Luzia von Wyl Ensemble - Throwing Coins

The Guardian 80

Hat Hut

When classically trained composers try their hand at “jazz”, the results can often recall plain-clothes members of the drugs squad trying to pass themselves off among the crowds at a music festival. Their attempts at improvisation invariably sound tame, soulless and desperately unfunky, lacking any sonic element of danger.

Fortunately, the Swiss pianist and composer Luzia von Wyl avoids such cliches by keeping the jazz elements tangential to her compositions. Her nine-piece band (featuring kit drums, marimba, double bass and a mix of woodwind and strings) explore some of the textures of “third-stream” jazz, while her compositions – tricksy, episodic works, filled with multiple rhythms and audacious chord changes – sometimes share some of the tropes of contemporary jazz songwriting. But her mischievous arrangements transcend such binary distinctions, and display a sonically satirical bent that recalls Frank Zappa.