The Squid's Ear Magazine


Day & Taxi: Devotion (Percaso)

A melodically subtle and sophisticated album of twenty improvisations composed by saxophonist Christoph Gallio and performed with Gerry Hemingway on drums and Silvan Jeger on electric bass, with Friederike Mayrocker providing words on several tracks, the compositions as short as 19 seconds and a long as 7:40, each dedicated to visual artists and colleagues.
 

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product information:

Personnel:



Christoph Gallio-alto saxophone, soprano saxophone

Silvan Jeger-double bass

Gerry Hemingway-drums



Friederike Mayrocker-words


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UPC: 7640172463079

Label: Percaso
Catalog ID: 37
Squidco Product Code: 28288

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2019
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold
Recorded at Percaso studio in Baden, Germany, on July 8th and 9th, 2019, by Day & Taxi.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"For more than 30 years, Swiss saxophone player Christoph Gallio has been the driving force behind the trio Day and Taxi, which debuted as a quartet back in 1986. His compositions are focused and structured in his own manner. Seemingly beyond the influence of musical trends, Gallio's career has seen him play extensively across South America and at festivals in America, and he fits neatly into that crux between composition and improvisation.

Day and Taxi's new album Devotion opens with "Tall Guy Blues," a sensual, rolling number which finds Christoph Gallio providing depth and textured playing over short drum quips from Gerry Hemingway. A deeply textured number, this is a wonderful opener. Silvan Jeger delivers a gentle, quiet bass solo where the softness of delivery belies the technical challenges. This track, lasting just over 6 minutes, contains a range of styles and switches in tempo and rhythm, which make it engaging.

"Silvia" begins with the sax calling in repeated phrase over swung rhythms. This four-note riff provides the lynch pin around which Day and Taxi improvise and relate. Again, there are changes, tempo marks and rhythmic variations, all over which Gallio plays with obvious relish. Hemingway's drum solo in the middle section offers a quiet but rhythmically challenging contrast. "Im Juni" is short at just under a minute, and includes sung words from the poem of the same title by Friederike Mayrocker. "Sol Ich Einen Turn Bauen?" is another short, delicious interlude provided by bass, drums and sax in a single driving rhythm.

"Gegenteil" is a beautifully delivered number, with staccato sax over the top of a flowing drum and bass, alternating with dextrous flying-fingered flits down the sax keys and back again. "Mare" is atmospheric from the start, with gongs and percussion setting the scene for a fantastic journey through spacey landscapes, emphasized by the gentle, breathy sax and quiet, slowed-down percussion. It's melodic until the middle section, when the musicians create sounds most weird and wonderful yet connected because they are improvising around the same ideas.

"South For North" opens with some intricate Silvan Jeger bass work, working up to an engaging mesmeric rhythm, joined by Gerry Hemingway's drums and then the sax introduces a lighter theme altogether. Day and Taxi work around a playful rhythm which has a Latino edge before the sax is the leader in a follow-me-if-you-can improvised section. A deeply layered and engaging number, including a drum solo from Gerry Hemingway to live for. "Ueli Der Meister" is a track which has all the essences of a dance in its structure, change of tempos and rhythms but with a pattern at the start before there is the introduction of a quieter, improvised section. The saxophone gently sings in altissimo, quietly delivering before the rhythm set at the start returns - and, suddenly, we are dancing again.

"Pan Comido" sets out with an offset 4/4 rhythm, which both engages and perplexes but somehow works because the ears are fully engaged whilst the brain is trying to catch up. Clever and lovely. The sax line at times is melodic, at others disharmonious and always tone perfect. "Fleurette Danoise" is gentle, then not so gentle, silent, then noisy - a track with contrasts and changes while "Your Attitude Surprises Me" is a bass-led, rapid-paced moving number with a tuneful sax line and is short and sweet at 40 seconds. "Be Kind to the Cats" is another very short (36 seconds) interplay between the band members, and "Faces" works as a quiet interlude while the percussion whips up a gentle storm for the first minutes, before the sax joins in an interplay with Hemingway's solo drum sections.

