Home » Jazz Articles » Album Review » Sylvie Courvoisier: D'Agala

Sylvie Courvoisier: D'Agala

By John Sharpe
January 28, 2018
View read count

Swiss-born, NYC-based pianist

Sylvie Courvoisier

piano

" data-original-title="" title="">Sylvie Courvoisier reconvenes the crew which waxed the wonderful Double Windsor (Tzadik, 2014) for equally rewarding results. As one of the most highly sought after improvisers on the New York scene, Courvoisier has been able to pick her collaborators from the cream, making particularly adept choices in bassist

Drew Gress

bass
b.1959

" data-original-title="" title="">Drew Gress and drummer

Kenny Wollesen

drums

" data-original-title="" title="">Kenny Wollesen. Her bandmates bring to bear a wealth of experience, not only of the outside territory that Courvoisier so often prospects, but also from the cutting edge of the modern mainstream. Consequently they add soulful warmth and streetwise downtown swing to her nine often enigmatic constructions.

That first session arose from

John Zorn

saxophone, alto
b.1953

" data-original-title="" title="">John Zorn's suggestion that she tackle the piano trio. Now with D'Agala it's clearly a format she thoroughly owns. But as always with Courvoisier there are several twists in the tail. Her charts contain space for odd suspensions and miniature sideways digressions as well as allusions to contemporary classical forms. Nowhere is that better heard than in "Imprint Double" where she surrounds a rumbling piano vamp with a soundscape of restrained drama and tinkling melody. In an example of the detail which embellishes every cut, a lovely passage occurs which finds the pianist working the opposite extremes of the keyboard before returning to the initial lope.

Courvoisier often contrast her exploratory leanings against more conventional rhythmic impulse, which makes those episodes when she falls in line all the more striking. On "Eclats for Ornette" the sprightly bounce of its namesake heralds one of the most straightforward selections, but even that is illuminated by key-spraying runs and unexpected shifts of meter, as well as a tuneful drum feature for Wollesen. She turns the tables on the title track dedicated to the late pianist

Geri Allen

piano
1957 - 2017

" data-original-title="" title="">Geri Allen where Wollesen's indeterminate rustles, clatter and squeaks (presumably the Wollesonics referred to on the sleeve) subvert the heartfelt balladry, and evoke a ramshackle cart creaking off into the distance at the close.

Courvoisier integrates preparations into her playing more seamlessly than almost anyone. Listen to the mysterious "Bourgeois's Spider" with its lop-sided rhythm where she juxtaposes plucked strings, poltergeist knocks, and a thunderous crescendo against the shimmer from the unmodified section of the keys. Similarly after a spectral theme "Simone" opens into a textured improv of string swipes, drum rubs, hushed patter and lyrical fragments. While neither Gress nor Wollesen showboats, they both enjoy occasional turns in the spotlight, like the bassist's surefooted solo during the furtive "Fly Whisk" with its

Cecil Taylor

piano
1929 - 2018

" data-original-title="" title="">Cecil Taylor inspired flourishes and his tightly coiled pizzicato counterpoint in the darkly ominous "South Side Rules."

But it's as a unit that they excel, marrying the avant-garde with the piano tradition through the medium of Courvoisier's idiosyncratic compositions.

Learn more about our star rating system

Track Listing

Imprint Double; Bourgeois��s Spider; Eclats for Ornette; Simone; Pierino Porcospino; D��Agala; Circumbent; Fly Whisk; South Side Rules.

Personnel

Sylvie Courvoisier

piano

Sylvie Courvoisier: piano; Drew Gress: bass; Kenny Wollesen: drums and Wollesonic.

Album information

Title: D'Agala | Year Released: 2018 | Record Label: Intakt Records

PREVIOUS / NEXT

Solo a Genova
< Previous

Never Stop II
Next >

Sylvie Courvoisier Concerts

Oct 17 Fri

Vilnius Jazz 2025: Wadada Leo Smith - Sylvie Courvoisier...

Vilnius Old Theatre
Vilnius, Lithuania

Support All About Jazz

All About Jazz has been a pillar of jazz since 1995, championing it as an art form and, more importantly, supporting the musicians who make it. Our enduring commitment has made "AAJ" one of the most culturally important websites of its kind, read by hundreds of thousands of fans, musicians and industry figures every month.

Go Ad Free!

To maintain our platform while developing new means to foster jazz discovery and connectivity, we need your help. You can become a sustaining member for as little as $20 and in return, we'll immediately hide those pesky ads plus provide access to future articles for a full year. This winning combination vastly improves your AAJ experience and allow us to vigorously build on the pioneering work we first started in 1995. So enjoy an ad-free AAJ experience and help us remain a positive beacon for jazz by making a donation today.