Self-taught artist who wrote jazz history: Irène Schweizer died
Published: Wednesday, Jul 17th 2024, 12:00
Updated At: Wednesday, Jul 17th 2024, 12:10
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Irène Schweizer made her way from Dixieland in her parents' restaurant to free jazz on stages around the world. Now the award-winning Swiss pianist and drummer has died at the age of 83.
There are said to have been three pianos in Irène Schweizer's parents' restaurant, the Landhaus in Schaffhausen. Good conditions for someone who felt drawn to the piano. She soon began to strum and took lessons. But it was the Dixieland and boogie-woogie bands that caught her attention when they performed in the Landhaus-Säli. Schweizer intuitively grasped the essence of jazzy playing and was already in a band at the age of 16.
Before she took off in the jazz scene, however, she got to know a different keyboard, that of the typewriter. She completed a commercial apprenticeship and worked as a secretary, a job that later kept her afloat in the less lucrative jazz scene.
From Dixie to free jazz
At the age of 20, she went to England for two years: language school, au pair position, but above all piano lessons with a jazz pianist. Her return was followed by a break with Schaffhausen, a break with Dixieland. Irène Schweizer moved to Zurich and formed a trio (with Mani Neumeier and Uli Trepte), which performed at the Zurich Jazz Festival in 1964 and immediately won an award.
The Zurich club Africana was formative for the pianist - "the best thing" that happened to her, better than a jazz school. She played there every other evening, came into contact with other musicians and was exposed to contemporary jazz. It was also there that she heard the South African pianist Dollar Brand (now Abdullah Ibrahim). He inspired and influenced Irène Schweizer with his organically and associatively developing, melodious improvisations.
Cecil Taylor provided the counterpoint. In 1966, she attended a concert by the free jazz pioneer in Stuttgart - and after the American's wild, percussive and expressive tour de force, she was "completely exhausted" and seriously considered giving up playing the piano. "There's no way", she said to herself, "that you can do something like that on a piano". But the shock ultimately proved to be a liberation - from stylistic guidelines and dogmas, from conventions and clichés that existed and still exist in jazz.
Woman in male territory
Now Irène Schweizer was unstoppable. She played her way to the top of the European avant-garde. As a result, many people turned their backs on her because they thought she was now going too far (and that free jazz was neither jazz nor music). She was to be found alongside the pioneers of the German scene (Peter Kowald, Rüdiger Carl, Peter Brötzmann), but also repeatedly together with the Swiss drummer Pierre Favre.
With the exception of female singers, who played a leading role right from the start, jazz was a male preserve. Irène Schweizer thought that the all-male bands should now be countered by an all-female band. That was the time of the Feminist Improvising Group (FIG), in which she played a key role. She lost a few more fans for whom her feminist statements were too radical. Her open declaration of homosexuality also took place during this time.
In addition to her intuitive, unacademic approach to music, another quality of the musician became apparent: an aversion to routine. When her playing became too familiar, too pleasing. If she realized that she was repeating herself, that the performances were no longer a challenge but ran the risk of freezing, she turned away. She pushed open the window to the vastness of the world of sound even further and embarked on new experiments and thus new risks.
Top of the European scene
It is precisely this attitude that has kept Irène Schweizer's music so vital and authentic over the decades, with which she has played her way to the forefront of the European scene and continued to open up the music without denying the roots of jazz. This has earned her the respect of other musicians - Cecil Taylor expressed his admiration for this "lady on the piano" at a concert in Willisau.
At the same time, as she grew older, she developed an admirable maturity and a sovereignty that led her to concert highlights. Her inspired and brilliant improvisations repeatedly drew ovations from the audience.
When people talk about the pianist Irène Schweizer, it is easy to forget her love of percussion. The "decidedly percussive character" of her playing (Ekkehard Jost) was noted early on. In fact, she has always enjoyed playing the drums. In her collaboration with saxophonist Co Streiff, Schweizer played drums exclusively for years. And her duos - on the piano - with drummers such as Andrew Cyrille, Han Bennink, Günter Sommer and most recently Hamid Drake were legendary.
Commitment to the local scene
Despite her success on the international stage, Irène Schweizer has never forgotten the local scene. She has always performed alongside Swiss musicians, including Co Streiff and the saxophonists Omri Ziegele and Jürg Wickihalder. This commitment is a contribution to the promotion of the local improvised music scene that should not be underestimated.
Irène Schweizer's importance in jazz is undisputed today. This is reflected in the awards and prizes she has received over the years: Special Prize of the German Record Critics, Art Prizes of the City of Zurich (1991) and the Canton of Zurich (2018), Swiss Grand Prix Music (2018), to name just four.
She gave her last major public concert in July 2019 at the "Konfrontationen" festival in Nickelsdorf, Austria: a duo with the American drummer Hamid Drake, which has since been released on CD (Intakt Records) under the title "Celebration".
Things have gone quiet around Irène Schweizer over the past year. The coronavirus has also silenced her, as she told Keystone-SDA. No public concerts, no concert visits either. The shutdown has taken its toll on her. "It was heavy," she said, "a difficult time. I asked myself: does it have to end like this? It's just not funny."
In May 2021, friends encouraged her to go to a concert again for the first time, when the James Brandon Lewis Quartet performed at the "unerhört" festival. She hadn't actually wanted to go, but "then I was so happy to have heard it."
She celebrated her 80th birthday shortly afterwards in June with friends. She then decided to retire from the concert circuit. She gave up big trips and appearances on major stages. On Tuesday, she died at the age of 83 in an institution in Zurich, as announced by her record label.
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