SYLVIE COURCOISIER MARK FELDMAN QUARTET feat. Drew Gress and Tom Rainey

October/November 2021

Swiss-born pianist Sylvie Courvoisier and Chicago-bred violinist Mark Feldman have performed together for more than two decades in an ever-evolving musical partnership, along with their individual histories of playing alongside notables from John Zorn, John Abercrombie and Andrew Cyrille to Evan Parker, Wadada Leo Smith and Mary Halvorson. According to The New York Times, Courvoisier is “a pianist of equal parts audacity and poise,” while National Public Radio has described Feldman as “an effortlessly lyrical player… who builds and releases tension – an all-around terrific violinist.” Along with collaborating extensively as a telepathic duo, Courvoisier and Feldman have co-led multiple New York-based trios and quartets. The pair’s latest quartet – featuring bassist Drew Gress and drummer Tom Rainey, longtime colleagues in various settings – will be touring Europe with a repertoire of new music, as well as pieces from Courvoisier and Feldman’s previous quartet album, the widely acclaimed Birdies for Lulu (Intakt, 2014). That record was described in The Guardian as “contemporary chamber music meets progressive jazz… by maestros of the game,” while All About Jazz hailed it as simply “a revelation.” About the latest incarnation of the Courvoisier-Feldman quartet, the pianist says: “Although we have all played together in other formations, the four of us have only performed together as a quartet once before, at a festival in Germany. It was so much fun that it felt as if the group had already existed for a long time. We went right into some deep playing.” Feldman adds: “This quartet has an open, venturesome quality, though the lineup of piano, bass and drums plus lead voice can have a traditional jazz feel. A couple of the tunes are mine, and the rest are by Sylvie, with her writing having absorbed influences from Ahmad Jamal to Stravinsky. That actually encapsulates the band pretty well…” — Bradley Bambarger