Tomas Sauter/Daniel Schläppi Indian Summer



«Indian Summer is a wonderful recording. Great compositions, and playing, from two players who create a beautiful sound together. Not only is the playing great, but the recorded sound of the instuments, makes it a pleasure to listen to. I hope to many times.»
John Abercrombie, December 2005


Highly recommended
«The delicate, intimate and compelling Indian Summer, by the guitar/bass duo of Tomas Sauter and Daniel Schlaeppi, is a most welcome release in these closing days of summer. The very sound of the recording is sensuous and surprisingly live, given it’s a studio effort. Special care was taken in every step of the process, starting with the recording by Benoit Piccand in Switzerland and ending with the mixing and mastering Jan Erik Kongshaug at Rainbow Studios (of ECM fame) in Oslo, Norway.
Playing totally acoustic with only a few overdubs, Sauter and Schlaeppi create an atmosphere full of spontaneity, love of life, and the joy of making music. They are playing just for you, and together they play with a single musical mind that truly lightens the heart. As John Abercrombie is quoted in the liner notes as saying, ‹Not only is the playing great, but the recorded sound of the instruments makes it a pleasure to listen to. I hope to many times.›
The compositions, mostly by Sauter, plus one by Rodgers and Hart (‹I Didn’t Know What Time It Was›) and two short freer pieces, have a vaguely American feel. There are intimations of Big Sky, some country and blues licks, but mostly the music manages to convey openness, simplicity and generosity of spirit. There is not one shred of cynicism, pseudo-hipness or fake coolness here, despite the sometimes intricate harmony and melody lines.
Perhaps it is the unamplified acoustic (nylon and steel-string) guitar played with the fingers, and the equally natural bass sound. Perhaps it is the truly amazing total empathy that Sauter and Schlaeppi have, the way they pass the musical baton back and forth, or how they give the music such life. Perhaps it is the combination of the intimacy from just two instruments and the large sound stage that the recording produces. Perhaps it is the mixture of apparent precision with little slides and buzzes left in to be heard.
Whatever it is, this music is beguiling and seducing for every one of its seventy minutes. Highly recommended.»
Budd Kopman, Jazzpublisher, All about Jazz / US, 05.09.2006




«Without sentimentalism
Summer is still remembered, but rising fogs already let you have a presentiment of what is to come: indian summer. The music of Tomas Sauter (g) from Biel and the Bernese Daniel Schläppi (b) just sounds like this. Intimate and contemplative sounds far from any sentimentalism. Music which transfers the warmth of late summer into cold winter evenings. Quiet, yet intensive musical dialogues of two experts: better than sitting by the fireside.»
Beat Blaser, music editor at DRS 2, in Radiomagazin 04/2006


«Distinct sound
‹Indian Summer› speaks for itself and convinces with its quality. [...] The pieces on ‹Indian Summer› make it evident why Abercrombie was very pleased with it. The ‹contemporary chamber music› of Sauter and Schläppi sparkles with delight of playing, knows to please with its lyrical basic mood and unveils a deep musical understanding between the guitarist and the bassist. Indeed, with Sauter and Schläppi two people have found each other in the truest sense of the phrase. [...] The sound of the recording is warm, very distinct and extremely voluminous - it lets one forget the ‹frugality› of a duo instrumentation. The credit for this goes to Jan Erik Konshaug, the sound engineer of Oslo's Rainbow Studio. He is a internationally renowned authority. Thus, the ECM label has its recordings mixed there, for instance.»
Bieler Tagblatt, 01.29.2006


«Seventy minutes of acoustic mood music, which is too well played te be just muzak. These compositions could be more than just one lesson in guitarartistry, and theory course for tuning.
Absolute favorite of mine ‹4000 Miles› (composed by Sauter) just popped out among compositions. A fine theme, in solo there is combined melody, dissonance, blues an bright sounds in upper register. Also cool bendings in ¼ time! Also involved is ‹rough› guitar plucking. At times a repeated section, where a guitar arpeggio an disorderly guitar sound is followed by contrabass player’s glissandos; this all tie the different parts of the composition together.
Another favorit solo of mine is in the composition ‹Flytoget› (composed by Sauter). Excellent guitar runnings over the top of simple tone shaking. In addition to that a melodic bass solo.» (translation by Timo Manelius, Kerava)
Jussi Huolman, Jazzrytmit/Finland, 18.05.2006


