JULIA HÜLSMANN QUARTET - Not Far From Here
ECM 080 6088
Uli Kempendorff (tenor saxophone); Julia Hülsmann (piano); Marc Muellbauer (double bass); Heinrich Köbberling (drums)
Recorded March 2019
Julia Hülsmann's tenure with ECM has produced some fine recordings, each showing progression and development, and also considerable variation in the scope of the material presented and the musicians she chooses to work with. The recordings are now also starting to fall into two separate entities, with each becoming intertwined with the other so that the distinguishing boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred as they themselves become less rigidly defined.
The first of these entities is the trio with Muellbauer and Köbberling that has now been together as a unit for some seventeen years, and the group have recorded three albums for the label that all have a developmental logic within each individual release and also collectively as the music and musicians evolve, growing ever closer together. The second is Hülsmann's work featuring other musicians, adding a new voice to the existing trio as heard on the quartet recording with Tom Arthurs on In Full View (2013) and again for A Clear Midnight (2015) with the same quartet but with another additional voice, that of vocalist Theo Bleckmann.
With Not Far From Here, the pianist again looks to shake things up a little differently with saxophonist, Uli Kempendorff, and once again this provides another string to Hülsmann's bow and manages to bring an entirely new sonic palette yet enhance and extend the work of the trio at the same time. Tenor saxophonist, Uli Kempendorff is well known to all the musicians here having performed together in different ad hoc groups, but it how the tenor is integrated into the overall sound that marks this recording out as something special.
Kempendorff's playing seems to have everything that Hülsmann could want, encapsulating lyricism with an altogether edgier approach that will also venture into freer harmonic and tonal areas leaving the trio to work with or against his lines as the music dictates. Thus, the album gets off to a fine start with the opening number 'The Art of Failing' never an option, but instead a gentle piece that introduces the saxophonist with a slow and stately composition that evolves gradually. This lyricism continues with the following, 'Le Mistral', that from the initial melodic statement develops into a nice bass led groove that once again finds Kempendorff at his most lyrical and expressive, with a solo that hints of a stronger and more weighty approach that will be heard later in the set.
David Bowie's 'This Is Not America' (co-composed by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays for the 1985 film, 'The Falcon and the Snowman') receives two carefully crafted readings, the first of which progresses into a full blown workout for the tenorist, and a far cry from the taut lyricism that is finally allowed to break free. In contrast the reprise that closes the album is delicately phrased as a solo vehicle for the leader.
Elsewhere, compositions like 'No Game' flit between familiar territory for the trio that is peppered with fiery contributions from Uli Kempendorff that raise the temperature, then leaving it to Hülsmann's piano to reign the music back in. 'Einschub' by the saxophonist mines a nice melodic and rhythmic dialogue in which all four musicians relish, and the softer nuances of the music are again to the fore in Köbberling's subtle and introverted 'If I Had A Heart' before the quartet proceed to lift the lid off another of the drummer's tunes in a wonderful straight up and down blowing piece, 'Colibre 65; and it is this delightful push and pull, conflict and resolution that make this such an engaging set.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
ECM 080 6088
Uli Kempendorff (tenor saxophone); Julia Hülsmann (piano); Marc Muellbauer (double bass); Heinrich Köbberling (drums)
Recorded March 2019
Julia Hülsmann's tenure with ECM has produced some fine recordings, each showing progression and development, and also considerable variation in the scope of the material presented and the musicians she chooses to work with. The recordings are now also starting to fall into two separate entities, with each becoming intertwined with the other so that the distinguishing boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred as they themselves become less rigidly defined.
The first of these entities is the trio with Muellbauer and Köbberling that has now been together as a unit for some seventeen years, and the group have recorded three albums for the label that all have a developmental logic within each individual release and also collectively as the music and musicians evolve, growing ever closer together. The second is Hülsmann's work featuring other musicians, adding a new voice to the existing trio as heard on the quartet recording with Tom Arthurs on In Full View (2013) and again for A Clear Midnight (2015) with the same quartet but with another additional voice, that of vocalist Theo Bleckmann.
With Not Far From Here, the pianist again looks to shake things up a little differently with saxophonist, Uli Kempendorff, and once again this provides another string to Hülsmann's bow and manages to bring an entirely new sonic palette yet enhance and extend the work of the trio at the same time. Tenor saxophonist, Uli Kempendorff is well known to all the musicians here having performed together in different ad hoc groups, but it how the tenor is integrated into the overall sound that marks this recording out as something special.
Kempendorff's playing seems to have everything that Hülsmann could want, encapsulating lyricism with an altogether edgier approach that will also venture into freer harmonic and tonal areas leaving the trio to work with or against his lines as the music dictates. Thus, the album gets off to a fine start with the opening number 'The Art of Failing' never an option, but instead a gentle piece that introduces the saxophonist with a slow and stately composition that evolves gradually. This lyricism continues with the following, 'Le Mistral', that from the initial melodic statement develops into a nice bass led groove that once again finds Kempendorff at his most lyrical and expressive, with a solo that hints of a stronger and more weighty approach that will be heard later in the set.
David Bowie's 'This Is Not America' (co-composed by Pat Metheny and Lyle Mays for the 1985 film, 'The Falcon and the Snowman') receives two carefully crafted readings, the first of which progresses into a full blown workout for the tenorist, and a far cry from the taut lyricism that is finally allowed to break free. In contrast the reprise that closes the album is delicately phrased as a solo vehicle for the leader.
Elsewhere, compositions like 'No Game' flit between familiar territory for the trio that is peppered with fiery contributions from Uli Kempendorff that raise the temperature, then leaving it to Hülsmann's piano to reign the music back in. 'Einschub' by the saxophonist mines a nice melodic and rhythmic dialogue in which all four musicians relish, and the softer nuances of the music are again to the fore in Köbberling's subtle and introverted 'If I Had A Heart' before the quartet proceed to lift the lid off another of the drummer's tunes in a wonderful straight up and down blowing piece, 'Colibre 65; and it is this delightful push and pull, conflict and resolution that make this such an engaging set.
Reviewed by Nick Lea
