Nik Bärtsch’s RONIN

‘SPIN’ is the 9th release of the working band RONIN since its foundation in 2001 and the first with the new bass player Jeremias Keller, who joined the band in 2020. The band still consists of the founding members Nik Bärtsch and drummer Kaspar Rast and reeds player SHA who has been part of the group since 2004.

ECM recording artist Nik Bärtsch’s RONIN incorporates elements of disparate musical worlds, be they funk, new classical music or sounds from Japanese ritual music with Swiss precision. In addition to its tours and performances, RONIN held a concert every Monday evening at EXIL, its own club in Zurich. This is where the magic about this band comes from.

Since their last release AWASE (ECM 2018), the band has continuously developed the repertoire further in their weekly concerts on Monday – even during the Corona time. In January 2024 they played MONTAGS concert number 1000 and celebrated 20 years of Monday concerts in November. The new album therefore shows not only the newest developments like Modul 63 and Modul 66 but also a combination of new and old material in Modul 70_51 (51 recorded on the ECM album Llyría, 2010) and the two classics Modul 14 and Modul 23 in completely new arrangements and interpretations.

SPIN shows the phase in which the band is now: looking back and forward at the same time. The RONIN rhythm culture based on pattern, cycle and groove developments with refined beats is still present, combined with playfulness and the consciousness for freedom within the clear structures. The band members’ ear for chamber music-like details, blending, ghost notes and micro phrasings refreshes the music live, and on the record, as always.

This event will last approximately 2 hours, including an interval.

Reviews

‘My favorite set from the entire four-day event (Big Ears Festival 2024)—and probably one of my top shows ever—came Thursday evening with Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin.’ Ryan Reed, Spin Magazine

‘One of the most uplifting concerts of the (2024 Big Ear) festival was Nik Bärtsch’s Ronin. Bathed in stage smoke, Ronin seemed like high priests of minimalism and the mystic.’ Jeff Towne, echoes.org

‘On paper, Ronin is a standard quartet of reeds, keyboards, bass, and drums. What they play though is both unique and universal….what you hear is astonishingly funky and hip.’ George Grella, star-revue.com

Nik Bärtsch

Born in Zurich in 1971, is an internationally renowned Pianist, composer, producer and founder of the label Ronin Rhythm Records, the Zurich music club EXIL and the indie classical festival Currents Zurich. He records exclusively for ECM records, the internationally renowned German jazz and classical label and his own label and has perform