«Not jazz for a change, but chamber music
Bass player Daniel Schläppi is best known as an excellent jazz musician. Next sunday, though, he will play at the "Praxiskeller Rothrist" at a morning performance with guitarist Tomas Sauter in a program of chamber music. This might well turn out to be a special treat for all music lovers.
Daniel Schläppi from Bern on bass and Tomas Sauter from Biel on guitar present ‹short stories in contemporary chamber music›. Both artists have had their artistic training in jazz and can easily be counted among the best musicians in Switzerland on their respective instruments.
At the moment theiy are recording a CD for Radio DRS in Zurich and have booked a short tour in Switzerland with this material. On Sunday, February 13, at 11 AM at the Praxiskeller on Bernstrasse 81 in Rothrist there will be a morning performance with a program of contemporary chamber music.
At home in Europe's jazz clubs
Daniel Schläppi (born in 1968) can count about 270 concerts in Europe's most renowned jazz clubs. There are four CDs under his name as well as live concert recordings at the Radio-Studio in Zurich. He had had several concerts at the international "Leverkusener Jazztage" and the ‹Street-Live›-Festival Leverkusen, at the "Jazzfestspiele Bayreuth" as well as the jazz festivals of Mannheim and Cully. He also participated in the project ‹Suisse Diagonale› (an exchange with musicians from the french speaking part of Switzerland). Schläppi also was member of different groups and displays a great activity in playing concerts. Apart from this he stands out as a musician and composer.
In 1996 the "Zofinger Tagblatt" wrote about him: ‹The "kleine bühne zofingen" was turned into an intimate ‹Elite-Jazzclub› for a couple of hours on Saturday. The trio once more proved that it is among the best in Swiss jazz...›.»
Aargauer Zeitung, 11.02.2005


«Mutual understanding in duet
Bass player Daniel Schläppi from Bern and guitar player Tomas Sauter from Biel have their roots in a profound jazz education. They both have several years of performing with different groups at home and abroad to their credit. Recently they have founded a duet to present ‹short stories› in the setting of a ‹contemporary chamber music›. ‹Reduce to the max› is one common slogan in public relations, but it can also be attributed to the concert program of their ongoing tour with a stop at the Praxiskeller Rothrist last Sunday morning.
The duet as the smallest unity of interplay and a concept of chamber music next to jazz standards and originals with plenty of improvisation demands an extreme mutual understanding to optimize a quiet and lyrically soft kind of music, which also demands an intuitive understanding of unfamiliar ground, a long way from mainstream, by the audience. Tomas Sauter conjured up new and unfamiliar worlds of sound with only three different kinds of guitars (steel, nylonstring and a specially constructed baritone-guitar) and only subtle amplification and the double bass of Daniel Schläppi drew the contours of the music in an excellent and complementing way.»
Zofinger Tagblatt, 17.02.2005


«Very concentrated and personal duets.»
Budd Kopman, Jazzpublisher, All about Jazz / US, 06.2006


«The duet as the smallest unity of interplay and a concept of chamber music next to jazz standards and originals with plenty of improvisation demands an extreme mutual understanding to optimize a quiet and lyrically soft kind of music, which also demands an intuitive understanding of unfamiliar ground, a long way from mainstream.»
Preview Program Teatro Dimitri Verscio, 10.2005


«Poetic debut CD»
Guitarist Thomas Sauter and bassist Daniel Schläppi «succeed in producing a very poetic and melodious debut with ‹indian summer› […]. The American guitar player John Abercrombie who answered the reception of a demo CD with a statement in which the adjectives ‹wonderful and beautiful› follow each other shortly, can be agreed with without hesitation.»
Der Bund, 01.19.2006



