Julia Hülsmann introduced the Hülsmann Quartet—for which she expanded her trio, which has been playing together for around 20 years with bassist Marc Muellbauer and drummer Heinrich Köbberling, to include tenor saxophonist Uli Kempendorff—on the album “Not Far from Here” in 2019. On the last album “The Next Door,” the ensemble shows that it has grown even closer during its extensive tours. The interactions between the four have gained in intensity, but also in freedom. The Guardian called the quartet’s debut an “outstanding album” because of “its unobtrusive reinvention of the familiar and cool virtuosity” and spoke of “clever, thoughtful, curious contemporary jazz music.” These virtues were further refined on the quartet’s second album.
The two Americans Jeff Ballard and Larry Grenadier have been guests at offbeat several times as members of the Brad Mehldau Trio. They have been on stage with the world's best jazz musicians for years and are among the figureheads who make the Jazzcampus and Basel attractive for students and spread Basel's reputation around the world. Now offbeat has commissioned the drummer to compose for the first time, and Ballard has decided on a "New York-Basel project," a new sextet that he will present together with bassist Grenadier, whose iconic list of collaborations would make a true who's who of jazz. They are joined by four musicians who are among the most talented in the Jazzcampus environment, including the English alto saxophonist Josh Schofield, the Spanish flautist Fernando Brox, who also plays the trombone, the Spanish trumpeter Alvaro Ocón, and the French pianist Noé Sécula. All four musicians have already been heard in a wide variety of constellations in Basel's constantly growing jazz scene.
Ballard's collaborations include names such as Lou Donaldson, Hank Mobley, Bobby Hutcherson, Eddie "Who" Harris, Chick Corea, Joshua Redman, and Avishai Cohen. Although he studied music theory, his real academy, as he himself explained to JAZZ'N'MORE, was three years with Ray Charles: "You play six or seven evenings a week and you can't let yourself be distracted by three or four thousand people clapping and cheering. The same repertoire every evening, which always has to sound unique." The New York scene was just as influential as Ballard's experiences with musicians from Brazil, Cuba, Argentina, or Africa. Percussion parts that he doesn't look for but finds can come from Kenya or Turkey, India or Vietnam.
Tickets are CHF 56.50-86.90.

Website
offbeat-concert.ch/35.-festival/jeff-ballard-new-sextett

Where
Museum Tinguely
Paul Sacher-Anlage 2
4002 Basel

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