Swiss pianist, composer, and bandleader
Nik Bärtsch has, over a period of 15 years, released a body of recordings for
ECM featuring his bands
Ronin and
Mobile. They showcase his trademark architectural brand of "ritual groove music", which combines harmonic and rhythmic strategies inspired by jazz, classical minimalism, funk, and prog.
Bärtsch's written pieces are called "Moduls" and are assigned numerical signifiers to distinguish them from one another. These works offer his soloists freedom to improvise and shift in and out of grooves as the band weaves tightly knit, percussive structures to propel the music forward. 2006's
Stoa and 2008's Holon offered attractive examples that drew not only jazz and new music audiences, but also EDM fans thanks to forward-thinking club DJs. Touring with
Ronin in support of 2010's
Llyria and the following year's
Ronin Live, his bands sold out clubs and theaters across the globe. In 2017
Bärtsch played a solo piano tour of the Middle East and South Asia. Two years later he performed solo again as part of
ECM's 50th anniversary concert at Lincoln Center.
These performances laid the groundwork for
Entendre, his first solo piano outing since 2002's
Hishiryō, wherein he revisits six compositions previously recorded by his groups. Unlike those efforts,
Entendre is uncharacteristically loose and spontaneous. Though
Bärtsch has always emphasized restraint in his group compositions, it's obvious from the opening of statement in "Modul 58-12" that, performing solo, he loves deliberately subverting them, too. Its bubbling, mid-register rhythmic pulse is appended by crystalline ostinatos and complementary chordal statements with contrasting tonalities. In "Modul 55," he revels in intricate left-hand ostinatos rumbling and rolling over the black keys as he engages in
Paul Bley-esque lyric lines with his right. "Modul 26" offers syncopated vamps and single-line incantations that register -- at least initially -- as wispy and sparse, seemingly akin to the work of
Max Richter or
Ludovico Einaudi. Unlike them,
Bärtsch offers timbral and tonal variations on his theme with a hypnotic, danceable vamp that would not be out of place on a techno record. Near the end, he grabs a fraction of
Vince Guaraldi's intro to "Linus and Lucy," then descends along the keyboard while adding counter rhythms that dovetail and lock onto the lyric groove. "Modul 5" emerges at a gallop that changes shape rhythmically and harmonically several times in ten minutes. Set-closer "Déjà-vu, Vienna" is modeled after
Ronin's "Modul 42" and references composer
Arvo Pärt's Tintinnabuli style with a languid pulse and resonant minor-key harmonies. The most remarkable aspect of
Entendre is that
Bärtsch playing solo is as exciting as when he plays with
Ronin and
Mobile. He communicates serenely and imaginatively with precision, wry humor, and intensity without overdubs or embellishment. In sum,
Bärtsch's music on
Entendre offers listeners an intimate, revelatory portrait of his process, sans artifice or accompaniment. ~ Thom Jurek