Awase - literally translated "coming together" - in Japanese language stands for a fighting style, which is characterized by the fact that violence of the opponent is not answered with its own violence, but that one merges with the opposing energy and dissolve this in the act of merging. Awase stands for a very elegant, effective and non-destructive way of dealing with energy, such as artistic energy emanating from a musician, which lets you inundate and continues to flow to other players. And that is exactly what describes the playing style of Nik Bärtsch's Ronin on the album Awase, a style of playing that does not require any solo effort and instead lets musical energy flow freely between the players. The result is tremendously laid-back jazz that thrives on the free exchange of ideas and mood, as it was hip in the mid-70s, but has never been thought through as consistently as on Awase. An extremely fascinating album, the minimalist approach of which is permeated by Far Eastern ideas, to which the Swiss Nik Bärtsch has always been deeply committed.

A project like Awase requires like no other project suitable co-thinker, which Nik Bärtsch undoubtedly found in Ronin's current lineup. Ronin, that's on Awase next to Nik Bärtsch on piano Sha, alto saxophone and bass clarinet, Thomy Jordi, bass and Kasper Rast, drums. Thus, the formation Ronin mutated since the last album Live six years ago from quintet to quartet and is Ronin typical highly professional tuned to Awase, as if the group would never have made other music. What sounds so easy on Awase, like all art that seems light and natural to a viewer or listener, has been practiced and refined down to the last detail. In this, Ronin is no different from other perfect ensembles of jazz and classical music that impress the listener with their lightness and coherence. However, Ronin sets himself apart with Awase by creating something unheard of and communicating smoothly between the musicians, just as Awase's Far Eastern style of fighting calls for.

All pieces on Awase are by Nik Bärtsch and six of them have been the subject of older Ronin albums. However, that does not mean that what is already known is simply recycled on Awase. The opposite is the case. Already known matter is completely re-evaluated on Awase and implemented in the exchange of energy prevailing on this album à la Far Eastern Awase.

Awase was recorded in October 2017 in the Provençal Pernes Les Fontaines at the foot of Mont Ventoux in the studios La Buissonne, in a landscape that radiates relaxation in the prevailing late autumn mood, in which all wine has been harvested and all olives have been pressed allowing the energy released by the Ronin musicians to flow freely from one to the other and through one another.

Nik Bärtsch, piano
Sha, bass clarinet, alto saxophone
Thomy Jordi, bass
Kaspar Rast, drums