Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album: Hans Ludemann – “Das Reale Klavier”

 

Sunday morning is when the serenity comes down.  Sunday morning is the cocoon from the heavy exhaustion of too much Saturday night fun.  Sunday morning is when the city agrees to use its inside voice.  Sunday morning is when a hush settles in over the land.  It is a time for sitting still and listening to quiet music and silently praying the aspirin and coffee do something to stop your head from exploding.  Drama and stress are strictly forbidden on Sunday morning.  Your Sunday Morning Jazz Album is just for you, for times just like these.


Hans Lüdemann is one of the more expressive musicians on the scene.  A melody guided by the pianist’s hands will possess a liveliness that resonates like mad.  And considering that he has a delivery that could be described as laid-back, the music’s strength is all that much more remarkable.  That’s why it’s particularly illuminating to hear Lüdemann is a solo environment on the 2015 release Das reale Klavier – Ein Kölner Konzert, and discover that those same qualities exist in isolation, and that they’re not simply the result of the the incalculable cause-and-effect of ensemble collaborations.

Recorded in 2013 at a live performance at LOFT Köln , Lüdemann goes about his business of crafting sharp melodies and then elaborating upon them endlessly.  The actual doses vary, but there’s a solemn tone to all of it.  “Arabesque” enters a deep state of introspection, and the wobbly melodicism of “Ankunft” has a contemplative nature to it, as well.  But it’s not an album completely lost in thought.  “Rollended Steine” blends in a rag and some thick blues along the way, and tracks like “Blaue Kreise” and the two-part “Präludium” both add some dissonance through the odd tuning of Lüdemann’s virtual piano or just via his expressive technique.  But more often than not, it’s tracks like “Heartbeats” and “Love Confessions,” with their sunny disposition and calm demeanor, that represent what this album is all about.

You need this album today, right now.

  • Artist-Title:  Hans Lüdemann – Das reale Klavier;Ein Kölner Konzert
  • Personnel:  Hans Lüdemann (piano, virtual piano).
  • Proper Use:  1) Staring out the window at a city still asleep, 2) Music to accompany the slow, gentle effects of coffee upon your head and your soul, 3) Acting in the role of human pillow for your dozing cat(s).

Released in 2015 on BMC Records.

Listen to more of the album on the artist’s Soundcloud page.

Music from Hamburg, Germany.

Available at:  Amazon | eMusic