First Choice: Piano Solo KKL Luzern
{{Infobox album
| name = First Choice: Piano Solo KKL Luzern
| type = live
| artist = Irène Schweizer
| cover = Irene_Schweizer_First_Choice.jpg
| alt =
| released = 2006
| recorded = October 8, 2005
| venue = Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern, Lucerne, Switzerland
| studio =
| genre = Free jazz
| length = 55:07
| label = Intakt Records
CD 108
| producer = Intakt Records
| chronology = Irène Schweizer
| prev_title = Where's Africa
| prev_year = 2005
| next_title = Willisau & Taktlos
| next_year = 2007
}}
First Choice: Piano Solo KKL Luzern is a live solo piano album by Irène Schweizer. It was recorded at the Kultur- und Kongresszentrum Luzern in Lucerne, Switzerland on October 8, 2005, and was released in 2006 by Intakt Records.{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/first-choice-mw0001243177 |title=Irène Schweizer: First Choice |website=AllMusic |access-date=October 6, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.jazzmusicarchives.com/album/irene-schweizer/first-choice-piano-solo-kkl-luzern(live) |title=Irène Schweizer - First Choice: Piano Solo KKL Luzern |website=Jazz Music Archives |access-date=October 6, 2022}}{{cite web |url=https://www.intaktrec.ch/108-a.htm |title=Irène Schweizer: First Choice: Piano Solo KKL Luzern |website=Intakt Records |access-date=October 6, 2022}}{{cite web |url=http://www.jazzlists.com/SJ_Irene_Schweizer.htm |title=Irène Schweizer discography |website=JazzLists |access-date=April 5, 2023}}
Reception
{{Album ratings
| rev1 = All About Jazz
| rev2 = The Penguin Guide to Jazz
| rev2Score = {{rating|4|4}}{{cite book |last1=Cook |first1=Richard |last2=Morton |first2=Brian |title=The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings |publisher=Penguin Books |year=2008 |pages=1272 }}
|rev3 = Tom Hull – on the Web
}}
In a review for All About Jazz, Nic Jones wrote: "A real mark of this disc is the degree of difference between the surface of the music and what lies beneath it. With that in mind, it can almost serve as background in the sense of being complementary to some activity other than listening itself—but deeper listening reveals the work of a fierce musical intelligence, however, and is by far the preferable alternative."
The authors of The Penguin Guide to Jazz Recordings awarded the album a full 4 stars, noting that Schweizer's solo recitals have "deepen[ed] in resonance and technical surety." They stated: "Schweizer has learned how to make absence and silence work; they're used sparingly but to tremendous effect... Great sound."
Track listing
All compositions by Irène Schweizer except "Oska T." by Thelonious Monk.
- "First Choice" – 19:18
- "Into the Hall of Fame" – 9:49
- "The Ballad of the Sad Café" – 3:57
- "Scratching at the KKL" – 5:51
- "The Loneliness of the Long Distance Piano Player" – 4:49
- "Oska T." – 3:12
- "Jungle Beats II" – 3:22
Personnel
- Irène Schweizer – piano
References
{{Reflist}}
{{Irène Schweizer}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Irène Schweizer live albums
Category:Live free jazz albums