Winner of the German Jazz Award in 2022
All or nothing! No half-measures! While many other artists show signs of wear and tear from routine over the course of their careers, Nils Wogram has come to realize that every new project is, at the same time, his first project. This is particularly evident on his new CD, “Muse,” recorded with harpist Kathrin Pechlof, violist and overtone singer Gareth Lubbe, and Wogram’s longtime collaborator Hayden Chisholm on saxophone. Such a lineup is likely unparalleled in music history—the visionary Wogram seeks to make the impossible possible and the unheard audible.
Nils Wogram’s music has always been characterized by a profound sensuality. While he has celebrated the sensuality of the moment in virtually all his projects to date, “Muse” brings to the fore the sensuality of what endures. This unhurried openness to all the possibilities that may arise from what has just begun easily carries over to the listeners. The music may be complex, yet its inherent beauty and warmth—despite all its formal rigor—are also immensely relaxing for the listener. Sound is the decisive component; every note counts. And in the end, this clear and consistent aesthetic is always capable of unleashing powerful emotions.
The individual sounds interweave with such transparency that it’s not always possible to say exactly whether it’s the harp or the viola, or where the multiphonics on the trombone begin and where Lubbe’s overtone singing ends. Chisholm’s saxophone weaves through these interplays of sound and light like a spirit that constantly mediates between the physical and the intuitive, while the harp sets the timbre and absorbs the input from the trombone, saxophone, viola, and voice into its thousand-and-one strings.
This almost fairy-tale-like harmony is the foundation—not the result—of their ensemble playing. These sound poems without words are full of poetry and demonstrate one thing above all: every beginning is easy!