I’ve been fortunate enough to get to know many excellent drummers through my years of interviews for MODERN DRUMMER and other magazines. Pierre Favre & Fredy Studer are 2 fantastic Swiss drummers that I have immense respect for, they have also become good friends. I was excited when they asked me to write the liner notes for their duo percussion release, CRISSCROSSING (FMR). Here are the liner notes. Please check out the CD if you can, as the music is quite amazing!

Crisscrossing

The Musicians

Swiss drummers Fredy Studer and Pierre Favre share a long history together. In the middle of the 1960s, Pierre started the “Drummers Service” for Paiste, the Swiss cymbal makers. Later, his successor was Fredy Studer who took over until 1978. Since then, both have spent a lot of time working in “Sound Development” at Paiste on various cymbals, gongs, and exotic metal percussion.

They are no strangers to working together. Since 1980, they have been performing as a duo under the name “Drum Orchestra.” They have also played in a Swiss drum quartet, “Four In Time” (with Daniel Humair and Fritz Hauser), a trio lead by percussionist Robyn Schulkowsky, and an 8-piece drum group put together by Pierre called “The Drummers.” But in all these years, they have only recorded together twice, once in 1978 as part of George Gruntz's “Percussion Profiles” project (along with Jack DeJohnette, David Friedman, Dom Um Romao, and Gruntz) on the long gone JAPO label; and in 1984 as part of Pierre's “Singing Drums” project (along with Paul Motian and Nana Vasconselos) for the ECM label.

Why then has it taken so long for them to put out a duo recording? As Fredy explains, “Pierre and I are both involved in a lot of bands and projects. And starting in 1990, we didn't play together for a lot of years.” But in 2000 they found themselves on a short, five date tour of America culminating in a performance at the Percussive Arts Society International Convention (PASIC) in Dallas. They played with a renewed spirit, like they had never been apart. “We have developed together,” Pierre says, “going different ways for years, then coming back together. We've come to a certain maturity, playing what's important.” “We didn't feel like doing just another CD,” states Fredy. “But we now have enough original material and it made sense to record.”

The Music

At nearly fourteen minutes in length, “Boho Dance” is like a musical journey through a percussive landscape. It's written with four bass drums tuned to four different notes, enabling the playing of melodic lines with their feet. The piece opens with a series of chattering snare drum rolls before Fredy settles into a shuffle rhythm on his bass drums and snare drum. Pierre solos on top, playing syncopated rhythms across his drums. The theme then enters keeping the shuffle in the hands, while the feet play “call and response” and unison melodic figures. At times all four bass drums are playing together, giving the music a very solid bottom. “We often play in unison,” explains Pierre, “because it helps the listener to find the line. It also helps us to be freer, as we then feel where to find our own space in a straight tempo.” The interplay between the drummers is phenomenal, sounding like one musician. They then float through a dreamy cymbal sequence that returns to the theme. A second theme emerges, driven by a unison bass drum ostinato with counter rhythms in the hands. Pierre solos first, then Fredy solos while Pierre provides backing with the new theme. More heavy unison bass drums bring things to a dramatic climax.

“Three Little Stories” is just that, a series of musical vignettes. The duo improvised, playing different atmospheres. The first part features ringing metal as it moves slowly, deliberately. The second part enters with brushes on the drums where things becoming busier. The tension increases until they move to sticks and bring the piece to a percussive climax.

“Fredy” opens with a series of rhythmic figures played between the hands and feet. Pierre often uses this motif of “rhythm as melody” in his percussion compositions. Deep bass drums alternate with higher pitched cymbals, wood blocks, African bells, and sticks clicking on drum rims, giving the rhythms a chant like quality. The rhythms then become more complex, shifting tempos as they expand and contract. Interspersed between the composed sections are short improvised solos that help create a sensation of tension and release. “I wrote this piece as a tribute to Fredy.” Pierre says. “It's easy sounding, but not easy to play.”

“A Place Called Nottwil” is their tribute to the late Toomas Paiste, who died in a tragic fall in 2002. Both Pierre and Fredy had worked closely with him over the years at the cymbal factory in Nottwil, Switzerland. “We were thinking of Toomas,” says Fredy. “It's improvised and we wanted to create that specific atmosphere.” Fredy produces a wide array of sounds from a large gong, while Pierre uses a bow and mallets on smaller gongs and small heavy cymbals. It's a fitting tribute played upon the instruments that were the life and work of Toomas Paiste.

“Double Tracking” is another improvisation. “It starts with a dialog between us both,” says Pierre. “Improvising together with Fredy is a very nice and comfortable thing, because he'll let you say what you have to say, saying what he has to say at the same time, but never interrupting you.” The two weave their rhythms around each other, building up the intensity to a furious pace where they trade short solos. A first take, it demonstrates how well they think and move together.

The final track, “Year In, Year Out,” starts as a collage of sounds -- deep drums, sharp wood blocks, short metallic bells -- all swirling and building up to a fast and intricate unison theme. “It's a written solo that we play in unison,” explains Pierre. “The idea was to use just full drums, and beside the Hi-Hats, no cymbals.” The intricacy of their playing is astounding as notes fly by in a flurry of hands and feet. The theme then releases into quiet cymbal rolls, punctuated by wood blocks. This builds slightly, adding more drums, more cymbals, until it not so much as stops, but the sounds seem to evaporate into the air.

“There is a brothership in our playing,” says Pierre, “something that works together. It helps not taking ourselves too seriously and it is better for the music. That feeling of joy in playing together was there in the first years of our collaboration and it Is still there, just as fresh.” On this recording, the duo demonstrates just how close a musical bond they share, creating music that is both intimate and intricate. Fredy and Pierre show us just how much percussion can dance.

- Michael Bettine