First ECM release for a trio with a strong following. Julia Hülsmann founded her group in 1997 and it has become, with its strongly melodic and inventive music, one of the most popular groups on the German jazz scene. Hülsmann is a first-rate jazz composer as well as an incisive pianist, a poetic sense of compression distinguishing both her writing and her improvising. Album features six new tunes by Hülsmann plus pieces also by her trio partners – plus a cover of Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose”.
The End of a Summer
Julia Hülsmann Trio
- 1The End Of A Summer
05:28 - 2Konbawa
04:31 - 3Kiss From A Rose
04:05 - 4Last One Out
04:01 - 5Quint
04:05 - 6Senza
05:22 - 7Not The End Of The World
06:43 - 8Sepia
03:44 - 9Gelb
04:46 - 10Where In The World
04:28
Jazzmagazine, Disque d’émoi
Stereoplay, Jazz-CD des Monats
Listening to this purely instrumental album it is clear her love of well crafted verse spills into her music. Full of elegantly constructed melodies that seem natural extensions of the thematic material at hand, there is indeed a kind of musical poetry at work here which is absorbing as it is musically fulfilling.
Stuart Nicholson, Jazzwise
There’s a lot of brooding, featherlight touches and empty space, but Hülsmann has a magnetic, understated swing, too. Her longer improvisations manage to sound avant-boppish, even though they seem to develop by rippling outwards rather than advancing along a line. … Hülsmann is an interesting discovery with a subtle harmonic mind; Muellbauer and Köbberling are right on her wavelength.
John Fordham, The Guardian
Die deutsche Jazzszene erhält durch Julia Hülsmann eine bedeutende neue Stimme. Unaufdringlich, aber eindringlich, unprätentiös, aber hochkonzentriert.
Markus Klohr, Jazzpodium
Julia Hülsmann ist als Pianistin und Komponistin eine Lyrikerin. Sie sucht die knappe Form mit langem Nachhall, nicht die große erzählerische Geste. Dabei scheut sie jede Art von Tiefenschwindel. Vor Popsongs schreckt sie keineswegs zurück, auf ihrer jüngsten CD interpretiert sie neben sechs eigenen und drei Titeln ihrer Partner auch einen solchen, Seals Kiss From A Rose. Er klingt wie von ihr erfunden – und ihre Originale klingen wie Standards. … Atem, Raum, Sparsamkeit sind überhaupt Stichworte für ihre Musik. Durchsichtigkeit der Interaktionen im Kollektiv. … Hülsmann lässt sich von Gefühlen nicht um den Verstand bringen, aber sie lässt sie zu, sozusagen als Korrektiv ihres Hangs zum transparenten Konstruktivismus. Gefühle, zuweilen auch melancholisch eingedunkelte. Nicht: Sentimentalitäten.
Peter Rüedi, Die Zeit
Julia Hülsmann ist der Feingeist unter den deutschen Jazzpianisten. Die Berlinerin entfesselt einen melodiebetonten, von strengen Arrangements und Chromatik geleiteten Fluss, was eine Nähe zu Lyrik und Gesang vorzeichnet.
Oliver Hochkeppel, Süddeutsche Zeitung Extra
In der Vergangenheit machte sich die 40-jährige Pianistin einen Namen als Inspiratorin von Sängern wie Rebekka Bakken oder Roger Cicero. Doch erst auf ihrem ECM-Debüt entfaltet sich der Charme ihrer eleganten Kompositionen. Hinreißend wie Marc Muellbauer und Heinrich Köbberling sich in die Klaviermuster einweben. Endlich wieder eine deutsche Künstlerin, die auch international für Furore sorgt.
Sven Thielmann, Stereoplay
Vom überkommenen Kanon der Jazztradition ließ sich Hülsmann bislang noch nie einschüchtern, auf The End Of A Summer überführt sie dieses Credo in eine neue Tonsprache. Dieses superbe Album macht klar, worin die Synergie von guten Musikern, gutem Material und guten Aufnahmebedingungen liegen kann, ja liegen muss.
Tom Tuchs, Fono Forum
Grande maîtrise des nuances et du toucher, interaction souple et vibrante avec ses partenaires, sens de l’espace, goût des mélodies et des ambiances subtiles et toniques – la façon dont le trio transcende le Kiss from a Rose de Seal est une véritable (et jubilatoire) leçon de relecture jazz d’un theme pop -: Julia Hülsmann, en tant que pianiste, compositrice et leadeuse d’un magnifique trio possède tout ce qu’il faut pour être admise dans la cour des grands.
Thierry Quénum, Jazzmagazine
“Julia Hülsmann is a highly imaginative player possessing a rich harmonic language, 24-carat melodic sensibility and incredible rhythmic suppleness.”
Jazzwise, UK
“The End Of A Summer” is the ECM debut of the Julia Hülsmann Trio, its programme of songs without words guided by the playing, composing and aesthetic priorities of its leader. Hülsmann has said, “My music is all about melody”, and everything in her work is informed by it, a rigorous sense of poetic compression uniting the writing and arrangements, the solos, the improvising, even the group interaction.
Sightings of German jazz groups are rare on ECM, from the outset an internationally-inclined German label. But the clearly delineated music of Julia Hülsmann’s trio is channelling more than German jazz. Her musical sense of purpose was reinforced by studies in New York with Richie Beirach, Maria Schneider and Jane Ira Bloom. Jazz on ECM is amongst the influences the group members share, but individually they have been inspired by the most diverse musical experiences. Drummer Heinrich Köbberling, for instance, hears parallels between the ‘minimalism’ of house and techno music and the simple pleasure of a pulsing cymbal in a jazz ballad. Bassist Marc Muellbauer, who writes labyrinthine music for his group Kaleidoscope and once participated in workshops with Stockhausen and Kagel, recognizes that complexity can be a vantage point from which to view the value of simplicity. In the trio, he says, “the music is often between the notes.”
Muellbauer has played with Hülsmann since 1996, when both were at Berlin’s Hochschule der Kunste; Köbberling became the drummer five years later. Since then the trio has built a substantial German following “while hardly playing a trio gig”. Instead the focus has been on projects with guest singers, and settings of poetry. A recording with verse of E.E. Cummings and the voice of Rebekka Bakken (“Scattering Poems”, ACT 2003) won the German Jazz Award and sold prodigiously. It was followed by discs and/or concerts with singers Anna Lauvergnac, Roger Cicero and Daniel Mattar.
The lyrical spirit prevails on the present all-instrumental recording, whose impetus came from Manfred Eicher. The producer and the pianist first met at the Jazzahead Festival in Bremen in 2006, subsequently exchanging ideas that would lead to the recording of “The End Of A Summer” in Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in March 2008. (In the same month, the trio members contributed to a second ECM disc: “Fasil” with guitarist Marc Sinan, release of which is scheduled for 2009).
Material featured on “End Of A Summer” was composed over the last decade, the most recent piece being the title track, which was “written quickly, in a melancholy mood, with summer fast disappearing. It’s about saying goodbye to a few things, with a tearful smile.”
“Sepia” is a piece inspired by the chromaticism of Jobim’s “Picture in Black And White.” “’Sepia’s’ changed a great deal in performance. It started out as a slow bossa, but the recorded version is quite free.”
“Gelb”, by contrast was a commissioned work on a theme related to beat writer Ruth Weiss, “part of a suite of colours. I wanted to write something simple that grooved.” “Not The End Of The World” is from Hülsmann’s New York years, a study on a descending scale. From the same period, “Senza” explores polyphonic and contrapuntal elements, as the theme returns each time with different accompaniment. Hülsmann credits former teacher Beirach with underlining the need to find and maintain an original voice in her writing. “He emphasized that I had to drill deep into my material and dig out what is authentic in it.”
Muellbauer and Köbberling also contribute material. Muellbauer’s “Last One Out” was “originally conceived as a piece for saxophone trio, no harmonies intended. We’ve done it many different ways, including fast and open. Now we play it slow, and there’s lots of chords but no harmony and the theme arrives only at the end.”
Köbberling’s “Konbawa” (Japanese for “good evening”) was written in New York in 1999, and “Where In The World” also celebrates a New York experience: “I used to go every week to hear Kurt Rosenwinkel’s group. They had a song in 3/4 which I really liked and I wanted to write something in that spirit. I tried but could not – and something totally different emerged.” Hülsmann: “On this piece I play only the chords Heinrich wrote out. Very well-chosen, beautiful chords.”
In this context, however, even pop singer Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” sounds like a piece that Hülsmann might have written. Her insistence on working with the substance of a melody and a staunch disinclination to over-embellish puts her in a jazz tradition that includes such stubborn spirits as Monk, Carla Bley and Ahmad Jamal. Of the Seal tune she says: “I heard it on the radio and liked it. The original arrangement is rather bombastic: we made it ‘small’ and more intimate but didn’t change much – simply helped it to breathe better.”
Jazzwise, UK
“The End Of A Summer” is the ECM debut of the Julia Hülsmann Trio, its programme of songs without words guided by the playing, composing and aesthetic priorities of its leader. Hülsmann has said, “My music is all about melody”, and everything in her work is informed by it, a rigorous sense of poetic compression uniting the writing and arrangements, the solos, the improvising, even the group interaction.
Sightings of German jazz groups are rare on ECM, from the outset an internationally-inclined German label. But the clearly delineated music of Julia Hülsmann’s trio is channelling more than German jazz. Her musical sense of purpose was reinforced by studies in New York with Richie Beirach, Maria Schneider and Jane Ira Bloom. Jazz on ECM is amongst the influences the group members share, but individually they have been inspired by the most diverse musical experiences. Drummer Heinrich Köbberling, for instance, hears parallels between the ‘minimalism’ of house and techno music and the simple pleasure of a pulsing cymbal in a jazz ballad. Bassist Marc Muellbauer, who writes labyrinthine music for his group Kaleidoscope and once participated in workshops with Stockhausen and Kagel, recognizes that complexity can be a vantage point from which to view the value of simplicity. In the trio, he says, “the music is often between the notes.”
Muellbauer has played with Hülsmann since 1996, when both were at Berlin’s Hochschule der Kunste; Köbberling became the drummer five years later. Since then the trio has built a substantial German following “while hardly playing a trio gig”. Instead the focus has been on projects with guest singers, and settings of poetry. A recording with verse of E.E. Cummings and the voice of Rebekka Bakken (“Scattering Poems”, ACT 2003) won the German Jazz Award and sold prodigiously. It was followed by discs and/or concerts with singers Anna Lauvergnac, Roger Cicero and Daniel Mattar.
The lyrical spirit prevails on the present all-instrumental recording, whose impetus came from Manfred Eicher. The producer and the pianist first met at the Jazzahead Festival in Bremen in 2006, subsequently exchanging ideas that would lead to the recording of “The End Of A Summer” in Oslo’s Rainbow Studio in March 2008. (In the same month, the trio members contributed to a second ECM disc: “Fasil” with guitarist Marc Sinan, release of which is scheduled for 2009).
Material featured on “End Of A Summer” was composed over the last decade, the most recent piece being the title track, which was “written quickly, in a melancholy mood, with summer fast disappearing. It’s about saying goodbye to a few things, with a tearful smile.”
“Sepia” is a piece inspired by the chromaticism of Jobim’s “Picture in Black And White.” “’Sepia’s’ changed a great deal in performance. It started out as a slow bossa, but the recorded version is quite free.”
“Gelb”, by contrast was a commissioned work on a theme related to beat writer Ruth Weiss, “part of a suite of colours. I wanted to write something simple that grooved.” “Not The End Of The World” is from Hülsmann’s New York years, a study on a descending scale. From the same period, “Senza” explores polyphonic and contrapuntal elements, as the theme returns each time with different accompaniment. Hülsmann credits former teacher Beirach with underlining the need to find and maintain an original voice in her writing. “He emphasized that I had to drill deep into my material and dig out what is authentic in it.”
Muellbauer and Köbberling also contribute material. Muellbauer’s “Last One Out” was “originally conceived as a piece for saxophone trio, no harmonies intended. We’ve done it many different ways, including fast and open. Now we play it slow, and there’s lots of chords but no harmony and the theme arrives only at the end.”
Köbberling’s “Konbawa” (Japanese for “good evening”) was written in New York in 1999, and “Where In The World” also celebrates a New York experience: “I used to go every week to hear Kurt Rosenwinkel’s group. They had a song in 3/4 which I really liked and I wanted to write something in that spirit. I tried but could not – and something totally different emerged.” Hülsmann: “On this piece I play only the chords Heinrich wrote out. Very well-chosen, beautiful chords.”
In this context, however, even pop singer Seal’s “Kiss From A Rose” sounds like a piece that Hülsmann might have written. Her insistence on working with the substance of a melody and a staunch disinclination to over-embellish puts her in a jazz tradition that includes such stubborn spirits as Monk, Carla Bley and Ahmad Jamal. Of the Seal tune she says: “I heard it on the radio and liked it. The original arrangement is rather bombastic: we made it ‘small’ and more intimate but didn’t change much – simply helped it to breathe better.”
Gute Einfälle melden sich selten an. Manchmal sind sie ganz plötzlich da, zur richtigen Zeit am richtigen Ort. Schwer zu sagen im Nachhinein, was zuerst war – der flüchtige Blick nachmittags aus dem Fenster, hinunter in den Berliner Hinterhof, wo der kleine Lenny spielte. Die Wehmut, dass der gerade noch so junge Sommer eigentlich schon wieder vorbei ist. Oder dieses Hell-Dunkel zwischen zwei verwandten Akkorden, ein Pendeln von so stoischer Regelmäßigkeit, als werde damit die verrinnende Zeit gemessen. Beinahe lapidar fasst Julia Hülsmann die heitere Trauer des Spätsommers in Töne – und bereitet solcherart den Boden für ein traumwandlerisches Interplay mit Bassist Marc Muellbauer und Schlagzeuger Heinrich Koebberling.
„The End of a Summer“ heißt das Titelstück der neuen CD des Julia Hülsmann-Trios; es ist ein gutes Beispiel für den liedhaft reduzierten Stil der Gruppe, die in der Zusammenarbeit mit Rebekka Bakken und Roger Cicero zu einer der populärsten Jazz-Formationen in Deutschland geworden ist. Die poetische Leichtigkeit von Hülsmanns Lyrik-Vertonungen erscheint auf „The End of a Summer“ ins Instrumentale zurückgenommen – oder vielmehr kondensiert: Schließlich teilt sich Atmosphärisches in den durchsichtigen Texturen dieser „Lieder ohne Worte“ umso intensiver mit. Als reines Trio sind die Drei bisher noch wenig hervorgetreten. Einige Jahre lang haben sie ihr Repertoire gesammelt und gesiebt, geschliffen und poliert, um jetzt ein Statement abzugeben, das ihnen auch international einige Aufmerksamkeit sichern sollte. Sechs prägnanten Stücken von Hülsmann stehen auf dem neuen Album nicht weniger eigenwillige Kompositionen ihrer beiden Kollegen gegenüber, dazu eine raffinierte Cover-Version von Seals „Kiss from a Rose“. Gemeinsam ist ihnen der Verzicht auf alles Ornamentale, vordergründig Virtuose. Mitunter grüßt von Ferne die Lakonik Carla Bleys.
| YEAR | DATE | VENUE | LOCATION | |
| 2025 | September 27 | Birdland | Neuburg, Germany | |
| 2025 | November 07 | Fabrik Scheune | Neustrelitz, Germany | |
| 2025 | November 20 | Theaterstübchen | Kassel, Germany |
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