Canaille by IRÈNE SCHWEIZER, JOËLLE LÉANDRE, MAGGIE NICOLS, LINDSAY COOPER, MARILYN MAZUR, and more

Intakt CD 002

In its article on the two-day Women’s Music Festival Canaille, which took place on October 17 and 18, 1986, at the „Rote Fabrik“ (a cultural center located in an old red-brick factory), Zurich’s largest daily newsaper called it „one of the most exciting jazz events to happen in Zurich“. During the two evenings 13 female musicians from the current European improvised music scene could be heard in different group formations. Invited were some of the central figures and founders of women’s jazz in Europe.

The recording of the Canaille Festival in Zurich in 1986 is intended to give the broad public a survey of the musical diversity of the current women’s improvising scene in Europe. At the same time we wanted to give not only an impression of he musical breadth of these musicians and a taste of the what was at times almost euphoric, certainly exciting and varied performances, but also to represent all 13 musicians. This record has an important documentary value. Especially because I suspect that the emergence of a broad scene of free improvising women musicians is the most exeptional and innovative moment of the 80s as regards the history of free improvisation. However, this recent history of free improvisers can only be found on a small number of records. There are no recordings of the „Feminist Improvising Group“ (FIG) or the „European Women Improvising Group“ (EWIG) available to the public.

The pianist Irène Schweizer, born in 1941, is a figurehead of Swiss jazz and is one of the founders of European free jazz.

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