Solo Willisau

Anthony Braxton’s musical cosmos has no limits, is colorful and moves tumultuously. In the world of jazz, he made his debut with the solo double-LP, For Alto. The first unaccompanied saxophone solo jazz record was a provocation. Anthony Braxton has not stopped breaking through the conventions of jazz and placing his own, original alternatives up again it. Now, after forty years, the master takes stock of his work with his new recording, Solo Willisau (Intakt CD 126). In the large hall, alone on the stage, he enthralled more than 1,500 listeners. “An unheard-of variety of sound,” wrote Rainer Kobbe in the German Jazzzeitung. “His solo on the alto sax was concentrated and never lost itself in quotations. During an intoned march, a looseness briefly swept up that quickly lost itself in a fantastic improvisation on ‘All the Things You Are’.”

Anthony Braxton Alto Saxophone

All compositions by Anthony Braxton
except «All the Things You Are» by Jerome Kern.
Recorded live at Jazzfestival Willisau, September 1, 2003
by Martin Pearson for Radio DRS 2.
Cover art: Niklaus Troxler. Graphic design: Jonas Schoder

Intakt CD 12

2003 INTAKT