"Dreizehn" and "Die Regenrose" are two interludes of (of 18 seconds and 25 seconds, respectively) with words by Friederike Mayrocker before "The Ghost Who Never Lies" provides bassy grooves over which the sax creates waves and lines of sound. It's a very tuneful and lovely 51 seconds. "Flowers" is a track which sees bass and sax working together, with some beautifully placed percussion. Jeger's bass emerges as lead here and it is quite exceptional, underpinned perfectly by the drums and the sax works its way in over the top. A great number with all three musicians playing on point.

"Doowoo" starts with a drum ricochet, then bass and sax flow in and the rhythmic, slightly swung nature of the track becomes apparent. Melodies are introduced, changes in rhythm and clever switches make this incredibly enjoyable. Christoph Gallio's playing on this track is masterful and it manages to encompass a lengthy and rather joyous Gerry Hemingway drum solo too. Possibly the highlight track on Devotion. "Pray Monk" is again quiet and atmospheric, contrasting well with the more playful "Lightweight Heavyweight," which closes the album and is based around an electric bass line which sets out a theme. The inclusion of the sequencer was a little irksome on this track but maybe that was just me.

Day and Taxi's Devotion is an album to listen to, or have on in the background but be prepared to switch your attention to the music regularly. There is a complexity to the sounds which is at times extraordinary and the arrangements are deep and multi-layered, with improvised sections providing contrast and even more interest.

Christoph Gallio is an exceptional musician and clearly those he plays with are stand out. The music is a fusion of improvisation, kitsch and niche. It possesses poetic strands, energetic free-form sections, lyrical interpretation and above all an originality in Gallio's compositions which are so ably interpreted by Day and Taxi bandmates Silvan Jeger and Gerry Hemingway. This is an outstanding album with music which is a rich combination of improvisation, tonal musicality and depth."-Sammy Stein, Something Else Reviews

Also available on vinyl LP.
Get additional information at Something Else!

Artist Biographies

"Christoph Gallio was born in 1957 and lives in Baden, Switzerland. Self-taught, he began playing 19 years soprano saxophone. He studied saxophone with Iwan Roth at Basel Conservatory and Music at Steve Lacy in Paris. MA in Transdisciplinarity at the Zurich University of the Arts (ZHdK). Gallio in 1987 received the Special Art Prize of the city of Basel and the Canton Aargau 2009 Berlin studio and 2012 a work contribution. He directs the bands DAY & TAXI (with Silvan Jeger and David Meier), MÖSIÖBLÖ (with Sylvia Nopper, Marino Pliakas and Thomas Eckert), and ROSES FOR ALL (with Jan Roder and Oliver Steidle). With the visual artist Beat Streuli him on a longstanding cooperation. The latest joint project is the interdisciplinary performance ROAD WORKS (with Andrea Neumann, Ernst Thoma, Dominique Girod and Julian Sartorius).

Since 1977, played and plays Christoph Gallio among other things with Irene Schweizer, Irene Aebi, Urs Voerkel, Peter K. Frey, Daniel Studer, Günter Müller, Stephan Wittwer, Norbert Möslang, Ernst Thoma, Peter Kowald, Alfred Zimmerlin, Matthew Ostrowski, Hans Koch, Werner Lüdi, Urs Blöchlinger, Erhard Hirt, Dieter Ulrich, Fred Frith, Phil Minton, John Russel, Lindsay L. Cooper, Peter Schärli, Bernhard Bamert, Takashi Kazamaki, Yoshiaki Onnyk Kinno, Samm Bennett, Uchihashi Kazuhisa, Kazutoki Umezu, Tetsu Saitoh , William Parker, Rashied Ali, Christian Wolfarth, Martin Lorenz, Hans-Christian Sarnau, Lara Stanic, Olaf Rupp, Kazumi, Helmut Erler, Hans Benda, Sven Åke Johansson, Andrea Neumann, Julian Sartorius. Solos and performances with the dancers Christine Brodbeck, Yvonne Meier, Tomiko Takai, Franz Frautschi and Hideto Heshiki. Cooperation including with the artists Alex Silver, Eric Hattan and writer Kurt Aebli. Since 1986 Gallio composes for himself, his band and others. Concerts and tours at home and abroad. Various recordings."

