Peter Schärli Trio featuring Ithamara Koorax

When the Swiss trumpeter plays joins the Brazilian singer the extremes are by no means insurmountable. An exquisitely inspired, sensual album full of charm and swinging grace is the result. Peter Schärli and the singer Koorax create flowing "Brazilian Jazz" in-between melancholic coolness and intoxicating delight on an exquisite level. The two complement each other perfectly. Schärli allures Koorax who then lifts off to the flight with the poet on the trumpet. Their voices entwine around each other, full of poetry, sophistication, delicate melancholy, the very typical feeling of the saudade. Brilliant.
Michael Scheiner - July/August/September 2009 - Jazzzeitung Deutschland, D

A great singer whose musical conversation with the not less amazing band became more and more intensive during the concert. It is a feast for the ears again and again, how Peter Schärli's innovative and intensive trumpet play seamlessly blends into the voice of Ithamara Koorax.
Gino Ferlin - May/June 2009 - JAZZ 'N' MORE, CH

The Beauty and the Trumpeter
On the one hand is the "nominal star", the guest Ithamara Koorax from Rio de Janeiro, a singer who cultivates both, the traditional singing of her country and the jazz. As measured by her popularity she plays in a league that others are dreaming of. Singing the Bossa Nova it seems as if she literally caresses the words with her sensible voice before she sets them free. Star number two is the leader Peter Schärli, who as an innovative traditionalist (or as an innovator who is aware of tradition) is a long established big shot of the Swiss or even European scene and who, so we hear, in Brazil too has his firm following. On his new album he is particularly convincing as a "second voice" with an assured sense of taste and an outstanding flair for the art of accompanying.
Georg Modestin - March 26, 2009 - Der Bund, CH

On April 25, 2008 his new CD was launched in Aarau, the Swiss town where he now lives. All expectations were exceeded. The room was filled to bursting - exactly as it should be when an artist of his caliber plays on his home turf. The concert was superb.
Peewee Windmüller - May/June 2008 - JAZZ 'N' MORE, CH

The trumpeter Peter Schärli and his trio (together with their guest artist Ithamara Koorax, a charismatic singer from Brazil), gave a brilliant performance in the sold out Kreuzsaal in Solothurn. The audience was captivated by the sensuality of this deeply moving concert.
Jörg Kübli - April 21, 2008 - Mittelland Zeitung, CH

Schärli is a great trumpet player, willful, unmistakable and occasionally somewhat eccentric; a voice of great power, whose international reputation is well deserved. This down-to-earth spinner of haunting melodies has done an admirable job of finding the common ground between his music and that of Brazil in his breathtaking rendition of "Obrigado Dom Um Romão". Ithamara Koorax from Rio de Janeiro is a perfect musical partner for Schärli - they both make refined and subtle music with bold directness. Her singing is filled with saudade - magical, poetic, never sentimental, never cloying.
Peter Rüedi - December 6, 2007 - Die Weltwoche, CH

The music breathes, the space is palpable. Contradictions abound - melancholy and cheerfulness, serenity and passion. Schärli places minimalist accents in his melodic lines. He woos, consoles, caresses, then coaxes with increasing urgency - when the time is ripe, he takes off and flies. His expressive solos are masterpieces of emotional jazz.
Pirmin Bossart - September/October, 2007 - JAZZ 'N' MORE, CH 

After singing only a few measures, Ithamara Koorax held the audience spellbound. Her extraordinarily malleable voice flowed seamlessly from a low, dark timbre to the top of her register. The emotional impact was immediate. The dramatic crescendo of "Manha de Carneval" by Luis Bonfá could be considered a sort of tropical requiem. Peter Schärli was at the top of his game. With a masterful sense of style, he reinvents himself, reaching new musical summits. His ballad playing is unmatched by any other player in the Swiss jazz scene. When he pours fire into his phrases, the walls of Jericho shake. The mood was magical, the playing inspired.
Pirmin Bossart - December 1, 2006 - Willisauer Bote, CH

