Piano-Drums Duos are the preferred playing arrangement of pianist Irene Schweizer. Her mastery of duets with important drummers of contemporary jazz are documented on numerous Intakt CDs. Han Bennink, Pierre Favre, Louis Moholo, Gu¨nter Baby Sommer, Andrew Cyrille and Joey Baron among them. The Chicago drummer Hamid Drake, born in 1955, and Irene Schweizer, born in 1941, have performed together on numerous occasions both in Europe and Chicago. Together they have appeared on the Intakt CD "Irene Schweizer-Fred Anderson-Hamid Drake". At the 40th anniversary festival "Kontrontationen in Nickelsdorf" (Austria), Schweizer and Drake were the highlight of the event. A celebration of the moment and a declaration of love to South African songs along with their thrilling energy and rhythmic lightness produced a firework of improvisation. A parade of successful interplay. The CD Celebration is released on the occasion of Irene Schweizer's 80th birthday (2. Juni), accompanied by a catalogue of the pianist's works on Intakt Records.

Irene Schweizer and Han Bennink like to play together - you can hear it in every note. After a tour of Switzerland, the two went straight in the recording studio. The result is a stunning second album: "Welcome Back". The music moves between freely improvised pieces, beautiful jazz standards, and songs influenced by South-African melodies which are a trademark of Irene Schweizer (such as her classics 'Rag" and 'Bleu Fonce"). Schweizer says: "Han and I are soul-brother and soul-sister. We have the same taste and rhythmical feelings in jazz music." As Kevin Whitehead points out in the liner notes: "Hard to believe this is only the second Irene Schweizer-Han Bennink duo album, given how much they share, how far back they go, and how obviously they love playing together. But then, top improvisers have hectic schedules. Folks talk about how loud Han can be, how ruthless with duo partners, but this music confirms his sensitivity to dynamics in conversational playing, his generosity in support, his eagerness to hear his partner's views." The two share the same sense of play, lyricism, swing feeling, percussive clarity and historical grounding. A masterpiece!