Intakt inspires London
For twelve days, the Swiss record label Intakt Records organized the program at the legendary London jazz club Vortex. The response exceeded all expectations.
Oliver Weindling has been saying it again and again for years: one of his biggest goals as director of the Vortex jazz club is to see Irene Schweizer on stage. The pianist, now 75 years old, is considered one of the most influential figures in European free jazz. It is not least thanks to her pioneering work that the Swiss free jazz/improvisation scene enjoys an exceptionally strong reputation on an international level today. But traveling is no longer one of her favourite pastimes. Performances abroad have become rarer and rarer.
Now Weindling's dream has come true after all. As part of the 12-day Intakt Records Festival at the Vortex, she, whose career is so closely linked to the history of the label, performed several times. First alongside South African drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo, with whom she has been friends since he landed in Zurich with the Blue Notes in 1964 while fleeing apartheid. During another set with Moholo-Moholo, she was joined by saxophonist Omri Ziegele. Schweizer performed a third time on stage with the English vocal artist Maggie Nicols. "It was an extraordinarily joyful experience," beams Weindling. "Irene was in a great mood for three days when she was here, and of course that made us very happy too, because I hear she wasn't always comfortable in England on previous occasions."
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