Swiss pianist and composer Gisela Horat presents Trio Solo, a double album bringing together two sides of a musical practice she has developed over many years: solo piano and the long-running trio with bassist Simon Iten and drummer Samuel Büttiker. Released via Unit Records, the album places these settings side by side, allowing similar musical ideas to be heard in very different forms — from the intimacy and exposure of solo improvisation to the responsiveness and shared instinct of the trio.

In this interview, Horat reflects on how the double album came together, the changing life of pieces she has carried with her for decades, and her use of prepared piano and chance as part of the improvising process. She also looks back on growing up in Uri, discovering jazz through Keith Jarrett while studying biology, and the personal decision that led her to put music at the centre of her life. Along the way, she discusses restraint, the importance of playing only what feels necessary, and how her relationship with improvisation has continued to evolve.

Trio Solo is a double album: one disc with your trio of Simon Iten on bass and Samuel Büttiker on drums, and one disc of you alone at the piano. What made you decide to put them side by side rather than release two separate records?

I have to give a little background here. In June 2024, I was able to play a concert in Leipzig with the Gisela Horat Trio, which we then released in September 2025 on Unit Records, also as part of the Troxler Art Edition. The recordings in November 2024 had already been planned and the studio booked by the time the decision was made to release the concert. But I still wanted to go into the studio with the trio and also record solo.

So by the time the album Gisela Horat Trio – Live in Leipzig was released, I already had two further potential releases in the background.

At first, I only wanted to release the solo recordings under the title Gisela Horat Vol. 3. But when I finally began putting the album together, combining them with the trio recordings seemed the obvious choice, for two reasons.

Firstly, it made sense to place the trio music alongside the solo music. I think that is very interesting for listeners, because they can hear an improvisation both solo and with the trio and compare the two.

The second reason was the idea of making use of the visibility that had been created by Live in Leipzig.

“Leben” (“Life”) appears twice on the album, once with the trio and once solo, and the press notes say it’s an idea you’ve come back to over many years. When did you first write it, and what has changed in the way you play it?

“Leben” first appeared on the album Begegnung in 2002, as a duo with violinist Maria Geiger. At that point, it was still a fully composed idea in an AB form with a clear metre.

Over time, my way of working changed, and I increasingly began to limit myself to significant phrases and motifs as the basis for improvisations and pieces.

“Leben” is interesting because, having played it for such a long time, it documents the changes and developments in my musical work and improvisation. It is also a challenge to keep trying to create something new from the same basic idea over such a long period of time.

On several tracks you place felt, cymbals and seashells on the piano strings. Where did the seashells come from, and what do they do to the sound?

I simply bought the shells in a percussion shop. From time to time, I go into shops like that, look around, and bring something home that I then try out while improvising on my wonderful Bösendorfer.

The sound effect happens by chance, because the shells restrict and disturb the vibration of the strings. The sound also changes while I’m playing because the shells move around on the strings.

With preparations like this, I like the element of chance during the performance. At the same time, what I play and how I play it does allow me to control the shells to a certain extent.

The solo pieces include “Mutter” (“Mother”), “An meine Schwester denken” (“Thinking of my sister”) and “Dem Tode nahe” (“Close to death”). Can you tell us about the people and moments behind them?

“Mutter” was written in memory of my mother, who never heard me play live because, sadly, she died much too young.

“An meine Schwester denken” and “Dem Tode nahe” were inspired by the fate of my older sister, who suffers from multiple sclerosis and is now tetraplegic. She is in the final stage of the illness and could die at any time.

Simon and Samuel have played with you since 2015. What was the first gig the three of you played together, and how did it go?

We played our first concert in May 2025 after two rehearsals, and we immediately worked very well together.

After that, Samuel went on an Australian tour with Max Mantis during the summer. When he returned, we had a few more rehearsals and then recorded the first live album by the Gisela Horat Trio, Gisela Horat Trio “Live”, in collaboration with the Esse Music Bar in Winterthur.

You grew up in Unterschächen, a mountain village in the canton of Uri. What music was around you there as a child, and when did you first hear jazz?

My father played folk and brass-band music. My first conscious memory of music is of my father playing the accordion and my eldest brother playing clarinet together, while my younger sister and I danced to the folk music.

Jazz was not really part of my world at that time. I did want to play music other than Brahms or Grieg in my piano lessons, but my piano teacher did not really support that.

The first CD I bought myself was Michael Jackson’s Bad. I only really started listening to jazz while I was studying biology. I had a fellow student who showed me my first chords on the piano and then took me to a Keith Jarrett concert.

That was THE experience for me. After that, I knew that I wanted to make improvised music.

You studied biology at ETH Zurich before music became your career. When did you decide to leave science for the piano, and what did people around you say?

As a teenager, I had actually already wanted to study music. At that point, it would have been classical music.

But my parents made it clear to me that I first had to learn something “proper”.

At the end of my studies, a personal tragedy made me realise that I had to do what was most important to me in my life, and that was music.

You studied jazz with teachers including Chris Wiesendanger. What’s something one of them told you that you still think about at the piano?

I remember a lesson with Esther Bächlin when, after an improvisation, she said to me: “And now, only play the notes that you really want.”

I no longer know how long I sat at the instrument without playing anything.

You recently played the women’s festival at Theater Uri. How often are you the only woman on the bill at European jazz clubs, and has that changed since you started?

There are clearly more women performing on jazz-club stages today than there were 20 years ago.

I still had the experience of a teacher at a jazz school telling me that women could not make music apart from doing a little singing, or of men sitting down at the piano before a concert and wanting to show me how to play properly.

Fortunately, that has changed for me, and I think the growing presence of women is wonderful.

However, because I am not an organiser myself, it is difficult for me to judge how many women are performing, particularly as bandleaders.

The cover art is by Niklaus Troxler, the designer behind decades of Jazz Festival Willisau posters. How did he come to make the artwork for this album?

Niklaus Troxler designs the covers for Unit Records’ Troxler Art Edition. The curators, Luca Sissera and Andreas Wälti, suggest music to him, which he listens to before deciding whether he would like to create the cover.

He liked my — or rather, our — music, and inspired by the music, he created a beautiful cover for the album.