-Christoph Gallio Website (http://www.gallio.ch/gallio/)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Born in 1985 in Olten. As a child and teenager cello lessons. E-Bass and vocals in punk band. After graduation first double bass lessons. From 2005 to 2010 Bachelor and Master studies in jazz double bass at the Zurich University of the Arts under Dominique Girod, Rätus Flisch and Heiri Känzig, as well as lessons with Jan Schacher (interfaces / software programming), Daniel Pezzotti (cello) and Rahel Hadorn (vocals).

In addition to the concert activity as Kontrabassist appearances as a singer, guitarist, cellist, e-bassist and operator of various electronic devices. Stylistically, the interest spreads to a broad horizon of jazz and free improvisation, film and theater music, folklore imaginaire and country to electronic music, post-rock and ambient. Among others as a dedicated sideman in bands like DAY & TAXI, the Reto Suhner Quartet, PLANNT * and One Tfu, as co-leader in Uassyn, cold voodoo and Ehythm as well as in this jazz quartet This Difficult Tree, in the concept pop song Kingdom statement and in the solo project publish / perish .

Club and festival appearances at home and abroad. Theater music for Tell / Zahhak by Mass & Fieber 2012/13 in Altdorf, Zurich and Tehran. Theater Music for The Wall, Theater Aachen in autumn 16.

Silvan Jeger teaches double bass, electric bass and ensemble in Dietikon and Frauenfeld.

In October 2017, Silvan Jeger was artist-in-residence at Zurich Jazz Club moods."

-Silvan Jeger Website (Translated by Google) (http://www.silvanjeger.ch/biografie.html)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.

"Gerry Hemingway has led a number of quartet and quintets since the mid 1980's. In addition he has been a member of a wide array of long standing collaborative groups including Brew with Reggie Workman and Miya Masaoka, the GRH trio with Georg Graewe and Ernst Reijseger, the WHO trio with Michel Wintsch and Bänz Oester, as well as numerous duo projects with Thomas Lehn, John Butcher, Ellery Eskelin, Marilyn Crispell, and others. Mr. Hemingway is a Guggenheim fellow and has received numerous commissions for chamber and orchestral works as well as being noted for his innovative and multifaceted work as a solo performer which began in 1974. He was a member of the Anthony Braxton Quartet between 1983 and 1994 and is also well known for his collaborations with some of the world's most outstanding improvisers and composers including Evan Parker, Cecil Taylor, Mark Dresser, Anthony Davis, Derek Bailey, Leo Smith and many others. He currently lives in Switzerland having joined the faculty of the Hochschule Luzern in 2009."

-Gerry Hemingway Website (http://www.gerryhemingway.com)
3/13/2024

Have a better biography or biography source? Please Contact Us so that we can update this biography.


Track Listing:



1. Tall Guy Blues (to Christian Weber) 6:01

2. Silvia (to Silvia Bachli) 7:18

3. Im Juni (words By Friederike Mayrocker) 0:50

4. Soll Ich Einen Turm Bauen? 0:54

5. Gegenteil (to Jurg Stauble) 2:23

6. Mare (to Kaissa Camara,1998-2018) 6:04

7. South For North 6:37

8. Ueli Der Meister (to Ueli Fuyuru Derendinger) 4:18

9. Pan Comido (to Hans Tanner) 7:09

10. Fleurette Danoise (to Anne Hoffmann) 5:14

11. Your Attitude Surprises Me (to Lutz Bacher) 0:42

12. Be Kind To The Cats 0:38

13. Faces (to Beat Streuli) 2:41

14. Dreizehn (words By Friederike Mayrocker) 0:19

15. Die Regenrose (words By Friederike Mayrocker) 0:28

16.The Ghost Who Never Lies 0:51

17. Flowers (to Maya Rikli) 2:34

18. Doowoo (to Corsin Fontana) 4:06

19. Pray Monk 7:40

20. Lightweight Heavyweight (to Eric Hattan) 2:11

Related Categories of Interest:


Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Trio Recordings
Melodic and Lyrical Jazz
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