Two of Switzerland’s most distinctive jazz voices come together on New Lines, a duo recording that finds tenor saxophonist Christoph Irniger and pianist Marc Perrenoud re-examining the language of jazz standards through a shared compositional lens. Marking their first recorded collaboration as a duo — and their first time committing this more “traditional” format to record, New Lines is set for release on March 27th, 2026 via Unit Records.

Both Irniger and Perrenoud are established figures on the international jazz scene, known for projects that balance strong compositional identity with improvisational freedom. Here, stripped back to saxophone and piano, their long-standing musical affinity comes into sharp focus. Rather than revisiting standards directly, New Lines adopts a conceptual approach inspired by Lennie Tristano: taking familiar harmonic frameworks as points of departure, then writing entirely new melodic material over them.

Importantly, New Lines doesn’t remain bound to its conceptual framework. As the album unfolds, the duo increasingly steps away from reference points, closing with compositions that stand fully on their own. Intricate interplay is marked by clarity, restraint, and a shared instinct for when to let ideas breathe, or move on.