Home » Jazz Musicians » Julia Hulsmann

Julia Hulsmann

Julia Hülsmann was born in Bonn in 1968. She took classical piano lessons from the age of eleven and started her first band at 16. In 1991, she moved to Berlin to study jazz piano at the University of the Arts (HdK) and the following year joined the German Youth Jazz Orchestra (BuJazzO). Since 1997, Hülsmann has worked with her own trio, playing at clubs and festivals all over Germany.
 
Julia Hülsmann’s ECM debut The End of a Summer  came in 2008, with regular partners Marc Muellbauer (bass) and Heinrich Köbberling (drums), followed by Imprint, in 2011. In 2012, the trio became a quartet with the addition of English trumpet and flugelhorn player

om Arthurs, a line-up which released In Full View, in 2013. Arthurs brought a strong new frontline voice that not only inspired Julia Hülsmann as player and arranger, but also had a stimulating effect on the composing activities within the quartet.
 
Singer Theo Bleckmann added his considerable vocal gifts to the quartet on A Clear Midnight: Kurt Weill and America (2015), an imaginative response to the composer’s songs that had its origins in the 2013 Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau. John Fordham wrote in the Guardian: “This might just be one of the great jazz treatments of the songs of Kurt Weill […] Not a sound is out of place on this beautifully crafted project.”


Tags

3
Radio & Podcasts

Julia Hülsmann, Black Jesus Experience, Snarky Puppy, Jonathan Pinson & More New Releases

Read "Julia Hülsmann, Black Jesus Experience, Snarky Puppy, Jonathan Pinson & More New Releases" reviewed by Ludovico Granvassu


A few of the many accents through which today's Lingua Franca, jazz, is spoken around the world.Happy listening!PlaylistBen Allison “Mondo Jazz Theme (feat. Ted Nash & Pyeng Threadgill)" 0:00 Snarky Puppy “Bet" Empire Central (GroundUP) 0:16 Host talks 5:12 SNACKTIME “Littenhouse" Sounds from the Street: Live (Self-released) 6:10 Host talks 11:19 Black Jesus Experience “Dark Matters" Good Evening Black Buddha (Agogo) 12:35 James Brandon Lewis feat. The Messthetics “Fear Not" Fear Not—Single (Anti-) 18:26 Host talks ...

1
Album Review

Julia Hülsmann Trio: Sooner And Later

Read "Sooner And Later" reviewed by Angelo Leonardi


Attivo dal 1997, il piano trio di Julia Hülsmann ha ormai raggiunto una propria identità, ponendosi ai vertici in Europa. Nella sua storia s'è spesso aperto alla relazione con ospiti e lo ha confermato di recente, integrando il trombettista Tom Arthurs (In Full of View , ECM 2012) e il cantante Theo Bleckmann (A Clear Midnight: Kurt Weill and America , ECM 2016). In questo quarto disco per l'etichetta di Manfred Eicher, ritroviamo la formazione base in un ...

6
Bailey's Bundles

Trios – Free Nelson Mandoomjazz, Organic Trio, Ben Rosenblum, Peter Erskine; Julia Hulsmann

Read "Trios – Free Nelson Mandoomjazz, Organic Trio, Ben Rosenblum, Peter Erskine; Julia Hulsmann" reviewed by C. Michael Bailey


Jazz Trios. A variety of flavors... Free Nelson Mandoom Jazz The Organ Grinder RareNoise Records 2016 Free Nelson Mandoomjazz is not exactly your posterchild for traditional jazz trios, nominally comprised of wind player Rebecca Sneddon, bassist Colin Stewart and drummer Paul Archibald. <em>Organ Grinder</em> is a recording happily in the mode of UB40's completely mood-altering <em>Signing Off</em> (Graduate Records, 1980). &#147;Mood altering" in the sense that the music's effect is hypnotic ...

30
Album Review

Julia Hülsmann Trio: Sooner And Later

Read "Sooner And Later" reviewed by Karl Ackermann


After expanding to an instrumental quartet--a quintet, with the vocalist Theo Bleckmann included--pianist Julia Hülsmann returns to a trio formation on her fourth ECM release, Sooner And Later. Bassist Marc Muellbauer and drummer Heinrich Köbberling have been part of that core through the previous three ECM outings, The End of a Summer (2008), Imprint (2011) and A Clear Midnight--Kurt Weill and America (2015) as well through Hülsmann's ACT Music years.Despite a long, productive career and considerable recognition in ...

Album Review

Julia Hulsmann Quartet w/ Theo Bleckmann: A Clear Midnight - Kurt Weill and America

Read "A Clear Midnight - Kurt Weill and America" reviewed by Neri Pollastri


Cambia ancora la formazione del gruppo diretto dalla pianista tedesca Julia Hülsmann, includendo adesso--oltre la tromba e il flicorno di Tom Arthurs, arrivato nel precedente lavoro--anche la voce del talentuoso ed eclettico vocalist tedesco Theo Bleckmann. Tale allargamento è legato al particolare progetto alla base di questo CD: riprendere e reinterpretare la musica di Kurt Weill. La rilettura proposta dalla Hülsmann è piuttosto originale, come si cogiie fin dalla prima traccia, la notissima “Mack the Knife" dall'Opera da ...

23
Extended Analysis

Julia Hülsmann Quartet w/ Theo Bleckmann: A Clear Midnight - Weill and America

Read "Julia Hülsmann Quartet w/ Theo Bleckmann: A Clear Midnight - Weill and America" reviewed by John Kelman


Given enough time, things in life often come around full circle. Julia Hülsmann's three recordings for Munich's ACT label were all vocal affairs, where the German pianist's core trio--with bassist Marc Muellbauer and drummer Heinrich Köbberling--were joined by singers ranging from Norway's Rebekka Bakken to Germany's Roger Cicero. Since moving to another Munich label, the more heralded ECM Records, Hülsmann has demonstrated a more careful approach to expanding and evolving her work. Her first two recordings for the label--2008's The ...

10
Album Review

Julia Hulsmann Quartet: In Full View

Read "In Full View" reviewed by John Kelman


There's no denying the benefit of stable longevity, but neither is there anything wrong with change. Following three ACT recordings that featured her trio--together since Scattering Poems (ACT, 2003)--supporting a series of vocalists, Julia Hülsmann moved to ECM, where the pianist was afforded greater freedom to more fully explore her trio's potential on 2008's The End Of A Summer and 2011's Imprint. Both albums presented a trio beyond anything left to prove and functioning in thoroughly egalitarian fashion, both compositionally ...

Read more articles
129

Recording

Julia Hülsmann Trio - Imprint (2011)

Julia Hülsmann Trio - Imprint (2011)

Source: Something Else!

German pianist Julia Hülsmann has made her mark with trio jazz fronted with a vocalist, either male or female, but had returned to the instrumental three when she signed up with ECM and recorded her first album with them, The End Of A Summer (2008). Now comes the follow-up three years later with Imprint. Hülsmann is accomplished as both an interpreter and a composer in her own right, but for this album she generously provides space for contributions from her ...

Photos

Music

Videos

Similar

Get more of a good thing!

Our weekly newsletter highlights our top stories, our special offers, and upcoming jazz events near you.