceptional set over the top. 
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    Ping    3:28
2.    The Arrival    4:34
3.    Hula-Hopp    3:21
4.    Distant Smell    5:05
5.    Benafim    1:18
6.    Flying Windows    3:38
7.    Wux    2:47
8.    Pong    3:34
9.    Le Départ    3:39
10.    The Commuter    8:23
11.    African Device    3:18
12.    Long Forgotten Night    10:57
13.    L'Énigmatique    3:58
Credits :
Drums, Percussion, Composed By – Fritz Hauser
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone,Composed By  – Urs Leimgruber

MICHEL DONEDA · URS LEIMGRUBER · KEITH ROWE — The Difference Between A Fish (2002) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

This album (whose title apparently originates in a Scandinavian joke) consists of two extended concert recordings featuring Michel Doneda and Urs Leimgruber on saxophones and Keith Rowe on guitar. Rowe's slow-moving drones define the arch form of "The First Part," while on "The Third Part" he seems to be trying to find out how far he can go into the background without disappearing altogether, with the result that the saxophonists are left more to their own devices. Whereas Leimgruber's origins in wild and woolly free jazz manage to make themselves felt (more so when he plays the tenor), Doneda's soprano playing is quite original (and has moved on considerably since his 1998 Potlatch solo album, Anatomie des Clefs), more bird than Bird. His soaring lines above Rowe's buzzing thunderous rumbles on "The First Part" (recorded 15 months after "The Third Part," incidentally) recall "Le Paradoxe en Long" from his 1992 In Situ masterpiece, Soc (with Dominique Regef and Lê Quan Ninh), and the inspired chirping and cooing that round off the track are close in feel to the open-air recordings Doneda has released on the Ouïe-Dire label. On "The Third Part," the saxophonists seem to be on the verge of exploding into activity, with only Rowe to restrain them. It's more problematic, but no less enthralling. Dan Warburton
Tracklist :
1.    The First Part 25:30
Recorded By – Ansgar Ballhorn
2.    The Third Part  27:56
Producer [Production] – Marita Emigholz
Recorded By – Klaus Schumann, Renate Wolter-Seevers
Credits :
Guitar, Electronics – Keith Rowe
Producer [Radio Bremen Production] – Marita Emigholz
Soprano Saxophone – Michel Doneda
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER · JACQUES DEMIERRE · BARRE PHILLIPS — ldp - cologne (2005) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Recorded almost three years after Wing Vane, this trio's debut, LDP -- Cologne offers a fine update but doesn't manage to match the rapturous intensity of the previous opus. One could hardly accuse Leimgruber, Demierre, and Phillips of staying in their comfort zone, but this studio session recorded over two consecutive days is somehow more laborious. The trio's music still proceeds from a conscious decision to explore very quiet dynamics, without excluding louder exchanges altogether, as the high-octane "The Rugged Cross" demonstrates. The opening "Dust" delivers the essence of this trio's sound in what could be called a nutshell -- five minutes, which is pretty short by free improv standards. The piece simmers softly, a murmured three-way dialogue. "You Can't Grow Old Again" and "Spare" fail to make a real impression; here, all three musicians seem to be going through the motions, producing disconnected sequences of bowed, tongued, and hammered sounds. "The Rugged Cross" escalates to a full-blown free-form primal scream that shakes off earlier disappointments. And "Applegate Spark" closes the proceedings with a lively, jagged piece offering a nice balance between ferociousness (Demierre's trademark stabbed chords in the first few minutes) and quiet textural playing. LDP -- Cologne is not a bad album per se -- there is in fact a lot to like in here -- but try Wing Vane on for size first. François Couture
Tracklist :
1.    Dust    5:36
2.    You Can't Grow Old Again    17:27
3.    Spare    8:17
4.    The Rugged Cross    12:44
5.    Shadows Hands    3:55
6.    Applegate Spark    12:50
Credits :
Double Bass – Barre Phillips
Piano – Jacques Demierre
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Liner Notes – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER · JOËLLE LÉANDRE · FRITZ HAUSER — No Try No Fail (1997) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Part of Hat's limited-edition series (1,500 copies, issued in 1997), this trio date featured a longstanding duo of saxophonist Urs Leimgruber and drummer Fritz Hauser extending an invitation to über bassist Jöelle Leandre to join in the fun. That party took place in a Koln loft in 1996. It's amazing that, despite the fact that a piano is missing from the mix, they sound like the original Ganelin Trio in spirit and humor. If there was a more natural bassist to make this a trio, it is hard to imagine. Leandre had a huge responsibility here, entering into an already established musical language established by the other two. Having played together for such a long time, they almost perceptually knew each other's cues, linguistic tendencies, dynamics, and rhythmic instincts. Leandre rewrote the book, however, by inserting herself so firmly into the middle of this powerhouse improvising pair. And it's not just her bass playing -- her voice is a rhythmic instrument as well as a singing bowl or a drone. The five pieces here are all about process; there are long silences in the beginning and the tension of soft speech, whispering in the dark, looking for a signpost in how to communicate. Next there is the back and forth call and response to hear, as well as speak, to voices in the wilderness; finally, there is signing in sound, the construction and deconstruction of barriers, tensions, languages, influences, musical architecture, polyrhythm, assonance, dissonance, and the very notion of improvisation itself. The music sputters, sighs, spits, splatters, and finally sings to the rooftops in a cracked voice full of power and wonder. This is music that takes the breath away; it's full of joy, discovery, and surprise, and at times gets a little scary, but hey, when people are learning to speak, especially to one another, they get frustrated and angry occasionally. But mostly it's strident, proud, and full of an energy that is infectious. A must have. 
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    First  12:05
2.    Second    10:38
3.    Third    6:53
4.    Fourth    10:25
5.    Last    9:06
Credits :
Double Bass, Voice – Joëlle Léandre
Drums, Percussion – Fritz Hauser
 Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER — Ungleich (1990) Hat Jazz Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