Tomas Sauter Magic Carpet

The new CD,"Magic Carpet", by Tomas Sauter and his quartet is truly beautiful.
Great compositions, and playing throughout! Contemporary, sensitive, and intense music;
a real group! I hope you enjoy it, as much as i have.
John Abercrombie/New York


This young Swiss guitarist’s quartet creates an ethereal soundscape not dissimilar to the Motian-Lovano-Frisell trio, perhaps a little more rugged, but it all gels very effectively.
Jazzwise / GB, 03.08

 With «Magic Carpet» Tomas Sauter knots a magic carpet of a class by itself – and the group soars from free sound landscapes to groovy atonal buildings to even flying songs. It’s magic!
Swiss Radio DRS2

Guitarist Tomas Sauter, whose last release was the wonderful duo recording Indian Summer (Catwalk, 2006) with bassist Daniel Schlaeppi, now gives us a quite different sound and vision with Magic Carpet. As before, the sound is superb, having been recorded by Daniel Dettwiler and mixed and mastered by Jan Erik Kongshaug (of ECM fame).
For these compositions, Sauter has assembled a quartet consisting of reedman Domenic Landolf, bassist Patrice Moret and drummer Samuel Rohrer. Given the extra supporting resources, Sauter stretches out and plays electric as well as acoustic guitar on compositions that range from contemplative and introverted through sonic sound painting and into driving jamming.
While Indian Summer had a distinct emotional point of view, Magic Carpet varies considerably in the direction from which the intensity comes, as well as the kinds of images and emotions that are created. Given an album title that evokes ideas of mysterious powers, far away places and the exotic, tunes such as “Shift,” “Aladdin's Wonderlamp,” “Sinbad Sets Sail” and “Fragment,” as well as the title tune, fit right into the vibe.
Each tune creates distinct imagery and takes its time in setting up the sonic stage. “Shift,” which is played without a strong pulse and with shimmering harmony underneath Landolf's dry saxophone sound, has the feeling of being entirely an introduction, despite the thematic recapitulation. The exploration of this sound-space is continued with “Magic Carpet.” The thematic materials sound distantly related to the former tune, but with a bit of the sinister, or at least the unknown added in.
”Sinbad Sets Sail,” with its bass introduction that sets up the tune's feel, also has mystery and danger as its central emotion, while “Fragment,” on which Landolf uses the bass clarinet and is joined by Moret in unison, floats in dark empty space, with flashes of light injected by Sauter's acoustic finger-picking.
Interspersed between these tunes are “Yawney's Lines,” which evokes nothing but John Abercrombie in its twisted bebop-ish lines and the wicked groove that follows, and “Out Of Town,” that pits the different meters of its bass vamp and line against each other, after which Landolf really takes off.
The tenderness and sensitivity that marked Indian Summer has not been forgotten by Sauter. The last three tracks of the album, as well as “First Day In Spring,” bring to mind images that are more pastel and warmer. “117” feels like a bridge between the large, dark distances from before and the closer intimacy that follows.
The melody of “With Love In Veins” sounds related to “Shift” and “Magic Carpet,” but with a center and more flowing structure, while the title of “You Still Fascinate Me” might be referring to the reworked but familiar motive of the three previous tunes that appears once again.
Sauter is a very fine composer who has a lot to say with an ever growing musical and emotional palette.
All About Jazz/ US, 19.08.07

 A young formation which places interaction into the center of their captivating activities and celebrates the common group sound in a masterly way.
Bird’s Eye Jazz Club

Guitarists often are narcissists; the more nimble their fingers are, the bigger, they believe, the attention payed them. The Bernese Tomas Sauter is not of this kind. His most striking quality lies in consistent omission of popular phrases.
Der Bund

The prominent feature of the quartet is its really impressive playing together which allows it a rich as well as a very intensive interplay between the diverse instruments. (...) Technically detached and completelyimmersed in his music, Sauter usually indicated the thematical lead.
Bieler Tagblatt


Sauter belongs to a young generation of well trained Swiss jazz musicians who search for their own style and eventually also find it.
Neue Mittellandzeitung

Tomas Sauter Tranceactivity

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