The liner notes of the 1995 album Butch Morris Conducts Berlin Skyscraper incorrectly stated that I had played with Irène Schweizer. 

This was because the author had confused her in my then short biography with the underrated but less well-known saxophonist Thomas Schweizer. I was a bit embarrassed at the time and realized that I’d have to play with Irene at some point to set the record straight. 

Fortunately, a few years later I had the chance to finally meet and play with her in Jürg Wickihalder’s quartet. We toured with this quartet quite a bit over the next few years, including at The Stone in 2012, when Intakt Records presented their bands there, and at the A L’ARME Festival in Berlin in 2015. 

It was always a special treat for me to play with her because she was not only a pianist but also a drummer, which you could probably tell from her piano playing. She also gave me permission to always use her own set of Camco drums, which she kept in storage at the WIM in Zurich, because she knew I took good care of them. 

She wasn’t always the easiest person to work with and had strong opinions about how she wanted to be treated, but we always got along well. So I was all the more delighted when she called me out of the blue and asked if I wanted to play a duo concert with her in Biel. 

Given her history of duos with many legendary drummers, especially Pierre Favre, who employed her as his secretary during his time at Paiste (although she couldn’t even type, she told me) so that they could practice as a duo during working hours, Andrew Cyrille, Han Bennink, and many others, I felt very honored, but also a little intimidated. She was really nice to me, and we played a great concert. She also made sure we were both paid well (and equally). We talked about how we both really should play again, but then the pandemic happened and we didn’t get another chance. 

I had heard about her health problems in recent years and assumed we would never play together again. However, I will still miss hearing her piano from behind my drums. 

Farewell, dear Irène!