That trio format usually inspires lyrical flights, but trumpeter Peter Schärli will not be so constrained. He's not afraid to turn on the brass as witnessed by his blistering conclusion to "Manhã De Carnaval". Thanks to an old recording Romão gave Schärli, the honoree does appear here, playing lively berimbao over which the trumpeter blows a lusty version of the Bonfa standard. He lets loose as well in the band's cover of "Love for Sale". The A section of the Cole Porter classic is delivered by Koorax over a vamp with the bridge bursting forward in Swing time. Schärli's solo, though, boils over the vamp as he builds the tension pushing the harmonic limits more and more until Koorax reenters on the bridge, again with Swing. "Love for Sale" is a sensual tour de force for Koorax, showing the kaleidoscope of colors she can elicit from her voice. At one point she builds to an upper register wail, only to drop two octaves to complete the phrase. The format lets the clarity and color of her voice shine through with little distraction.
David Dupont - April/May/June 2009 - Cadence Magazine, USA

Percussion master Dom Um Romão was friends and played extensively with both Peter Schärli, one of Europe's most inventive composers and trumpeters, and Brazilian vocal powerhouse Ithamara Koorax. Koorax shades her vocal in both tunes with brassy overtones that track so closely with Schärli's trumpet that it's extraordinarily difficult to distinguish between their two instruments. Koorax treasures each word as if it clutches her faith in romance, while Schärli's trumpet gracefully dances within the rhythms of guitarist Markus Stadler and double-bassist Thomas Dürst. Koorax closes with a higher-than-high note that no words, no matter how well-written, could make you believe. Listen, and trust your own ears instead.
Chris M. Slawecki - March 12th, 2009 - allaboutjazz.com, USA
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The repertoire here, on most of which Koorax sings, blends jazz and Latin music with seemingly effortless ease. Schärli is a very good trumpet player, already well known in Europe and Brazil and clearly deserving of wide approval elsewhere. His solos are melodic and where appropriate they crackle witz boppish fervour. Guitarist and bass player offer excellent support and also have skilfully taken solo moments. Koorax is a very good singer, more Latin than jazz, but as her last records have shown she is comfortably at home in a jazz setting. The track "Manhã De Carnaval" comes from a berimbao solo line recorded by Romão about ten years ago over which Schärli here improvises a soulful trumpet solo, and very good it is too. Altogether this is avery good set and you should look out for repeat appearances in Europe in 2008 by this singer and trumpeter. Excellent sound.
Bruce Crowther - November 2008 - Jazz Journal, UK

Ithamara Koorax, from Rio de Janeiro, has one of the loveliest singing voices in creation. Peter Schärli, based in Switzerland, plays as pleasing a trumpet as can found in European jazz. And then the soloing horn player on "Recado Bossa Nova", which ends with Schärli cleverly approximating the percussive sounds Romão might have lent the performance. The "Manhã De Carnaval" duet of brass and Romão's gourd-and-metal-string berimbao (taped in the '90s) is at once fascinating and pretentious.
Frank-John Hadley - November 2008 - Down Beat Magazine, USA

Despite his Euro-Nordic origins and avant-garde leanings, trumpeter Peter Schärli has a fine feel for Brazilian bossa nova. With slightly unusual intrumentation (trumpet, guitar, bass, occasional percussion) and the gentle, austere singing of Ithamara Koorax, Schärli presents a somewhat abstract (though certainly not cold) variation on Brazilian sounds. This threesome (sometimes foursome, with a brief assist from legendary Brazilian percussionist Dom Um Romão) has a real commitment to this music, and is not satisfied to merely imitate it. "Obrigado" is at once sultry and droll, angular and smooth, elegant and softly audacious.
October 2008 - ebay.com, USA

An excellent album of Brazilian jazz, all the more notable due to its performers - three Swiss instrumentalists. The band has a soft touch to their instruments, perfectly complementing the array of classic Brazilian compositions. Koorax's vocals are similarly slinky, soft, perfectly seductive for a bossa nova.
Adam Greenberg - August 2008 - billboard.com, USA

Certains appellent ça du jazz brésilien, d'autres du swing brésilien. Ça tient du lait et de la mouche, à la fois jazz et musique brésilienne. Ce qui est sûr, c'est que c'est beau et que c'est authentique. Ensuite, il y a, sur tous les morceaux, la fabuleuse chanteuse de jazz Ithamara Koorax, l'une de plus belle voix actuelles en jazz. Tous très mélodiques et dansant à souhait.
Stan Bedin - Mai/Juni 2008 - Prestige Audio Vidéo no 130, F