On the follow up to his amazing Statement of an Antrider, reed genius Urs Leimgruber chooses to record five more solo compositions for tenor, soprano, and "prepared" bass saxophones. Leimgruber is as adventurous as Anthony Braxton is in his exploration of microtonalities on his chosen instruments. He careens through different tones, modalities, nuances, interval; investigations and one would think meditations on sonority in these exercises. And unlike many of his peers who claim to seek the same things, there is order in Leimgruber's world he treats the world of sound as he would any other recognizable system with respect for its natural order and origins. Perhaps this is why he is so effective as an improviser -- his approach to his instrument is to extract from it a response that is congruent to what he put in. Bass god Adelhard Roidinger joins Leimgruber on three selections. Roidinger's a master of his instrumental technique -- whether he is bowing sonances in response to Leimgruber's long, silvery soprano lines, or playing counterpoint to his bass saxophone extrapolations. There are notions of jazz here in both the American and European uses of the word, and certainly the improvisation in play comes from Leimgruber's long involvement with the new music universe that has long struggled to maintain its unique identity. Both of these facets lend to his original voice. Judging by this recording, this is an improviser who can walk the knife's edge of the extreme and the accessible with ease, and it's easy to hear why: There is no academia in Leimgruber's approach. His playing comes from somewhere other than the brain; it comes from the worlds of sound and silence and the heart of the horns themselves. Bravo
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    Egonance A  (10:00)
2.    Not Rueckwaerts    5:39
3.    Ungleichgewicht    10:50
4.    Egonance B    8:37
5.    Entre    5:35
6.    Tenir Tête    8:13
7.    Prélude Pour L.    3:51
8.    Estidian    4:00
Credits :
Bass – Adelhard Roidinger (tracks: 2, 5, 8)
Painting [Cover Painting] – Rolf Winnewisser
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bass Saxophone [Prepared], Composed By – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER · ADELHARD ROIDINGER · FRITZ HAUSER — Lines (1994) Hat Jazz Series | FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

