''Continuum'' is an album by Swiss pianist and composer

Nik Bärtsch Nik Bärtsch (born 3 August 1971) is a Swiss pianist, composer, bandleader, record producerNastos, Michael GAllmusic: Nik Bärtsch Biography accessed May 25, 2018 and author from Zürich. Career Bärtsch studied piano and Percussion instrumen ...

's Mobile recorded in Switzerland in 2015 and released on the

ECM ECM may refer to: Economics and commerce * Engineering change management * Equity capital markets * Error correction model, an econometric model * European Common Market Mathematics * Elliptic curve method * European Congress of Mathematics ...

label.ECM discography
accessed September 14, 2016

Reception

The AllMusic review by Thom Jurek states "''Continuum'' is European jazz rife with funkiness; it's just more specific sound. It may require a closer listen, at least initially, but once experienced, its depth and constancy are unmistakable". They also selected it as one of their Favorite Jazz Albums of 2016. PopMatters' John Garratt said "While their playing can be every bit as spritely as Ronin, ''Continuum'' captures Mobile in a low, pensive light. This isn’t to say that the music isn’t as successful overall, it’s just that establishing a warm sense of intimacy with it is going to take a little work on your part". All About Jazz reviewers said, "With its variety of styles, ''Continuum'' is the best of Mobile's albums to date, despite the very high bar set from the beginning" and "there's little doubt that those who've become fans of Ronin's more eminently groove-laden music will be (if they weren't already) ready for this group's richer compositional rigor...for whom the term ''Continuum'' is, indeed, wholly appropriate for its broader-spectrum'd musical treasures". London Jazz News' John L. Walters noted "Bärtsch's music is always urgent but never in a hurry, and his sidemen follow the leader’s calm self-discipline. What improvisation there is takes place within the broad structures of the compositions – Mobile may not be a ‘blowing’ band in the jazz sense of the word, but it interprets the music as if it were".Walters, J. L
London Jazz News Review
August 8, 2016 In JazzTimes, Steve Greenlee wrote "There is a clean, icy quality to this music—a hallmark of Scandinavian jazz—that invites comparisons to electronica and to the work of

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

and film composer Thomas Newman... ''Continuum'', beginning to end, is mesmerizing".Greenlee, S
JazzTimes Review
June 2016

Track listing

All compositions by Nik Bärtsch. # "Modul 29_14" - 8:59 # "Modul 12" - 9:02 # "Modul 18" - 8:03 # "Modul 5" - 8:32 # "Modul 60" - 9:27 # "Modul 4" - 5:26 # "Modul 44" - 10:23 # "Modul 8_11" - 8:32

Personnel

— piano * Sha -

bass clarinet The bass clarinet is a musical instrument of the clarinet family. Like the more common soprano B clarinet, it is usually pitched in B (meaning it is a transposing instrument on which a written C sounds as B), but it plays notes an octave bel ...

, contrabass clarinet * Kaspar Rast, Nicolas Stocker -

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

, percussion *Etienne Abelin, Ola Sendecki - violin *David Schnee - viola *Ambrosius Huber, Solme Hong - cello

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Continuum (Nik Bartsch album) 2016 albums Nik Bärtsch albums ECM Records albums Albums produced by Manfred Eicher