Home » Jazz Musicians » Christoph Irniger

Christoph Irniger

Christoph Irniger, born 1979, is a Swiss saxophonist, composer and bandleader. According to the Sunday edition of the Neue Zürcher Zeitung he is “undoubtedly one of the greatest talents of his generation.” In recent years, Irniger has made a name for himself in a range of line-ups, playing jazz, rock and related musical styles. As a musician from a generation which likes to work on multiple projects in eclectic styles, he leads a range of outfits, all distinct and surprising musically. The Swiss magazine Jazz ’N‘ More writes: “He comes up with something new each time by leaving the beaten tracks of sound. He doesn’t just look briefly left and right; he fights his way into the thicket.” An instrumentalist with a firm education, and a composer with an artistic vision, he consistently generates new ideas, realised thanks to a passion for music. German magazine Jazzthetik says: “People who know about jazz will confirm that he is one of the most promising musicians in contemporary Swiss jazz.”

Irniger is leader of the band Pilgrim (with Dave Gisler, Stefan Aeby, Raffaele Bossard and Michael Stulz) and the Christoph Irniger Trio (with Raffaele Bossard and Ziv Ravitz), which between them have released four albums so far: two by the Trio, Gowanus Canal (Intakt Records 2013) and Octopus (Intakt Records, 2015) and two from Pilgrim, Mt. Tongariro (Between The Lines, 2011) and Italian Circus Story (Intakt Records, 2014). The latter featured in three best album lists of 2014, including Cadence Magazine (USA). Jazzwise (UK) described them as “a homegrown rising young sax star’s quintet!“ Irniger’s debut recording Chat Noir was released in 2008 on Brambus Records.

Irniger loves jazz, and his playing is strongly rooted in this tradition, influenced by its various exponents. He does not see jazz as representing a particular sound or content, however, but as a way of making music. He says, “to me jazz is that music which always processes the music of its time. It’s more about how you play than what you play.” He gets ideas from every style of music, and from life itself; in this sense, the main inspirations are his home, Lake Zurich, the mountains, his family, people, travelling (above all New York) and a range of other art-forms. They give him the themes and feed his passion for music, and Irniger places melody above everything else. Even in dense, complex passages, or within free jazz playing, he seeks out the moment, and tries to give the various instruments’ melodic lines equal weight. The journalist Peter Haffner writes of his compositions, “the pieces are tone poems, which show that catchy melodies and complex soundscapes need not be mutually exclusive, in fact they each need the other to come to fruition.”

Christoph Irniger's Open City: Retracing The Tenor's Evolution On Intakt Records

by Friedrich Kunzmann
June 16, 2021

A sound poet of sorts, Swiss tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger has gained quite a reputation for his lyrical tone and creative penmanship, more often than not responsible for the majority of the memorable repertoire he records and performs. The poetic nature of his music is owed not only to the artists that have influenced him over time, but also to the life events that inspire his musical creativity and the things that surround him in everyday life, such as his ...

Radio & Podcasts

Audio Cave Artists

by Maurice Hogue
August 14, 2019

This episode hones in on some of the fine artists recorded by Audio Cave, an independent label based in Krakow, Poland. They've been in operation since 2012, releasing a mix of genres. Much attention is paid to the finished products' sound, as you'll hear in the music from the likes of the Oles Brothers, Mark Alban Lotz, the Silberman Quartet, synth guru Tadeusz Sudnik, and the very impressive new saxophone voice of Wojciech Lichtański. New recordings this episode ...

Take Five With...

Take Five with Christoph Irniger

by Christoph Irniger
February 5, 2019

About Christoph Irniger: Christoph Irniger, born 1979, is a Swiss saxophonist, composer and bandleader. According to the Sunday edition of the Neue Zuercher Zeitung he is “undoubtedly one of the greatest talents of his generation." In recent years, Irniger has made a name for himself in a range of line-ups, playing jazz, rock and related musical styles. Irniger is leader of the band Pilgrim and the Christoph Irniger Trio which between them have released several albums, mostly on Intakt Records. ...

