Schiaffini Studer, Breeze
Giancarlo Schiaffini trb
Daniel Studer b
All works by Giancarlo Schiaffini and Daniel Studer
Recorded at 'the Sweet Spot' in Baar, July 2023 by Beni Bisig.
Mix an master by Enrico di Felice.
Text by Ettore Garzia. Design by Enrico di Felice. Photo by Lorenzo Pusterla.
Cover Art by Enrico di Felice.
℗ + © 2025
music:
Auster, 2025, 4:40
Altanus, 2025, 4:01
Boreas, 2025, 8:25
download and cd: bandcamp
streamning platforms: Linae Occultae
…Giancarlo Schiaffini/Daniel Studer in Breeze adapt to this vital approach and reflect on the graph: 9 orientations define the great interactive capabilities of the two musicians, an intrepid sonic imagination that travels on the basis of a wide creativity, almost in search of a mythology of 'movement'; the casual coordination, the surprises of extended techniques, the speeds or densities found in the improvisational dialogue, are a panacea for a modern narration of the qualities of the winds.
Ettore Garzia
cd reviews:
...C’est une belle conversation entre deux locuteurs, l’un germanique, l’autre italien qui se comprennent profondément sans ressentir le besoin de traduire dans la langue de l’autre, de s’imiter… Ils se racontent des histoires qui elles-mêmes se transforment en une magnifique narration, en précis de philosophie, audace auditive pour artistes visuels visionnaires. C’est absolument magnifique , généreux et mesuré à la fois. Neuf courtes improvisations qui déclinent tous les possibles de l’improvisation sans tambour ni trompette mais avec un sourire en coin, prodige de subtilités toujours renouvelées.
Jean Michel Van Schouwburg, Blogspot, 2025
Un dialogo a due che attraversa i terreni di quel tipo di sperimentalismo che lambisce (e in qualche modo unisce, pure) contemporaneità colta (per usare un termine mai troppo amato dai più) e libera improvvisazione jazzistica, è quanto ci arriva da questo lavoro di due musicisti decisamente ferrati in materia.
Il tenore del tutto è per lo più fortemente interiorizzato, poco incline a facili accensioni e/o abbandoni, cerebrale, spurio, a volte quasi crudele nel suo incaponirsi in soluzioni che nulla concedono a qualsivoglia tipo di ammiccamento teso a invogliare (nonché lisciare il pelo a) chi ha deciso di lanciarsi nell'ascolto di questi tre quarti d'ora di rendez-vous antiaccademico e—certamente—anticonsolatorio.…
All About Jazz, Alberto Bazzurro, 2025
...Posaune und Kontrabass werden mit unterschiedlichsten Spieltechniken in Schwingung versetzt. Von extrem geräuschhaft bis klar konturierte Tonhöhen. In neun Varianten navigieren die beiden durch die Klanglandschaften. … Man kennt beide durchaus als energetische Spieler oder besser gesagt als solche, die Meister dichten Klanggeflechtes sind. Hier zeigen sie oft ihre ruhige interaktive Seite. Klare Linien, nachhören, weiterreichen, lauschen, sacht kommentieren, das sind nur einige ihrer Mittel, um Spannungsbögen zu gestalten.
Nina Polaschegg, freiStil, 2025
...„'Breeze' illustra una rosa dei venti particolare, che non fornisce indicazioni direzionali alla coppia di esecutori quanto piuttosto all'uditorio, invitato idealmente a spostarsi di continuo dal seggio occupato, a prendere il largo dalle consuetudini. Possenti cavate o semplici sfregamenti di corde e legno del contrabbasso, gorgoglanti o distese (dis)armonie del trombone, frazioni esplosive o rarefazioni al limite del silenzi, intensi scambi dialettici oppure sapide sortite individuali, tutto concorre a farci perdere la tramontana.
Piercarlo Poggio, Blow Up, 2025
...„Schiaffini-Studer exposes textures… difficult interactions as if one side of the table holds ping-pong balls and the other mahjong tiles. From “Auster”, the first track, the bassist advances with hard string slaps and wood-rending ruptures that lead to sul ponticello strops as the trombonist’s breaths and echoes ascend to plunger tones with vocalized extensions. Throughout the remaining eight tracks the two work out rapport that highlights Schiaffini’s distinctive extended brass techniques alongside similar skills from Studer.
One standout is “Solanus” which mates string-slapping rhythms and buttressing brass improvisation. Creating an exposition the trombonist lines up single tone into an evolving theme ultimately expressed in tandem multiphonics, with basso scoops apparent at the same time as bugling smears. “Otis” on the other hand contrasts phlegmatic trombone growls with squeaky string strops until Schiaffini moves up the scale with triplets borne on lip pressure.
Varying portamento definitions, the trombonist’s outbursts encompass plunger growls, toneless breaths, brass shakes and single note puffs. There’s even a point on “Carbas” where he interrupts stop-time tongue flutters to create a secondary line vocalized by mumbling through the horn’s body tube. Studer maintains his aural ground during all this, pivoting rhythmic thumps, isolated string plinks and strained string buzzing to match up, accompany, amplify or halt Schiaffini’s note bending.
The most extended variants on the dual integration of diverse game strategies occurs on “Boreas”. Extracting rhythmic swing from spiccato slaps and arco scrapes near the tuning pegs, Studer’s bass reverberations line up alongside brass smears, nasal pressure and gutbucket moans, finally expanding the confluence so that brass and string colors blend into iridescent musical pigmentation.“
Ken Waxman, Jazzword, 2025