From Art Lange's outrageously pretentious liner notes, one might get the impression that this bad-assed trio was trying to re-invent the line and extend it out into the nothingness of the beyond and perhaps beyond that into non-being. I dig Lange, but his liner notes on this set are pure junk. What the word "lines" refers to in the title of this record is simple: This is for these well-known improvisers a quest in playing the line, playing in a linear -- for them anyway -- fashion. The seven selections on this disc, all of which have references to the linguistic construct "line," are formidably constructs in and of themselves. This is some smoking new jazz that features a depth of communication and commitment to energy as they translate in a mostly linear fashion to the transfer of emotion from musician through musical instruments through to the listener. Period. Along the way are some pretty stunning solos and sharp ensemble playing that take the "lines" of melody and make them somewhat angular though never twisting them into something they're not. For instance, check out the call and response between Leimgruber's soprano solo and Roidinger's double bass, one line answered succinctly and precisely with another. And it gets better where spatial dynamics are used to created complex harmonics and polytonal inventions. Here, melody is ever-present -- the touch of "Blue Monk" and "Lonely Woman" in "Shifted" -- and "shifted" into a different melodic reality, one where overtones -- via the bowed bass -- create a drone for melodic improvisation to create a new kind of framework where rhythm and counterpoint all become part of the whole. On "Red," which closes the album, line is played out across rhythmic sections and splays itself over the entire construction of microtonal ambience and rhythmic pulse which is subtly shaded, but constant and, yes, linear. Line is what the best of new jazz is about, taking the bull by the horns and going as deep musically as the particular abilities of the musicians involved will take them. All lines lead to this trio. 
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    Open    12:42
2.    Shifted    18:51
3.    Off    4:26
4.    Twisted    6:14
5.    Forgotten    6:15
6.    Up    6:56
7.    Red    10:26
Credits :
Composed By – Roidinger, Hauser, Leimgruber
Double Bass – Adelhard Roidinger
Drums, Percussion – Fritz Hauser
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Urs Leimgruber 

URS LEIMGRUBER — Goletter (2001) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Urs Leimgruber has made numerous solo saxophone recordings, but never for both tenor and bass saxophone on the same album. Leimgruber is one of those players, like Anthony Braxton, for whom the saxophone is an endless labyrinth of timbral mazes and tonal corridors. On these 14 selections, Leimgruber is offering the listener the opportunity to hear his multiphonic approach to both horns, in all registers of the instrument. On the title track, one line is played as a drone and others, in scale, are imposed over it in differing lengths of phrase. On "Half Past Luck," the ostinato and conical tonal study are evoked where notes begin played from the bell are articulated more fully than those coming from the air chamber itself, but both weave together to create a kind of sinister weave of color and duration. It's almost jazz noir, but the microtonal elements stretch it further than that. "Hula Hop Zwei" is a multi-tracked piece for saxophone duet. The bass offers it's rhythmic swirl of charges and colors while the tenor elongates the octaves by multiphonics and spatters and squeaks in the middle of a rhythmic statement by the other horn. On the last track, "Infernal," another duet piece, deep blues, vanguard improvisation and repetition leads to a kind of schizophrenic hypnosis courtesy of the bass horn, when a third track is added and there are two tenors, each of them playing different intervals on the same melodic theme, things really come undone. This is another offering, which proves that Leimgruber is at the very forefront of saxophone logic and mysticism. 
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <- 
Tracklist :
1.    Goletter    3:37
2.    Balabesk    7:58
3.    Pas De Deux    3:30
4.    Sopralogie    4:26
5.    Spielgeblinkt    2:56
6.    Half Past Luck    4:49
7.    Polyphem    3:29
8.    Erinnyen    3:00
9.    Hula Hop Zwei    5:55
10.    Le Poem    4:13
11.    Triple Swift    6:01
12.    Urubu    2:47
13.    Circular Habasch    2:19
14.    Internal    3:24
Credits :
Composed By, Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bass Saxophone – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER · JACQUES DEMIERRE · BARRE PHILLIPS — Wing Vane (2001) Two Version | FLAC (image+.tracks+.cue), lossless

