Julia Hülsmann

For “Not Far From Here”, her seventh recording for  ECM, Julia Hülsmann had a new timbre in mind – her long-term work trio with Marc Muellbauer and Heinrich Köbberling was enhanced by the inclusion of saxophonist Uli Kempendorff, who whose strong presence is miraculously and seamlessly integrated into Hülsmann’s great lyric poetry while adding grit and pace to the flow of subtle compositions. His playing has  a mixture of nonchalance and urgency, which ideally suits this brilliant trio – he fits easily into this group that has been playing together since 2002, with his sensitivity, open attitude and direct and authentic storytelling.

The three musicians have known Kempendorff for many years and have played with him in various constellations. His open mind and curiosity forbid any categorization or classification, and Jazzthethic noted in Kempendorff’s playing that “both suppleness and abandon exist in rich measure”. This unacademic, original free spirit, who nevertheless knows how to anchor himself in the band context, “succeeds in the seemingly paradoxical feat of not only expanding the ancestral trio, but also sharpening it again in its core.” (Tonart 12/2019).

As usual with Julia Hülsmann, each member of the formation contributes original compositions. This makes the album, released in the ECM anniversary year 2019 and enthusiastically received by the national and international press (album of the month in the Guardian), a retrospective of the “considerable compositional art of all band members, especially Hülsmann herself“ (Tonart). The repertoire is complemented by a contemporary interpretation of “This Is Not America”, David Bowie’s 1980s hit single (composed by Bowie, Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays) and originally written for John Schlesinger’s spy film ‘The Falcon and the Snowman’, which in the version of the Hülsmann Quartet meanders between maximum deceleration and irrational intensity. “A masterful recording: aesthetically contoured and brimming with creative freedom, mediatively calm and yet brightly luminous.” (Tonart) 

„Not Far From Here“ was recorded in March 2019 at the La Buissonne Studio in southern France and was released in November 2019 on ECM.

Some say that there is hardly any jazz formation that has been more tested than the piano trio and that you have to do something special to get noticed. Julia Hülsmann doesn´t have to concern herself with thoughts like these. She and her trio around bassist Marc Muellbauer and drummer Heinrich Köbberling have been shaping contemporary jazz in their own special way since 2002, on the path of concentration and careful reduction and sonic awareness. Over many years and through many concerts around the world, the trio has developed a kind of blind understanding in communication, an unbreakable trust in one another but also a subtle, winking humor through sometimes ludicrous situations on concert tours that can only be faced with humor.

In many of her projects, Julia Hülsmann has worked with poetry or songs and has collaborated with singers – covering a spectrum from William Shakespeare to Kurt Weill. If, in the meantime, she repeatedly concentrates entirely on her trio, she proves – without words – her strength as a poet of sound, as a lyricist of the jazz piano. She proves to be “with the haunting melody lines of her right hand, so to speak, her own singer” (Weltwoche, Peter Rüedi).

All of these experiences gained in expanded line-ups have flowed into the playing of the core trio with Muellbauer and Köbberling – the cohesion has grown, at the same time the freedom to go beyond the usual, which leads to constant further development in a completely organic way. With “The End of a Summer” (2008) and “Imprint” (2011) the trio released two acclaimed albums on ECM,  with their sixth ECM trio album “Sooner And Later“,  following a quartet (In Full View, 2013) and quintet recording with the singer Theo Bleckmann (A Clear Midnight – Kurt Weill And America, 2015).
„Far removed from any navel-gazing stupor, ravishing sounds and tone sequences blossom into a magical tension between a sobre matter-of-factness and drunken enthusiasm.” (Rondo)
“If Peter von Matt said in “Poetry under Suspicion“ „poetry’s scandal was that it wanted to be so beautiful“, this is no less true of Julia Hülsmann’s musical poetry. (…) All in all: a very contoured, precise, yet ambiguous music. Too good to not be true.” (Weltwoche, Rüedi) 

Concentrated female energy is promised by Julia Hülsmann’s new project “Last Chance To Misbehave” with  singers Ayse Cansu Tanrikulu and Mia Knop Jacobsen.So on one stage united are:
A pianist/composer who has released 7 albums for ECM and has been a figurehead of German contemporary jazz for years,
a singer/composer/performer from Ankara, who has become an important part of the Berlin jazz and improvisation scene and is known for her unusual and rule breaking conception of new projects,
and a Danish singer/composer who is at home in both jazz and alternative rock/pop, traveling internationally with her own projects, and also performing on stage as a backing vocalist with musicians such as Quincy Jones, George Benson and Jacob Collier.

