For over 25 years, Swiss saxophonist Christoph Gallio has led Day & Taxi, with musicians Silvan Jeger on double bass and David Meier on drums. The current line is unchanged since 2013. The band has released eight recordings and have toured in Canada, USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, China and Europe as well as playing international jazz festivals in Vancouver, Toronto, Edmonton, Saskatoon, Quebec City, Arkhangelsk, Moscow, New York among others.
Christoph Gallio lives and works in Baden, Switzerland. He works largely with free improvisation but also in other disciplines including dance, visual arts and poetry. He leads another band called Road Works and in 1986 established the Percaso label. He has toured extensively in Canada, the USA, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan and China. He was a founder of the Workshop for Improvised Music (WIM) in Zurich and is a member of the Swiss Music Syndicate (SMS) and the Swiss Association of Musicians (STV).
Way, the new CD by Day & Taxi on Percaso Records is eclectic and wonderful. Icy opens and is a short clockwork-sounding piece with a very short sax solo at the end - it lasts for just about 30 seconds. it is followed by Anna Im Winter, a sax-led number with solo sax to begin, followed by percussive support over which the sax takes a number of short journeys into different time-scapes and feels. It includes a lovely bass solo around the two minute mark before the sax rolls in again, imposing a bop feel to the number. There is some gorgeous interpretation by the sax and Gallio has a lovely, loose-reed style which suits the rises and falls with which this piece is filled to the brim. MM is very different and sets a quirky, ticky-tocky rhythm, cheeky, rapacious and light before it slows to almost a stop with single sax notes under which the percussion whispers before the rhythm is taken again but changed and altered with some creatively interspersed stut notes which add another sound dimension. A simple track is made interesting and intriguing by the use of very different time signatures and riffs. Great use is made of the counter rhythm patterns of single note sax over complex percussive rhythms. Ear food.
Tannenblau lasts just 49 seconds and begins with quiet bass, sax and then a voice over soprano sax. This is followed by I-reen which is completely different but only 43 seconds long. The sax takes a couple of trips up and down the scale and then it ends. Veit/Fight is an interesting number with a gentle introduction laying down a theme which is folksy and tuneful before leading the group into a swing section and a slow, bluesey beat which follows. Then it goes a little esoteric with percussive tones and short silences before the sax, bass and drums gradually and slowly pick up the tune again and play with it. Felix Der Bienenkorb is short, sweet and simple and followed by Kopfnuss which is just over two minutes long and, like all good tracks, far too short. Quick sax work which jumps the registers over tight, sharp percussion, there is nothing more to say really except it is a short, delicious taste of delight.
Achtel is opened with repeated riffs in different registers and keys from the sax and what follows is a devilish playing with the rhythms, sometimes coming in on the beat, sometimes just missing it. The free form brain will love this, especially when it tunes into the steady, walking bass line flowing underneath. At times the sax sets itself in a swingy, tuneful motion, at others it follows its own devilment. There is an impressive drums solo too. Over five minutes of loveliness. Hitskopf takes the theme set by the sax and develops it is many ways, lots of counter rhythms with a clockwork feel to the piece and a few 'boings' from the percussion and some short silences interspersed add to the rhythmic variety. S is announced by the bass with sonorous notes which slowly but surely form into a theme which is then developed by the sax and percussion. A far emptier landscape is drawn by the music than in previous tracks and there is a darker sense of mood. Some delicate interaction between the sax and bass make for an emotive listen whilst the percussion adds its own slightly esoteric at times interjections.
Klumpen is boppy and sax led with hard, heavy notes blown over the percussion, leading into staccato riffs into which the percussion inserts itself , before a lovely section when the sax takes a journey into the middle registers, with over blown notes, harsh sounds and rapid- fire scale progressions , which make for sheer enjoyment. This is a highlight track of the album and the ending is bloody marvellous. Snow White Black Magic is totally different with themes running through, a few musical distractions from percussion and bass, including a bass-led section over delicate percussion and then the sax develops the music into what could be at times an improv version of Summertime, a la Ayler yet it is not, definitely not. Or is it? A Chinoiserie For Annie is choppy, staccato and quirky with some great time plays and impressive sax, interspersed with spaces which do nothing but add to the rhythms. IM is 40 seconds long and a percussive delight. Short Moment is well, short but the breathy, no holds barred sax creates a different atmosphere again.
A River for Sylvia is made by the bass work which underpins this track. Deep, steady and creative, the bass lays the foundations over which the sax and percussion play. Lots of free blowing, quonky little sounds emerge from the sax of Gallio and the percussion adds its own strange and ethereal sounds but it is the bass which holds this together and draws everything back into line again and again. Ude Edu? is short, sharp and deliciously light, each instrument making their own beat, led by the sax but making gorgeous whole. Ich War Da sets off at some speed with jumpy sax over the percussion before the bass sets another rhythm and the percussion follows before the sax again enters, jumping about, driving the atmosphere here. This track has a little bit of everyone and everything from sharp, short rhythmic patterns set by percussion and sax to deep bass notes driving underneath. The sax solo middle section is interesting and intense and leads into a bass solo into which the sax inserts again before the trio close the piece out with a positively tuneful bouncy walking gait. 'Wiwimatic' is another short interlude in which sax, percussion and bass swap rhythmic riffs and this is followed by Fundfundzwanzig Glastranen which is 37 seconds of voice over the instruments.
The final track is Marina and the Lucky Pop Song Transformation and sets off with a driving swingy feel but develops into a number of different things - those choices again. There is some beautiful playing from all members here , with exceptional extensions from the sax, supporting percussion and constant bass underpinning it all. It is swingy in parts, quirky in parts but so, so beautiful as a whole. I found myself wishing all the tracks were as long as this (just over eight minutes).
This album is one of differences, of choices and there are short tracks - some lasting less than a minute and there are long tracks and some in between but the album is about choices. In the sleeve notes, the narrative tells of a labyrinth with possibilities and choices and this is what the music gives the listener. It is various interpretations of how musicians make those choices. There is improvisation, some pretty cool thematic approaches and overall an eclectic mix of styles, rhythm and themes. Personally I could do without the short numbers of voice over the trio but maybe that is just me. Overall this CD is immensely listenable and tailored to suit the taste of listeners seeking differences. What strikes the listener is the equality and generosity. Every player gets a time in the driving seat, each gets to follow too and that can only come really when musicians interpret each others' playing to the extent it needs no instruction and you can feel and hear this in the music here. One question I have after hearing this trio for the first time is how come they have been around for a quarter of a century and we don't hear more of them?
Band:
Christophe Gallio: Soprano, alto and melody saxophones
Silvan Jeger: Double bass, voice
David Meier: Drums