Some albums you need to give time, a chance to grow on you. Wing Vane falls into this category. Saxophonist Urs Leimgruber, pianist Jacques Demierre, and bassist Barre Phillips have recorded a free improv session dominated by the quietness of whispers and the violence of restraint. Listened to in a distracted manner, it sounds like a random aggregate of sounds, completely unrelated to each other -- when there is sound at all! You need to turn up the volume, pay close attention to the minute details, and experience the moments of silence for what they are: gut-wrenching artistic decisions. For an improviser, to consciously decide not to play -- to let silence fill the room and abdicate one's power over it -- is a gesture more meaningful than what listeners usually think. Listen to this CD once. A few days later listen again. You'll find it will offer you something slightly different from what you remembered. Repeat the experience: Again, you will discover new details, new feelings too. A record that teaches you how to listen to music is something to treasure. This kind of free improvising, focused on the subtle and understated, has become more widespread early in the first decade after 2000. What sets this trio apart is the fact that the musicians did not make a religion out of it. Occasionally, Leimgruber's sax produces soaring notes or enters a very busy phase. At certain times, Demierre drops rock-heavy clusters on the piano, driving an impressive crescendo in "Organically Yours." Yet, these moments don't aim at startling you; they flow naturally. Hearing Phillips in such a setting, decidedly more abstract than usual, is a pleasure. Recommended as an acquired taste. François Couture
Tracklist :
1.    Wing Vane      18:55
2.    Karypso    9:39
3.    Distance    10:11
4.    Time Was    4:24
5.    Forwaard    7:16
6.    Organically Yours    13:22
Credits :
Artwork – François Bienvenue
Double Bass – Barre Phillips
Music By – Barre Phillips, Jacques Demierre, Urs Leimgruber
Piano – Jacques Demierre
Tenor Saxophone, Soprano Saxophone – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER — Statement Of An Antirider (1989) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

The mighty-lunged Urs Leimgruber steps out from his various ensembles on this date to play completely solo with his trio of saxophones -- tenor, soprano, and bass -- and the flute. Like Anthony Braxton and Roscoe Mitchell nearly 20 years before him, Leimgruber is after something that does not automatically come with being a "jazz" musician: the exploration in specific environments of the world of sound as it can be encountered by his chosen instruments. European improvisers can come across as too erudite and arrogant to American fans of jazz. That's too bad, because when it comes to extending the reach of particular instruments, methodology, and what free improvisation might mean if made a dominant concern of jazz at this time in history, the Europeans have much to contribute, and a big part of that contribution is made by Leimgruber. These solos are works of revolt, resistance, and great tenderness. Leimgruber embodies Che Guevara's statement that every revolutionary is motivated by great love. His love is the love of sound. With his perfected circular breathing technique -- used by other players such as John Coltrane, Rahsaan Roland Kirk, and Steve Lacy, among others -- that goes back to the time of the Buddha or even before as a meditation technique, Leimgruber plays meditations (note the pieces "Raga I" & "Raga II") on the nature of vibration, timbre, and color. These 65 minutes are fascinating not only for their academic value, but for their emotional power. Leimgruber is a player who forgoes his more theoretical aspects on paper by going for the throat with his horn -- even when that emotion is controlled as dictated by the texture of sound itself. And while it's true this record has nothing whatsoever to do with jazz, it has everything to do with music, and therefore every free jazz fan should take due note not only of it, but its creator.
-> This comment is posted on Allmusic by Thom Jurek, follower of our blog 'O Púbis da Rosa' <-
Tracklist :
1        Raga I    21:19
2        Leonor    17:34
3        Statement Of An Antirider    12:28
4        Raga II    9:50
5        Sefonito    3:36
Credits
Soprano Saxophone, Tenor Saxophone, Bass Saxophone, Flute, Composed By – Urs Leimgruber

URS LEIMGRUBER · EVAN PARKER — Twine (2010) FLAC (tracks+.cue), lossless

Tracklist :
1    Twine    25:44
2    Twirl    18:00
3    Twist    22:46
Credits :
Saxophones – Evan Parker, Urs Leimgruber