The Squid's Ear Magazine


Courvoisier, Sylvie: To Be Other-Wise (Intakt)

Only the second solo album from Swiss-born pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier, now based in New York, presenting twelve studio recordings that explore the full range of the piano inside and out, recorded in Germany and showcasing the breadth of her expressive power and spontaneous creativity, shaped by decades of work in innovative transatlantic ensembles.
 

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Sylvie Courvoisier-piano


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UPC: 7640120194291

Label: Intakt
Catalog ID: ITK429.2
Squidco Product Code: 36391

Format: CD
Condition: New
Released: 2024
Country: Switzerland
Packaging: Cardboard Gatefold 3 Panels w/ booklet
Recorded at SWR Studio, Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany, on February 27th and 28th, 2024, by Manfred Seiler and Manuel Braun.

Descriptions, Reviews, &c.

"Swiss-born pianist and composer Sylvie Courvoisier is one of the most internationally renowned jazz pianists, at home in both concert halls and jazz clubs. A formative figure on the contemporary jazz scene for 20 years, she is known for her ability to combine two different worlds - the detailed chamber music of her European roots and the experimental sounds of the jazz scene in New York, where she has been at home for all this time.

She released her first and so far only solo album in 2007. And so it's high time for another testimony to the art of her solo playing, which is as playful as it is intense, and as rooted in tradition as it is searching and adventurous.

"At the same time, in her solo music too, one can hear that Sylvie Courvoisier is an artist who never revolves only around herself. The immense spectrum of her pianistic expressive power and the broad width of her compositional imagination is shaped by her constant curiosity about perspectives other than her own. Thelonious Monk, Geri Allen, Olivier Messiaen and, most recently, Igor Stravinsky", writes Julia Neupert in the liner notes. She adds: "On this album, not only do we hear the multi-faceted self-portrait of one of the most remarkable pianists of our time. Sylvie Courvoisier also shares with us her conviction that playing alone does not mean being alone." "-Intakt


Artist Biographies

"Sylvie Courvoisier is a pianist, composer and improviser. Born in Lausanne, Switzerland, Courvoisier moved to New York in 1998 and has lived in Brooklyn since that time.

Courvoisier has led several groups over the years and has recorded over 25 records as a leader or co-leader for different labels, notably ECM , Tzadik and Intakt Records and 30 cds as a sideperson. She has performed and recorded with John Zorn, Mark Feldman, Yusef Lateef, Ikue Mori, Tony Oxley, Tim Berne, Joey Baron, Joëlle Léandre, Herb Robertson, Butch Morris, Evan Parker, Mark Dresser, Ellery Eskelin, Lotte Anker, Fred Frith, Michel Godard, Tomazs Stanko among others. She has been commissioned to write music for concerts, radio, dance and theater. Since 1996, she has been touring widely with her own groups and as a side person in USA, Canada, Japan, Australia and Europe.

Currently, Courvoisier is the leader of her TRIO with Kenny Wollesen and Drew Gress. She performs regularly Solo and since 1997, in Duo with violinist Mark Feldman. She co-leads the Sylvie Courvoisier/Mark Feldman Quartet with Scott Colley and Billy Mintz. Since 2000, she has been a member of Mephista, an improvising collective trio with Ikue Mori and Susie Ibarra. She is currently playing and touring in different projects of John Zorn including Cobra and Masada Marathon. She is also playing in Erik Friedlander's Trio, Herb Robertson's Quintet and Nate Wooley's Quartet. Since 2010, she has been working as a pianist and composer for flamenco dancer Israel Galvan's project "la Curva" with more than 150 performances around the world.

Awards include Switzerland's 1996 Prix des jeunes créateurs; Zonta Club's 2000 Prix de la Création; Switzerland's 2010 Grand Prix de la Fondation Vaudoise de la Culture; 2013's NYFA (NewYork Foundation For the Art) Music/Sound Fellowship."

-Sylvie Courvoisier Website (http://www.sylviecourvoisier.com/bio.htm)
6/16/2025

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


Track Listing:



1. La Descente Des Alpages (For Julian Sartorius) 3:17

2. Hotel Esmeralda (For Hugo Pratt) 7:53

3. Chilling (For My Three Cats) 3:20

4. To Be Other-wise (For Amy Sillman) 4:53

5. Preluding (For Conlon Nancarrow) 2:18

6. Soliloquizing (For Wadada Leo Smith) 7:06

7. Scooting (For Olivier Messiaen) 3:20

8. Twirling (For Ned Rothenberg) 2:40

9. Edging Candytuft (For Mary Halvorson) 3:29

10. Twisting Memories (For Sarah Turin) 6:39

11. Frisking (For Henry Cowell) 3:25

12. Ballade For My Dad 9:37

Related Categories of Interest:

Intakt

Improvised Music
Jazz
Free Improvisation
European Improvisation, Composition and Experimental Forms
Piano & Keyboards
Solo Artist Recordings
Staff Picks & Recommended Items
New in Improvised Music
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