Album Review

Christoph Irniger Pilgrim: Big Wheel Live

Read "Big Wheel Live" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
October 17, 2016

Here's a young European jazz outfit that has a distinct personality. Led by Swiss tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger, the quintet's upfront deportment is consummated by interweaving progressions and climactic pieces riding above variable currents. One of many outwardly enticing attributes is how sublime choruses often feel like they are on the verge of exploding into impacting sojourns, even when they don't. Irniger and top-flight guitarist Dave Gisler are strong foils and are undoubtedly a near-flawless match, here, on the quintet's ...

Take Five With...

Christoph Irniger e il Questionario di Proust

by Paolo Peviani
March 4, 2015

All About Jazz: Il tratto principale della mia musica. Christoph Irniger: Cerco sempre di suonare un brano e di rimanerci legato. Anche quando diventa molto complesso, o quando suono free. AAJ: La qualità che desidero nei musicisti che suonano con me. C.I.: Mi piacciono quei musicisti che sono anche dei veri amici. Questo è molto importante. Mi piacciono quei musicisti che sanno tuffarsi nella musica ed impegnarsi con ogni parte del corpo e ...

Album Review

Christoph Irniger - Pilgrim: Italian Circus Story

Read "Italian Circus Story" reviewed by Glenn Astarita

by Glenn Astarita
December 24, 2014

Young Swiss saxophonist, composer Christoph Irniger is one to watch. His blossoming stature on the European jazz scene is partly due to his invigorating and meticulous compositional approach. With this second incarnation of the Pilgrim band, he continues his methodical and climactic buildups; chock full of emotive sentiment, often formulating an incandescent standpoint, toggling between and peaceful and harrowing textures. Here, guitarist Dave Gisler generates some high heat while adding a jazz fusion dimension to these works that also skirt ...

Album Review

Christof Irniger: Gowanus Canal

Read "Gowanus Canal" reviewed by Luca Casarotti

by Luca Casarotti
March 18, 2014

Per essere una formazione senza strumenti armonici, il trio del sassofonista svizzero Christoph Irniger sembra dare un'importanza capitale all'armonia nella sua accezione più stretta, tonale. Questo non significa che il gruppo pensi, componga e suoni in modo troppo tradizionale. A fugare il sospetto bastano i primi secondi della prima traccia, che dà il titolo a questo Gowanus Canal, terzo disco ad uscire a nome di Irniger. Quello che ha tutti i crismi di uno slow blues (lancio di batteria compreso) ...

Website

All About Jazz Top 10 Songs: January 2023

Source: All About Jazz
February 1, 2023

All About Jazz features a free song every day spanning all genres of jazz, and of the songs featured in January, these ten represent our reader's favorites as indicated by total listens. Musicians and record labels can submit full length MP3s for consideration here. Enjoy! Top Songs Big Daddy Randolph Noel From: Elements And Orbits 05:53 Frankenfanny Tobin Mueller From: Best of Tobin Mueller, Volume 1: JAZZ Originals (remastered)
read more

103

Recording

Free MP3 Download: Christoph Irniger's "Mania" from Chat Noir

Source: All About Jazz
May 13, 2008

Download “Mania," a free MP3 from Christoph Irniger's latest release Chat Noir.

Download: Mania Christoph Irniger Quartet 5:43 From: Chat Noir

About Christoph Irniger Christoph Irniger, born in 1979, began his musical career with the age of 11. From 2000 till 2004 he studied at the Jazzschool of Zurich with Christoph Grab, Thomas Grnewald and Rtus Flisch, as if from 2004 till 2006 at the Jazzschool of Lucerne with Nat Su, John ...
read more

"Young Swiss saxophonist, composer Christoph Irniger is one to watch. His blossoming stature on the European jazz scene is partly due to his invigorating and meticulous compositional approach. Pilgrim is a high-achieving unit, as the end results prove to be immensely satisfying." All About Jazz

“People who know about jazz will confirm that he is one of the most promising musicians in contemporary Swiss jazz.” Jazzthetik (DE)

"A homegrown rising young sax star’s quintet!“ Jazzwise (UK) on Pilgrim

"This music was recorded in the winter of last year and has something of a lacerating quality of a masterpiece. (...) a delightful ensemble sound that is full of energetic excitement, brilliance and the genuine avant-garde spirit." JazzDaGama (CA) on the trio