In the Labyrinth of Beats – this jazz trio has a penchant for odd meters and bars: Video

If you like rocking with your foot or snapping it to the beat, you’re in Escape. Argot possibly in the wrong concert. Because the idiosyncratically occupied jazz trio has a preference for odd meters and bars, where you can lose hopelessly in the beats. There is a good reason for this: Leading composer is the drummer of the band with Christoph Steiner.

In the process, one wonders when Steiner, born in Winterthur in 1980, even finds time for his intricate compositions. Finally, the sought-after drummer lists on his website no less than eight formations in which he is currently involved. In the past five years Steiner has played on 24 albums. In this period alone, three publications will be given to the Europe-wide acclaimed Hildegard Lernt Fliegen, a vocal group around vocal artist Andreas Schaerer, who will be touring in 2020 with a new album.

“You have to set priorities again and again,” says Steiner to the bz. But he is fortunate that his projects “usually work like a wave” and not all are always the same. Since Escape.Argot is responsible not only for music but also for organizational matters, he would already refer to this band as a “matter of the heart”, according to Steiner.

The ten pieces that have packed Escape. Argot on their second song «You.Me.Them.» Bear witness to a lot of work – both in composition and arrangement: for six months, the trio have tried out and refined the pieces in concerts. Only then was it possible to record the sophisticated material in two and a half studio days.

Unmisselfliches game and a lot of rock in the CD shelf
While the opener “The Remains of Lightness” plays with moods with frugal piano chords (Florian Favre) and airy saxophone melodies (Christoph Grab), the insane “Allowing (The Pride Question Mark)” focuses on rhythmic confusion and great dynamics -range.

Here, the three agile musicians play around each other and leave plenty of space between their notes. Recurring unison lines prove that nothing is left to chance here, despite having tasted improvisational freedoms. At times, Escape.Argot jazz-untypically grabbed violently and wonderfully uncaringly: “Rock is still big in my CD rack represented,” says Steiner. He grew up “with a lot of grunge”.

“Never Enough Not Enough”

The trio, which, as Steiner repeatedly emphasizes, consists of three equal musicians, even in the piece “Never Enough Not Enough”, shows no fear of contact with other genres. It starts with an electronic bubbling that forms into a pulsating bassline. It comes from the Moog synthesizer, with which Florian Favre makes the missing bassist forget. The dual role as a pianist and bassist comes from a deliberate fundamental consideration Steiners: “I wanted a compact cast to be very agile improvisation, and had played with Florian, as he also used the Moog. In addition, I love the space that arises when there is more space in the basses and then the effect of the onset of Moog is even greater. ”

Another highlight of the album is “Plutimikation”, in which Steiner indulges in a solo and the game with the time signature is taken to the extreme. The latter is for him a means to generate tension, so Steiner. The three instrumentalists also deliberately wanted to “channel their play into unfamiliar corners”. It is striking that Escape.Argot often does not emphasize the count time one. Steiner explains: “That should create additional flexibility, otherwise such meters can sometimes come stiff.” And the musical challenge, which gives Steiner, who also works as a drum teacher, like to do, “of course, a lot of fun”. To check in Bird’s Eye.