Urs Leimgruber
Swiss-born saxophonist (he plays virtually all of them) Urs Leimgruber has long been a fixture on the European new music, jazz, and free improvisation scenes. Leimgruber has formal training in both classical music and jazz, and began his tenure as a member of the electric, free improv jazz group Om in the 1970s with drummer Fredy Studer, Christy Doran, and Bobby Burri; he later moved to New York with Burri to form and record with their Refelexionen Quartet which, ironically enough, recorded their finest moments at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1987. Leimgruber careens through the free jazz and new music and improv boroughs with startling ease; his long association with drummer and percussionist Fritz Hauser has run the gamut from improvised duets to performing with pianist Irène Schweizer and Steve Lacy. The most satisfying and even revelatory groups that he and Hauser have been involved in, however, are two trios with bassist extraordinaire Joëlle Léandre and another with pianist Marilyn Crispell. In addition to these groups, Leimgruber has also been a featured guest on recordings by Louis Sclavis, Hans Koch, Pauline Oliveros, Tim Berne, Joe McPhee, and Trilok Gurtu, just to name a few. Leimgruber has issued a number of solo saxophone recordings as well, which are, in the same way Anthony Braxton's were in the late '60s and early '70s, groundbreaking, emotionally expressive, and critically brilliant. Since 1988, Leimgruber has lived in Paris, a place he uses as a pivot point for his many endeavors. In the '90s and 2000s, he has fronted the LSM Trio with François Moutin and Patrick Scheyder, and appeared in performances of the works of composers Maria De Alvear, Mani Planzer, and Edu Haubensak. His touring throughout Western Europe, the United States, South America, and Canada is near constant; somehow he finds the time to teach theory courses and run improvisation workshops at a number of universities around the world.
© Thom Jurek /TiVo
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Discography
21 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller
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Last Concert in Europe at the Space Lucerne (Live, Lucerne, 2021)
Urs Leimgruber, Barre Phillips, Jacques Demierre
Jazz - Released by Jazzwerkstatt on Sep 30, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
No Try No Fail
Urs Leimgruber, Joëlle Léandre, Fritz Hauser
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by hatOLOGY on Jan 1, 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lines
Urs Leimgruber, Adelhard Roidinger, Fritz Hauser
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by hat ART CD on Jan 1, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Quartet Noir
Urs Leimgruber, Marilyn Crispell, Joëlle Léandre, Fritz Hauser
Classical - Released by Les Disques VICTO on Jan 1, 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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L'énigmatique
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by hat ART CD on Jan 25, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Montreuil
Urs Leimgruber, Barre Phillips, Jacques Demierre
Jazz - Released by Jazzwerkstatt on Oct 1, 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Aurona Arona
Alexander Schubert, Oliver Schwerdt, Christian Lillinger, Urs Leimgruber
Jazz - Released by Ahornfelder on Apr 15, 2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wing Vane
Urs Leimgruber, Jacques Demierre, Barre Phillips
Classical - Released by Les Disques VICTO on Jan 1, 2001
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Polyphyllum
Urs Leimgruber, John Wolf Brennan
Jazz - Released by L+R Records on Jul 19, 1989
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
1|→3|=2:↔1
Urs Leimgruber, Barre Phillips, Jacques Demierre
Contemporary Jazz - Released by Jazzwerkstatt on Apr 28, 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Altbüron
Urs Leimgruber, Omri Ziegele, Christian Weber, Alex Huber, The Workers
Pop/Rock - Released by Wide Ear Records on Dec 14, 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Lugano
Urs Leimgruber, Marilyn Crispell, Joëlle Léandre, Fritz Hauser
Classical - Released by Les Disques VICTO on Jan 1, 2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ungleich
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by hat ART CD on Apr 11, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Reflexionen
Urs Leimgruber, Don Friedman, Bobby Burri
Jazz - Released by Timeless Records on Dec 22, 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Willisau (Live at the Jazz Festival Willisau, Switzerland, 2017)
Jazz - Released by Jazzwerkstatt on Apr 19, 2019
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Statement of an Antirider
Free Jazz & Avant-Garde - Released by hat ART CD on Apr 11, 1994
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
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The Pancake Tour
Alternative & Indie - Released by Relative Pitch Records on Oct 25, 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
13 Pieces for Saxophone
Jazz - Released by LEO RECORDS on Sep 1, 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -