Irène Schweizer - Prelude to a Kiss and More (2026)

Prelude to a Kiss and More shows Irène Schweizer at the height of her powers, in February 1986 in Zürich. With her exuberance, her improvisational skill, her powerful touch and her sense of style, this recording documents a climax in the pianist's oeuvre. And with its strong relationship to jazz history, the album sets an important note in the pianist's discography. In few other recordings can you hear Irène Schweizer's connection to American jazz as clearly as in this concert tape. Just back from her six-month stay in New York, Irène Schweizer played in addition to her own compositions, jazz standards by Thelonious Monk, Ornette Coleman, and Duke Ellington. George Lewis, trombonist and professor at New York's Columbia University, described Irène Schweizer as an "Afrodiasporic musician", and as "post-European." She did not set boundaries between jazz traditions, South-African inspiration, free jazz and European-influenced improvisation. In the physical power of the moment, which no art form achieves like free improvisation, Irène Schweizer gave expression to her lived emotion. This landmark solo recording from 1986, the year Intakt Records was founded, celebrates the Zurich-based label's 40th anniversary.