Once again, Julia Hülsmann proves her great instinct for selecting voices she would like to work with, bringing together two completely different and yet perfectly attuned singers.

This female trio creates a musical cosmos around poetry, lyrical images and landscapes, moving freely within the surprisingly generous frame that two voices and a singing piano can set. Each member composes specifically for this instrumentation. The very different compositional styles of the individual band members flow together to create a unified band sound, which is reflected in the original compositions and occasional cover songs – whilst the latter ones are given a new and often ironic and ambiguous touch. The focus is on originality, and the trio creates music between jazz, folk and experimental music while working with lyrics from Shakespeare to Beaumont – a unique style that hasn´t been heard before.

Hamburg celebrated a Beatles anniversary in 2020, because 60 years ago five English boys between the ages of 17 and 20, known as “The Beatles”, performed there for the first time. “In Hamburg we learned how to play in front of an audience,” George Harrison said later. The city celebrated this in a variety of ways, including a concert in the Grand Hall of the Elbphilharmonie.

Julia Hülsmann created a program especially for this and in honor of the “Fab Four” together with Nils Wogram on the trombone and Christopher Dell on the vibraphone. It is called “Come together” – on the one hand as a reminiscence of the Beatles hit, on the other hand in the knowledge that getting together for concerts in this special year was ruled out for a while and the joy was great that it was gradually being made possible again, even if only for a short time then.

Dealing with the Beatles’ work is definitely a challenge, as Hülsmann admits: »I grew up with this music, so it’s very close to me. But the originals have been covered so well and so often that you have to come up with something unique. “

For this special evening Hülsmann put together a purely instrumental trio. She decided on this line-up because, on the one hand, the Beatles’ pieces are so well-known you can easily recognize them without singing or even sing along to oneself; on the other hand, their melodies, harmonies and structures are so ingenious that they can be very can conjure up different arrangements. In his free way of interpreting music, Christopher Dell sets extremely exciting impulses with the percussive and floating sound of the vibraphone, which mixes so wonderfully with the piano and complements it at the same time. Nils Wogram on the trombone is something like the ›voice‹ in this trio; with his virtuoso and warm style of playing.

With this combination of instruments and strong musical personalities presents a particularly energetic Beatles program, leading to a new and different Beatles experience. 

In 2018, a new duo was created for the Bonn Jazz Festival with the vibraphonist Christopher Dell. The “Reclam Jazzlexikon“ calls  Dell the leading vibraphonist of his generation. He is a musician who moves as naturally in the context of free improvisation and contemporary music as in jazz. At the same time he has developed an unmistakable style. The maturity and personal character of his his playing is compelling. He loves complex structures, not only as a musician, but also as theoretician and head of the Institute for Improvisational Art Berlin.

The meeting of these two key figures in the Berlin scene opens up a whole new space of timbres and complexity that are seldom found in a duo. On the one hand, it is about the fine art of improvisation, initiating setting and receiving impulses, the use of music as language, action and reaction, exchanging roles, laying the groundwork for improvisational excursions by the duo partner.

On the other hand, it is about the challenging and sonically very attractive combination of piano and vibes: the percussive and shimmering sound of the vibraphone blends with the piano sound and complements it in an incomparable way. This often creates wonderful, disorienting moments in which the sound of the two instruments becomes blurred and you cannot tell the source of these meandering lines and fragile, close harmonies.

The dialogue in the structured thinking of these harmonious and melodically expressive, experienced architects of creative music is not an introspective game of two duo partners, but in its complexity and virtuosity it becomes a conscious and respectful gift to the audience. We look forward to a game of question and answer at the very highest level.

copyright hr/Sasha Rheker