Label: ECM Records, 2022
Personnel - Uli Kempendorff: tenor saxophone; Julia Hulsmann: piano; Marc Muellbauer: double bass; Heinrich Kobberling: drums.
The Julia Hulsmann Quartet is one of the most reliable jazz projects that hails from Germany. The pianist reassembles her excellent quartet for The Next Door, the follow-up to the well-received Not Far From Here (ECM, 2019), after spending considerable time on tour with them. The program consists of originals by each of the members plus a sweet rendition of “Sometimes it Snows in April” by Prince, here expressed with a similar unpressurized atmosphere that characterizes the original version.
Delicately churning, “Empty Hands” feels like a rainy dawn illuminated by a golden ray of light. A hopeful 14-beat piano ostinato gives it a solid texture, and the statements from Hulsmann - who composed it - and saxophonist Uli Kempendorff toggle between winding and breathable. The pianist also wrote the following piece, “Made of Wood”, which, denoting a less floaty quality, is underlined by a nicely swinging flow that recalls Carla Bley and Steve Swallow. Exhibiting discipline in the composition and intuition in the interplay, “Fluid”, another highlight by Hulsmann, sounds exactly as the title suggests. It goes from rubato to polyrhythmic to expandable, invariably driven by a powerful sense of communication.
A definitive testament to the empathy among the group members is Kempendorf’s “Open Up”, a slippery, chromatically agile post-bop-meets-avant-jazz number with a notated bass part, classy swinging quality, and angular deflection. I’m pretty sure the result would please as much Joe Lovano as Anthony Braxton.
“Post Post Post” arrives by the pen of drummer Heinrich Kobberling, playing like a nocturne while interlacing poignant and delicate tones with a sextuple meter feel. In turn, “Wasp at the Window” features bassist Marc Muellbauer in an intervallic-wise bass intro, before pinning a supple groove in nine that, occasionally speeding up, shields the whole piece. Besides the tune I just mentioned, the bassist also contributes the pacifying “Valdemossa”, a piece based on the harmony of Chopin’s “Prelude no. 4 in E minor”. With a refreshing new melody navigating the chords, the song invites us to picture agreeable landscapes filled with abundant color.
Whether compressing or loosening up elements, the music of Hulsmann and her peers is a strikingly precise affair.
Favorite Tracks:
01 - Empty Hands ► 08 - Open Up ► 11 - Fluid