Stefan Wittwer (1953 - 2024)

Photo by Peter Gannushkin

By Martin Schray

The Swiss multi-instrumentalist Stefan Wittwer recently passed away, as we have somewhat belatedly learned. Wittwer, born in Zurich on March 1, 1953, was considered one of the most important Swiss musicians when it came to experimental music and improvisation. He first became known primarily as a guitarist, later using every conceivable device to create music: amplifiers, the recording studio itself, and finally mainly computers. Wittwer had piano lessons as a child and then taught himself to play the guitar. At the age of 18 he was already playing in the jazz-rock band Wiebelfetzer with renowned musicians such as John Tchicai, Irène Schweizer and Fredy Studer. Later he played with Anton Bruhin, Hans Reichel, Paul Lovens and then with trombonist Radu Malfatti. Wittwer was then a member of Rüdiger Carl’s legendary COWWS Quintett, Werner Lüdi’s Sunnymoon (with Martin Schütz, Hans Koch, among others) and Red Twist & Tuned Arrow (with OM members Christy Doran and Fredy Studer. Actually, he has played with almost all the greats of the European and international free jazz scene in all kinds of projects, including Han Bennink, Steve Lacy, Pierre Favre, Alfred Harth, Paul Lytton, Butch Morris, Jim O'Rourke, Christian Marclay, John Zorn, Peter Brötzmann and William Parker. And that is by no means all of them. He also occasionally wrote film music for Peter Fischli and David Weiss, among others. Additionally, he can also be found in free rock, for example with Werther / Wittwer, his duo with Michael Wertmüller or with SLUDGE 2000, his rock group with Lucas Niggli and Marino Pliakas.

It’s worth exploring Stefan Wittwer’s work, even if the occasion is a sad one. His two duos with the Austrian trombonist Radu Malfatti, Thrumb lin (1976) and Und? (1978) have both been released on FMP and are highly recommended for lovers of European free jazz. Together with Anton Bruhin he released Nine Improvised Pieces 1974 / Rotomotor 1978 (Sunrise) in 1978, an album that is more akin to Musique Concrète but is also reminiscent of Lou Reed’s Metal Machine Music. My personal favorite is the COWWS Quintett (an acronym for Rüdiger Carl on saxophone, accordion and clarinet, Jay Oliver on bass, Wittwer, Phil Wachsmann on violin, viola and electronics and Irène Schweizer on piano). The first two albums, Seite A (FMP, 1991) and Grooves'n'Loops(FMP, 1994) offer a nice overview of Wittwer’s skills as a guitarist, e.g. when he sounds like he’s trying to mix a twangy Morricone guitar with free jazz in “Relativ Ewiges Lied”. Something completely different, actually a brutal piece of art, is Sprawl, with Peter Brötzmann and Alex Buess on saxophones, William Parker on bass, Wittwer on guitar, and his long-time musical partner Michael Wertmüller on drums (Trost, 1997/2015). His soundtrack for Peter Fischli/David Weiss' film Der rechte Weg shows him more as an electronic avant-garde musician is definitely underrated.

Stefan Wittwer left us too soon, the news came like a complete surprise. He’s surely to be missed.

Listen to a part of his soundtrack for the Peter Fischli/David Weiss film „Der rechte Weg“: