Nils Wülker Quartet |ZUVERSICHT – Live

In the organizer's words:

Confidence is when we experience hope so actively that we trust in the future against all odds. The newly released album of the same name, the fifteenth by the "sound-genius trumpeter and exceptional composer" Nils Wülker and the first with a German title, radiates this vital energy - in many wonderful ways. The eleven original compositions, recorded as a quartet, close a circle and open up new horizons, deliberately pushing the leader out of his comfort zone into a beautiful new world of sound. For the first time since his debut in 2002 - and numerous chart successes later - the ECHO winner has recorded with an international star line-up: Aaron Parks on piano, Linda May Han Oh on double bass and Greg Hutchinson on drums. Wülker's personal sound is haunting and unmistakable, yet the result is surprising. Together, in just three and a half days of improvisational, collaborative creativity at the legendary Hansa Studios in Berlin, which is also famous for David Bowie, U2 and Depeche Mode, the four musicians have created an album that is both contemporary and trend-setting - and full of confidence in its strong melodies and fabulous interplay.

After deciding to record "Zuversicht" with the classic jazz line-up of trumpet, piano, double bass and drums, Nils Wülker, as he says himself, followed his gut feeling about the people behind it - musicians whose work he appreciates and who he had the feeling would find access to his music and still be able to contribute. The 47-year-old deliberately wanted to create more space for interaction and spontaneity in the studio, especially after his last albums were musically structured - whether through the orchestral arrangements for "Continuum", the meticulous soundscape tinkering of his duo with Arne Jansen for "Closer" or the weeks of synth/electro studio work for "GO". "I put together a wonderful band with Aaron, Linda and Greg, but I also put all my eggs in one basket," says Wülker. "After all, we met for the first time in the studio, had never played together before and then had three and a half days to record an entire album."

The result speaks for itself: "Zuversicht" is a very organic album, alive in every note, to which the compositions of the leader in combination with the creative collaboration of the three other band members - two-thirds Grammy winners themselves and featured on countless style-defining albums from Wynton Marsalis to Pat Metheny and Joshua Redman - lend enormous grandeur and elegance, a constantly overwhelming energy. From the dynamic tension of the opener "All Hands On Deck" to touching ballads such as "Time Will Tell" or "Alpenglow" or the funky "Forces At Work" to the catchy "Second Nature", in which flugelhorn and bass play in unison at the beginning, supporting each other on their own paths, only to come together again melodically at the end, there is a clear, always astonishing arc here.

Nils Wülker will be touring with Linda May Han Oh, with Greg Hutchinson and initially, for scheduling reasons, with none other than Omer Klein on piano. Good opportunities to experience Nils Wülker's spontaneously developed new pieces and the traditional, modern sound world of this music first hand. "I don't expect music to bring about a direct, measurable change," says Nils Wülker. "But I always have the confidence that I'm putting out something positive that will catch on somewhere, that will resonate, manifest itself, and that it will hopefully make sense and be meaningful."